The Golden Encyclopedia of Music Apparent First Edito edition by Lloyd, Norman published by Golden Pr Hardcover

To begin with, despite the description here on Amazon, the book I received after ordering from this page was written in English, not German. In fact, I didn't even notice the 'German' part of the description here and just assumed that a book entitled "The Golden Encyclopedia of Music" would be written in English. And it is. (If it were in German then wouldn't the cover show something like "The Golden Enzyklopädie der Musik" or somesuch?)Still, I would caution anyone ordering from this page - you could very well receive a copy in German, because there are multiple sellers offering this book here, and I can't say whether or not all of them will be actually providing the book in English, or in German.With that said, this book available here on Amazon very cheaply from various marketplace sellers, both new and used, is a large and very comprehensive resource. It's physically large at just about exactly the size of a normal 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper, and thick at just under two inches and just over 700 pages. It's not as heavy as you might expect a book of this size to be however. This is a cheaply produced and printed volume, with fairly thick paper used for the pages and a quality to the text and printing that almost looks like the pages were photocopied. They are not as crisp and cleanly printed as you would expect for a top quality encyclopedia or other reference book, but that is not what this is. This is an inexpensive book mean to be sold cheaply, and it is quite acceptable knowing that. It is from the Golden Press, not Oxford Publishing.Now, what is important is the content, and here I think that this is a very satisfactory resource, not for a music scholar of course but for keeping in the home and referring to, which is what I purchased my copy for.Here is what this book contains:- 669 pages with individual entries that range from a single paragraph in length, to several pages, beginning with "A" (the musical note) and ending with "Zither". These entries include short biographies of the major composers and performers, mostly Classical but also including coverage of Blues, Jazz, Film Music and others, but no mention of Hip Hop, Pop, Metal or the like.- This encyclopedia includes some very nice and longer articles on certain subjects, including one on Musical Instruments Through the Ages, with 24 pages of color illustrationsThe above described main body of the book is then followed by several reference sections:- a single page reference of Signs and Symbols used in Music- 2 1/2 pages of Foreign terms and phrases used in Music, with a half-page listing of Abbreviations used in Music- a 25 1/2 page alphabetical listing of Famous Names in Music, from Maurice Abravanel to Domenico Zipoli- Index to Musical Examples as well as a detailed Subject IndexI don't have the ability to critique the scholarly merits of the content of this encyclopedia, and assume that it is a solid and accurate reference.This book was published in 1968 and as far as I know was not subsequently updated. The listings here on Amazon all seem to be of this '68 edition.Finally, I find this same book to be listed on Amazon in more than one place, not unusual for Amazon, so anyone interested in obtaining the book might want to check each listing to see the availability from sellers at different prices and for different conditions:-  The Golden Encyclopedia of Music  (product under review here) - described as "German" version-  The Golden Encyclopedia Of Music -  The Golden Encyclopedia of Music

Received this encyclopedia from my husband 35 years ago.... It is an excellent source of knowledge - all in simple, concise form and with plenty of illustrations. I still give it as a gift to my friends and students!

This is a book that I have owned for 30 years. Wanted to get a second copy for a school so bought another one. This book has information on just about any subject in music a person could wish and the information is clear, concise, and written in an interesting way.

This is a book that any music teacher would be pleased to have. It not only deals with the basics of music but delves deeper into the different types of music. A must read - wish that it was back in print.

This book, available here on Amazon very cheaply from various marketplace sellers, both new and used, is a large and very comprehensive resource on the subject of music. It's physically large at just about exactly the size of a normal 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper, and thick at just under two inches and just over 700 pages. It's not as heavy as you might expect a book of this size to be however. This is a cheaply produced and printed volume, with fairly thick paper used for the pages and a quality to the text and printing that almost looks like the pages were photocopied. They are not as crisp and cleanly printed as you would expect for a top quality encyclopedia or other reference book, but that is not what this is. This is an inexpensive book mean to be sold cheaply, and it is quite acceptable knowing that. It is from the Golden Press, not Oxford Publishing.Now, what is important is the content, and here I think that this is a very satisfactory resource, not for a music scholar of course but for keeping in the home and referring to, which is what I purchased my copy for.Here is what this book contains:- 669 pages with individual entries that range from a single paragraph in length, to several pages, beginning with "A" (the musical note) and ending with "Zither". These entries include short biographies of the major composers and performers, mostly Classical but also including coverage of Blues, Jazz, Film Music and others, but no mention of Hip Hop, Pop, Metal or the like.- This encyclopedia includes some very nice and longer articles on certain subjects, including one on Musical Instruments Through the Ages, with 24 pages of color illustrationsThe above described main body of the book is then followed by several reference sections:- a single page reference of Signs and Symbols used in Music- 2 1/2 pages of Foreign terms and phrases used in Music, with a half-page listing of Abbreviations used in Music- a 25 1/2 page alphabetical listing of Famous Names in Music, from Maurice Abravanel to Domenico Zipoli- Index to Musical Examples as well as a detailed Subject IndexI don't have the ability to critique the scholarly merits of the content of this encyclopedia, and assume that it is a solid and accurate reference.This book was published in 1968 and as far as I know was not subsequently updated. The listings here on Amazon all seem to be of this '68 edition.Finally, I find this same book to be listed on Amazon in more than one place, not unusual for Amazon, so anyone interested in obtaining the book might want to check each listing to see the availability from sellers at different prices and for different conditions:-  The Golden Encyclopedia of Music  - described as "German" version, however I actually received my copy after ordering from this page, and the book I received was in English-  The Golden Encyclopedia Of Music -  The Golden Encyclopedia of Music  (product under review here)