Blacks in Classical Music

Book excerpt: The first in a projected series of idiom-specific bibliographies in black music, this work treats classical music. It is a comprehensive index to newspaper and periodical indexes, biographical dictionaries, bibliographies, dissertations and theses, music collections, and published discographies. . . . Scholars, researchers, students, and reference librarians will find that this guide makes searching easier; bibliographers will welcome its detailed and helpful bibliographies. . . . A very fine addition for all music and academic libraries. Choice This comprehensive guide is the first to cover the full range of black activity in classical music, with more than 4,000 references to over 300 performers and ensembles. Compiler John Gray has organized a wealth of resources spanning from the mid-eighteenth century to the present, and ranging geographically from Europe and Africa to the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Containing sections on composers, conductors, individual instrumentalists, symphony orchestras, opera singers and companies, the work builds on earlier research in this long-neglected subject, and brings the black musical legacy to new levels of prominence and accessibility.