How to Get Music Knowledge? (Resource List)

Getting music knowledge can be hard for some people. It is a vast subject with so many different types of music and genres.

Listening to different types of music can help you to develop an appreciation for all styles of music and learn more about the history behind certain songs. When starting out, it is important to find a place where you feel comfortable exploring music on your own.

There are plenty of resources available online, in books, or even at local libraries if you are looking for something specific.

General

• American Composers Alliance
• IRCAM (in French)
• Thomas Moore’s New Music Links

Composers of Today: Homepages

• John Adams
• John Luther Adams
• Samuel Adler
• Thomas Adès
• Laurie Anderson
• TJ Anderson
• Larry Austin
• Harrison Birtwistle
• William Bolcom
• Anthony Braxton
• Michael Colgrass
• John Corigliano
• George Crumb
• Michael Daugherty
• David Del Tredici
• Philip Glass
• Osvaldo Golijov
• Annie Gosfield
• Jennifer Higdon
• Robin Holloway
• Hubert Howe
• Betsy Jolas (in French and English)
• Phil Kline
• Gottfried Michael Koenig (in German and English)
• Paul Lansky
• Libby Larsen
• Lowell Liebermann
• Alvin Lucier
• Francisco López
• Tod Machover
• Tod Machover blog
• Steven Mackey blog
• John Melby
• Edgar Meyer
• Nico Muhly
• Gordon Mumma
• Gordon Mumma’s blog
• Tristan Murail (in French and English)
• Thea Musgrave
• Krzysztof Penderecki (in Polish and English)
• Arvo Pärt Centre (in Estonian and English)
• Steve Reich
• Roger Reynolds
• Ned Rorem
• Patria (R. Murray Schafer)
• World Soundscape Project (R. Murray Schafer)
• Peter Schickele
• Joseph Schwantner
• Bright Sheng
• Morton Subotnick
• Morton Subotnick
• Tan Dun
• Terry Riley
• Mikis Theodorakis (in English, French, German)
• Kevin Volans
• Charles Wuorinen
• Mela Foundation (LaMonte Young)
• Evan Ziporyn

Composers of Today: Publisher pages

• Hans Abrahamsen
• John Adams
• John Adams
• Samuel Adler
• Thomas Adès
• Louis Andriessen
• Dominick Argento
• Harrison Birtwistle
• Harrison Birtwistle
• Chen Yi
• Unsuk Chin
• Unsuk Chin
• Michael Colgrass
• John Corigliano
• George Crumb
• Michael Daugherty
• Michael Daugherty
• Anthony Davis
• David Del Tredici
• Brian Ferneyhough
• Philip Glass
• Alexander Goehr
• Osvaldo Golijov
• Sofia Gubaidulina
• Sofia Gubaidulina
• Sofia Gubaidulina
• John Harbison
• Robin Holloway
• Toshi Ichiyanagi
• Betsy Jolas
• György Kurtág
• György Kurtág
• Helmut Lachenmann
• Helmut Lachenmann
• Lowell Liebermann
• Magnus Lindberg
• Magnus Lindberg
• Jonathan Lloyd
• Tod Machover
• Steven Mackey
• Steven Mackey
• John Melby
• Edgar Meyer
• Nico Muhly
• Tristan Murail
• Thea Musgrave
• Olga Neuwirth
• Thomas Pasatieri
• Krzysztof Penderecki
• Arvo Pärt
• Shulamit Ran
• Steve Reich
• Roger Reynolds
• Wolfgang Rihm
• Terry Riley
• Ned Rorem
• Christopher Rouse
• Christopher Rouse
• Kaija Saariaho
• Peter Schickele
• Bright Sheng
• Tan Dun
• Mikis Theodorakis
• Joan Tower
• Kevin Volans
• Richard Wernick
• Christian Wolff
• Charles Wuorinen
• Zhou Long
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Publisher Pages

Lots of interesting information about composers and the contemporary music scene can be found on publishers’ pages

