Specialised music encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks offer information on composers, musical works, instruments, genres of music and musical terms
Use them when you want to
Behind bars: The definitive guide to music notation by 
The book of world-famous music by 
The great song thesaurus by Grove music online.
Connect to electronic resource
The Harvard dictionary of music
ML 100 .R1912 2003
The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians
ML 100 .G883 2001
The Oxford companion to music
Connect to electronic resource
The Oxford dictionary of music
Connect to electronic resource Oxford Reference Premium
A dictionary of music titles :the origins of the names and titles of 3,500 musical compositions
ML 102 .T58 .R777 2000
The literature of chamber music
ML 128 .C4 .C678 1997
A dictionary of opera characters
Connect to electronic resource Oxford Reference Premium
The Grove book of operas
Connect to electronic resource Oxford Reference Premium
Opera :composers, works, performers
ML 102 .O6 .O61 2000
Who's who in opera :a guide to opera characters
ML 102 .O6 .B775 1998
The big book of blues :a biographical encyclopedia
ML 102 .B6 .S232 2001
The biographical encyclopedia of jazz
ML 102 .J3 .F288 b 1999
MusicWeb encyclopedia of popular music
Connect to electronic resource
The Virgin illustrated encyclopedia of pop & rock.
ML 102 .R6 .V817 2002
The Garland encyclopedia of world music
Compact disc 99/23
Musical instruments :history, technology, and performance of instruments of western music
ML 460 .C189 2004
The Oxford companion to musical instruments
ML 102 .I5 .B162
The Oxford dictionary of dance
Connect to electronic resource Oxford Reference Premium
The Oxford handbook of the new cultural history of music
ML 55 .O97 2011
Music analyses :an annotated guide to the literature
ML 128 .A7 .D537 1991
The musician's guide to theory and analysis
MT 6 .C627 .M9 2005
Collected editions, historical series & sets & monuments of music :a bibliography
ML 113 .H646
Sourcebook for research in music
ML 113 .C883 2005
Sourcebook for research in music
Connect to electronic resource