Questions of Music -  Norman Edwards

 Comprises brief author background selling records into dealers in Merseyside and North Wales before opening his own specialist record shop -Counterpoint- in Malvern.      Then One hundred and one classical record recital programmes each with its own theme/subject matter and usually with a simple anagram  or word game involved, notes and/or anecdotes on the music selected and finally some personal musical  musings- occasionally controversial.   Pub. Lulu.com.

 Enquiries  -  Normwag@btinternet.com

Dictionary of Composers and their Music - Eric Gilder.

A perfect gift for the classical music lover, this indispensable volume condenses seven hundred years of classic music history and covers periods from Baroque to Contemporary, in an easy-to-use format.   Part two  shows the year of major composers' births and deaths and commences at 1300.  It also lists major works and their composer's age at the time.   The sequence runs through to 1984 and makes the book invaluable for programme compiling. 

Kobbe's Complete Opera Book - Edited and revised - Earl of Harewood

Probably the most famous and comprehensive book on opera, it was published posthumously, its author having died in a bizarre sailing accident in 1918. This edition has been brought up to date and was published in 1969. It covers two hundred and sixty seven operas and is divided into three sections.

      Part 1 - Opera pre 1800 ie. Monteverdi to Mozart.       Part 2 The Nineteenth century, viz  German Opera pre Wagner, Wagner Opera, German Opera continued,  Italian Opera pre Verdi, Verdi Opera, Italian Opera continued, French, Russian, English and Czech Opera.       Part 3  the Twentieth century  German, Italian, French, Russian, English, Czech, Hungarian, Spanish and American Opera.

Lexicon of Musical Invective - Nicolas Slominsky

An anthology of critical assaults on composers since the time of Beethoven.  Gathering together 669 excerpts from critical reviews, it cites biased, unfair, ill-tempered and singularly unprophetic judgments of 49 composers.  Here is a treasury of roasted composers!     'After 'Lohengrin', I had a splitting headache, and all through the night I dreamed about a goose'       Letter from Balakirev to Stasov  St Petersburg November 3rd 1868;

Oxford Dictionary of Music - Michael Kennedy 

'Definitions and an encyclopedia of musical matters' and (for the want of a better term) a dictionary of classical music is what this should be called, because it does not seek to cover all musical genres. Entries run from the note A to the Polish soprano Teresa Zylis-Gara, and include major (and minor) composers plus their works, famous performers and conductors, characters from operas, musical concepts and genres, musical instruments, and even mini-essays on topics such as 'Electronic Music'.   'The most comprehensive, detailed one-volume reference work on music now available in the English language'    Music and Musicians