• American Composers Alliance
• Boosey & Hawkes (in English, German, Spanish)
• Breitkopf & Härtel (in German, English, French, Spanish, Japanese)
• Carl Fischer
• Casa Ricordi (in Italian, German, English)
• Durand-Salabert-Eschig (in French and English)
• E.C.Schirmer
• Edition Peters (in English and German)
• Faber Music
• G. Schirmer Inc.
• PeerMusic
• Theodore Presser Company
• Schott (in German, English, French)
• Sikorski (in English and German)
• Universal Edition (in German and English)

Other Useful Links

• 18th Century English Music
• A John Adams fansite
• Isaac Albéniz Museum (in Catalan and Spanish)
• Alkan Society
• Charles-Valentin Alkan Society of Vienna (in German and English)
• An Alkan page (in French and English)
• TJ Anderson-ACA
• Blog about Louis Andriessen
• Robert Ashley
• A Samuel Barber page (in French and English)
• Bartók Memorial House, Budapest (in Hungarian and English)
• Leslie Bassett-ACA
• Leslie Bassett
• Arnold Bax Website
• Baxworks
• A Beethoven site
• American Beethoven Society
• Beethoven-Haus Bonn (in German, English, Japanese)
• Centro Studi Luciano Berio (in Italian and English)
• Berlioz Society UK
• Association nationale Hector Berlioz (in French)
• Hector Berlioz website (in French and English)
• A Leonard Bernstein page
• Leonard Bernstein
• Leonard Bernstein’s FBI file
• Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein photo collection
• The Bizet Catalogue by Hugh Macdonald
• A Marc Blitzstein page
• Ernest Bloch Legacy
• Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini
• Asociación Luigi Boccherini (in Spanish and English)
• American Brahms Society
• Johannes Brahms Society of Hamburg (in German and English)
• Johannes Brahms WebSource
• Brahms Institute Lübeck (in German and English)
• An Anthony Braxton discography
• Frank Bridge
• Frank Bridge
• A Benjamin Britten page
• Britten-Pears Foundation
• The Britten Thematic Catalogue
• The Earle Brown Music Foundation
• Anton Bruckner Museum (in German and English)
• John Berky’s Anton Bruckner page
• A Ferruccio Busoni website
• Centro Studi Musicali Ferruccio Busoni (in Italian)
• A John Cage compendium
• The John Cage Trust
• Larry Solomon’s John Cage page
• Museo a Julián Carrillo
• Julián Carrillo y el Sonido 13 (in Spanish)
• Elliott Carter
• Elliott Carter Studies Online
• Casa di Riposo per Musicisti (in Italian)
• Claude Champagne Virtual Exhibition (in French and English)
• International Cherubini Society (in English, German, Italian)
• The Chopin Project
• Chopin Music
• Internet Chopin Informaton Center (in Polish and English)
• The Chopin Museum
• Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw (in Polish and English)
• World of Chopin
• Carlos Chávez
• Muzio Clementi Society
• Muzio Clementi—Opera Omnia
• Aaron Copland House
• Henry Cowell piano music
• Henry Cowell web page
• Peter Maxwell Davies
• Centre de Documentation Claude Debussy (in French and English)
• Claude Debussy’s Pianistic Vision
• A Frederick Delius page
• Frederick Delius
• Official Delius web site
• Norman Dello Joio
• David Diamond
• Alphons Diepenbrock Catalogue (in Dutch and English)
• Alphons Diepenbrock (in Dutch)
• Carl Ditters Museum (in Czech, Polish, German, English)
• Donizetti Museum Bergamo (in Italian, English, French, German)
• Donizetti Society
• Fondazione Donizetti (in Italian and English)
• Mestské Museum Cáslav (Dussek) (in Czech)
• A comprehensive Antonín Dvorák page (in Czech and English)
• Antonín Dvorák memorial at Vysoká (in Czech, English, German, French, Spanish)
• Antonín Dvorák Museum (in Czech and English)
• A tribute to Antonín Dvorák (in Czech and English)
