The international cyclopedia of music and musicians
Oscar Thompson
Dodd, Mead & Co.
Ideally, every edition of a reference work of this kind strives for two goals: to stay abreast of change, as change inevitably affects the book's existing content, and to extend the frontiers of that content. The Tenth Edition of The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians was produced with both goals in mind. It is one of the most wide-ranging revisions in the Cyclopedia's history.
Every edition breaks new ground biographically by introducing significant new composers, singers, instrumentalists, conductors, scholars, critics and commentators, and others in the various technical and managerial areas of music. To mention but a few of the Tenth Edition's candidates for lasting fame is to suggest a healthy abundance of new talent made manifest during the last decade: Harrison Birtwistle, Earle Brown, George Crumb, Peter Maxwell Davies, Krzysztof Penderecki . . . Montserrat Caballé, Sherrill Milnes, Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills . . . Alicia de Laroccha, André Watts, Pinchas Zukerman . . . Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Colvin Davis, Zubin Mehta, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Quite apart from such biographical figures, the new edition presents, for the first time, survey articles on African and Latin-American music and on the many-sided musical activity in Canada. Each of these is a reflection of new interest in those subjects.