Historical Dictionary of Baroque Music, 2nd ed

Swain (music, Colgate Univ.; Listening to Bach and Handel) observes that the baroque period in music, traditionally dated from 1600 to 1750, is one of the best known in the history of Western music. Its most famous composers (including Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi) are among the most prominent in classical music today. Much scholarship has been done on that era since Swain’s pioneering and well-received first edition of this book was published in 2013. The second edition includes 100 new entries, half of them about composers; other new entries are about individual compositions (e.g., Bach’s Easter Oratorio), places, technical terms, and institutions. Expanded versions of the first edition’s entries offer more historical detail and explanations. Most helpful to students and scholars is Swain’s greatly expanded bibliography, which contains 30 percent more sources, most published in the last decade. The book presupposes a good background in music theory and notation (including violin).