• Antonín Dvorák memorial in Nelahozeves (in Czech and English)
• John Eaton-ACA
• Werner Egk exhibit (in German, English, French, Italian)
• Hanns Eisler
• Internationale Hanns Eisler Gesellschaft (in German and English)
• Elgar Birthplace Museum
• Elgar Society
• Official Duke Ellington site
• The Duke Ellington Society
• Casa Museo Manuel de Falla (in Spanish)
• Fundación Archivo Manuel de Falla (in Spanish)
• A Morton Feldman page
• Irving Fine Society
• Stephen Foster Memorial Museum
• Stephen Foster on PBS
• Cesar Franck, Vincent d’Indy, Ernest Chausson (in French)
• Cesar Franck Gesellschaft (in German)
• A Kenneth Gaburo page
• Roberto Gerhard
• George and Ira Gershwin
• Glass Pages
• Glass Notes
• Glinka Museum of Musical Culture (in Russian and English)
• A Carlos Gomes page (in Portuguese, French, English)
• Carlos Gomes Museum (in Portuguese)
• François-Joseph Gossec (in French)
• A Louis Moreau Gottschalk page
• Louis Moreau Gottschalk
• Louis Moreau Gottschalk Pianiste itinerant (in French and English)
• A Louis Moreau Gottschalk page
• A Charles Gounod website (in French and English)
• The Grainger Museum
• The International Percy Grainger Society
• The Percy Grainger Society
• Christoph Graupner
• Christoph Graupner Gesellschaft (in German and English)
• Great Norwegians—Edvard Grieg
• Grieg2007 (in Norwegian and English)
• The International Edvard Grieg Society
• Grétry Museum, Liège (in Dutch, English, French, German)
• Handel-House Halle (in German and English)
• Handel Institute
• Handel Reference Database
• Roy Harris
• Lou Harrison
• Lou Harrison Archive
• Karl Amadeus Hartmann Gesellschaft (in German)
• Joanathan Harvey
• Jonathan Harvey
• Jonathan Harvey at Faber
• Hasse Gesellschaft Munich (in German)
• The Hasse Project
• Hasse Gesellschaft Bergedorf (in German)
• Josef Matthias Hauer (in German)
• Joseph Haydn’s birthplace (in German)
• Joseph Haydn’s home in Eisenstadt
• Joseph Haydn’s last home
• Johann Michael Haydn Gesellschaft (in German and English)
• Michael Haydn Museum Salzburg
• Anthony Philip Heinrich
• The Henselt Society
• Henselt-Studio
• Victor Herbert
• Henri Herz (in French)
• Hindemith Foundation (in German, English, French)
• Gustav Holst Museum
• Gustav Holst website
• An Arthur Honegger website (in French and English)
• An Alan Hovhaness page
• Hubert Howe-ACA
• Hummel Gesellschaft (in German)
• Hummelhaus-Weimar (in German)
• Hummel Museum Bratislava (in Slovak and English)
• The Hummel Project
• Alois Hába
• The John Ireland Trust
• The Charles Ives Society
• Ives Catalogue
• A site about Leos Janácek
• Leos Janácek Memorial Brno (in Czech, English, German)
• The Leos Janácek Society of Switzerland (in German, English, Czech)
• A Mauricio Kagel page (in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese)
• Ulysses Kay
• Ulysses Kay-Columbia University
• Aram Khachaturian Museum (in Armenian, Russian, English)
• Aram Khachaturian Virtual Museum (in Armenian, Russian, English)
• The International Kodály Society
• Kodály Institute (in English and Hungarian)
• The Ernst-Krenek-Institute (in German)
• Ton de Leeuw
• Der Villa von Franz Lehár (in German)
• Internationale Franz-Lehár-Gesellschaft (in German)
• Museo Leoncavallo (in Italian and German)
• György Ligeti
• American Liszt Society
• Liszt Birthplace (in German)
• Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum (in Hungarian, English, German)
• The Franz Liszt Site
• The Carl-Loewe-Museum (in German and English)
• The Carl-Loewe-Gesellschaft (in German)
• The Albert Lortzing website
• Albert Lortzing Gesellschaft (in German)
• Arthur Lourié Gesellschaft Basel (in German, English, French, Russian)
