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The Harvard Dictionary of Music. 4th ed. By Don Michael Randel. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. [xxvii, 978 p. ISBN 0-674-01163-5. $39.95], Music examples, illustrations.
It is likely that most subscribers to Notes have by now purchased a copy of the Harvard Dictionary for themselves or their institution predicated on the longevity of the work and its deserved good reputation. The current edition, under the direction of Don Michael Randel, generally delivers what has come to be expected, and although there have been "numerous chances, including outright additions and deletions" (Preface), I have not found any significant gaps in coverage. The dictionary, for its thoroughness, remains remarkably concise.
I have not, and never will, read this work from cover to cover, but in my perusal I have checked on some fairly obscure terms from Renaissance music theory (e.g., "dux, comes"), dance forms ("Folia"), "course" (from lute, theorbo and other plucked stringed instruments), and whatever else occurred to me and found nothing lacking. I also checked terms in an aleatoric fashion from previous editions and found nothing missing in the new one. At 978 pages as compared to the previous edition's 942, I am relieved to find that there was apparently no need to cut significantly due to new additions, which I will discuss later. I suppose a specialist, and by that I don't mean a music specialist but someone with expertise in, for example, Japanese music or Baroque organ literature, might find the work wanting, but people of that stripe will likely have knowledge of more specialized sources for their needs. This remains a very good general dictionary of music, and at a price of about $40.00, it is an accessible tool for the student, small library, concert attendee, or professional musician.
As has been the policy since the first edition of 1944, the dictionary continues to exclude biography, so one can find an entry for "Schenker analysis" (p. 759), but not an entry for Heinrich Schenker, except in the context of the former definition.
In his preface to the Harvard Brief Dictionary in 1960, Willi Apel alluded to evolving developments in music, new ideas and terminology becoming established, followed by the need to address them (Willi Apel and Ralph T. Daniel, Harvard Brief...