Study Guide: Upper Division Exam in Music History

Commonly-Used Tools Available on the Internet

Guides to Research

  • Gottlieb, Jane. Music Library and Research Skills. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2009.
  • Herbert, Trevor. Music in Words: A Guide to Researching and Writing About Music. Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Sampsel, Laurie J. Music Research: A Handbook. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2012.
  • Wingell, Richard J. and Silvia Herzog. Introduction to Research in Music. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001.

 Guides to Writing

  • Bellman, Jonathan. A Short Guide to Writing About Music. 2nd Edition. New York: Longman, 2006.
  • Herbert, Trevor. Music in Words: A Guide to Researching and Writing About Music. Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Holoman, D. Kern. Writing About Music: A Style Sheet. 2nd Edition. University of California Press, 2008.
  • Irvine, Demar and Mark A Radice. Irvine’s Writing About Music. 3rd Edition. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999.
  • Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. 8th Edition. University of Chicago Press, 2013.
  • Wingell, Richard J. Writing About Music: An Introductory Guide. 4th Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2008.

Recommended Music History Volumes (Apart from Your Textbooks)

General/Overall

  • Taruskin, Richard. The Oxford History of Western Music. 5 Vols. Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Weiss, Piero and Richard Taruskin, eds. Music in the Western World: A History in Documents.  Belmont, CA: Thomson Schirmer, 2008.

Antiquity

  • Landels, John G. Music in Ancient Greece and Rome. New York: Routledge, 1999.
  • West, M.L. Ancient Greek Music. Oxford University Press, 1994.

Medieval

  • Hoppin, Richard H. Medieval Music. New York: New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1978.
  • Lord, Suzanne. Music in the Middle Ages: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.
  • Yudkin, Jeremy. Music in Medieval Europe. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989.

Renaissance

  • Atlas, Allan W. Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe 1400-1600. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1998.
  • Brown, Howard Mayer and Louise K. Stein. Music in the Renaissance. 2nd Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1998.
  • Reese, Gustave. Music in the Renaissance. Revised Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1959.

Baroque

  • Schulenberg, David. Music of the Baroque. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press, 2013.

Classical

  • Rice, John A. Music in the Eighteenth Century. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2012.
  • Rosen, Charles. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. Expanded Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1998.

Romantic

  • Plantinga, Leon. Romantic Music: A History of Musical Style in Nineteenth-Century Europe. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1985.
  • Taruskin, Richard. Music in the Nineteenth Century (The Oxford History of Western Music Vol. 3). Oxford University Press, 2009.

Twentieth Century and Beyond

  • Taruskin, Richard. Music in the Early Twentieth Century (The Oxford History of Western Music  Vol. 4). Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Taruskin, Richard. Music in the Late Twentieth Century (The Oxford History of Western Music Vol. 5). Oxford University Press, 2010.