• Otto Luening-ACA
• Polish Music Center—Witold Lutoslawski
• The Witold Lutoslawski Society
• Witold Lutoslawski
• The Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation (in French and English)
• Ernest MacMillan at CMC (in English and French)
• The Mahler Archives
• Gustav Mahler Society of New York
• Gustav Mahler Society UK
• Boyhood Home of Gustav Mahler (in Czech, English, German)
• The International Gustav Mahler Society (in German and English)
• A Donald Martino page
• Bohuslav Martinu
• Bohuslav Martinu Center (in Czech, English, German)
• Martinu Foundation (in Czech and English)
• Swiss Martinu Society (in German and English)
• Official Pietro Mascagni site (in Italian, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish)
• Lowell Mason Birthplace
• L’Association Massenet Internationale (in French and English)
• Internationale Simon-Mayr Gesellschaft (in German)
• John Melby-ACA
• Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Portal (in German and English)
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Mendelssohn House (in German and English)
• The Mendelssohn Project (in German and English)
• A Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel page (in German and English)
• An Olivier Messiaen page
• Meyerbeer “Fan Club”
• Darius Milhaud Archive at Mills College
• Bob Moog Foundation
• Moogmusic
• Robert Moog Archives
• Mozart.com (in German, English, Spanish)
• Mozart Museum Salzburg (in German and English)
• The Mozart Project
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (in English and German)
• A Conlon Nancarrow Web Page
• Conlon Nancarrow
• Conlon Nancarrow
• Conlon Nancarrow resources (in German, some English)
• Max Neuhaus
• Carl Nielsen Society
• Archivio Luigi Nono (in Italian and English)
• The Jacques Offenbach Society
• Orff Zentrum München (in German)
• The Carl Orff Homepage (in German, English, French, Spanish)
• Associazioni Amici si Paganini (in Italian)
• Vincent Persichetti Society
• A Willem Pijper page (in English and French)
• Internationale Ignaz Joseph Pleyel Gesellschaft (in German, English, French)
• The Porpora Project
• Henri Pousseur (in French)
• The Serge Prokofiev Foundation (in English, some Russian)
• Centro studi Giacomo Puccini
• An Arvo Pärt page
• A Rakhmaninov page
• A Rakhmaninov page
• Rachmaninoff Network
• Jean-Philippe Rameau (in French and English)
• A Maurice Ravel page
• The Max Reger Foundation of America
• Max Reger Institute (in German and English)
• An Ottorino Respighi page
• Ottorino Respighi catalogue (in Italian)
• Roger Reynolds-Library of Congress
• Rimsky-Korsakov Home Page
• A Joaquin Rodrigo page (in English and Spanish)
• Fundación Victoria y Joaquín Rodrigo (in Spanish and English)
• Gioachino Rossini Birthplace (in Italian and English)
• Dane Rudhyar
• Dane Rudhyar-ACA
• Fondazione Russolo-Pratella (in Italian and French)
• Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges
• Camille Saint-Saëns Collection (in French)
• A Salieri page
• An Erik Satie page (in French)
• Maisons Satie, Honfleur (in French, Dutch, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish)
• Schillinger Society
• Schillinger System
• Florent Schmitt blog
• A Chronology of Alfred Schnittke
• Arnold Schoenberg Center (in German and English)
• The Franz Schreker Foundation (in German and English)
• Schubert Institute UK
• Franz Schubert Birthplace (in German and English)
• A J.A.P. Schulz page (in German)
• The William Schuman Music Trust
• William Schuman
• Clara Wieck Schumann
• Schumann-Portal (in German and English)
• Robert Schumann in Zwickau (in German and English)
