''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'' is a standard

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

reference book published by the

Belknap Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

. The first edition, titled ''Harvard Dictionary of Music'', was published in 1944, and was edited by

Willi Apel Willi Apel (10 October 1893 – 14 March 1988) was a German-American musicologist and noted author of a number of books devoted to music. Among his most important publications are the 1944 edition of ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'' and ''Fre ...

. The second edition, also edited by Apel, was published in 1969. A new editor,

Don Michael Randel Don Michael Randel (born December 9, 1940) is an American musicologist, specializing in the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Spain and France. He is currently the Chair of the Board of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a trustee ...

, took over for the third edition in 1986. The book was retitled ''The New Harvard Dictionary of Music'', and featured expanded coverage of twentieth-century and

non-Western music Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

, and including information on

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

for the first time. For the fourth edition (2003, also edited by Randel), the book reverted to the earlier title (with the article added), ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music''. Unlike some other standard music reference books, ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'' includes no biographical entries. Biographical information may be found in a companion volume, ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music'', published in 1996, which contains approximately 5500 entries.

References

* Randel, Don Michael, ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music'' (1996), Belknap Press. . * Randel, Don Michael, ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'' (2003), Belknap Press. . {{Authority control 1944 non-fiction books 1969 non-fiction books 1986 non-fiction books 2003 non-fiction books Encyclopedias of music Belknap Press books