• Schumann-Haus Leipzig (in German, English, French)
• The Schumann-Haus Bonn (in German)
• Peter Sculthorpe
• Peter Sculthorpe-Australian Music Centre
• Roger Sessions Society
• Cecil Sharp House
• Shostakovichiana
• A Shostakovich page (in Dutch and English)
• Shostakovich International Association (in English, German, French, Japanese)
• shostakovich.org
• Sibelius Museum (in Finnish and English)
• Sibelius-The Finnish Club of Helsinki (in Finnish, Swedish, English, German)
• Home of Jean Sibelius (in Finnish, Swedish, English)
• Sibelius Society (in Finnish, Swedish, English)
• Gottfried Silbermann Gesellschaft (in German, English, French)
• The Skryabin Society of America
• Skryabin Museum (in Russian)
• Bedrich Smetana Museum Prague (in Czech and English)
• Smetana Birthplace Litomysl
• Leland C. Smith-ACA
• The Spohr Society of Great Britain
• A Louis Spohr page (in German)
• The Spohr Society of the US
• Braunschweigische Louis Spohr Gesellschaft (in German)
• Ludwig Spohr Museum (in German)
• Gaspare Spontini (in Italian and English)
• Museo Gaspare Spontini
• The Stanford Society
• William Grant Still Music
• Karlheinz Stockhausen
• Karlheinz Stockhausen Foundation
• Stockhausen Society
• The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain
• Richard Strauss Online (in German and English)
• Richard Strauss Gesellschaft (in German)
• Richard Strauss Institute (in German)
• Richard Strauss Quellen Verzeichnis
• Igor Stravinsky Foundation
• Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
• Sir Arthur Sullivan Society
• Maria Szymanowska Society (in French, Polish, English, Russian, German, Italian, Japanese)
• Karol Szymanowski
• Karol Szymanowski
• Karol Szymanowski Polish Music Center
• Karol Szymanowski Museum
• Toru Takemitsu complete works
• John Tavener
• The Essential John Tavener
• Tchaikovsky research
• Tchaikovsky State House-Museum in Klin
• Tchaikovsky Birthplace Museum (in Russian and English)
• Telemann in Hamburg (in German)
• Telemann in Magdeburg (in German and English)
• Telemann Foundation (in German)
• Centro Studi Internazionale Sigismund Thalberg
• A Theremin web page
• Another Theremin web page
• The Virgil Thomson Foundation
• Michael Tippett Foundation
• Joan Tower-ACA
• The Traetta Website Project
• Joaquin Turina (in Spanish)
• Viktor Ullmann
• Viktor Ullmann Foundation
• Viktor Ullmann (in German)
• Vladimir Ussachevsky-ACA
• The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society
• Museo Giuseppe Verdi
• Giuseppe Verdi official site
• Verdi’s Operas
• Associazione Culturale Amici di Verdi
• Pauline Viardot Research Project (with work catalogue) (in German)
• Heitor Villa-Lobos
• Villa-Lobos Magazine
• Villa-Lobos Museum (in Portuguese, Spanish, English)
• Villa-Lobos website at Indiana University
• Claude Vivier website
• Wagner’s operas
• Richard Wagner Archive
• Richard Wagner in Leipzig (in German and English)
• Richard Wagner Museum-Bayreuth (in German and English)
• Richard Wagner Museum-Lucerne (in German and English)
• William Walton’s La Mortella (in Italian and English)
• William Walton Trust
• Johann Baptist Wanhal Association
• Carl Maria von Weber Museum (in German and English)
• Anton Webern
• The Kurt Weill Foundation
• Kurt Weill Festival Dessau (in German and English)
• Samuel Wesley
• Peter Westergaard-ACA
• Hugo Wolf birthplace and museum (in Slovenian, English, German)
• The Stefan Wolpe Society
• Charles Wuorinen-ACA
• Les amis de Xenakis (in French and English)
• Isang Yun Gesellschaft (in German and English)
• Isang Yun Memorial (in English and Korean)
• Frank Zappa
• Bernd Alois Zimmermann Gesellschaft (in German)
• A John Zorn page