LibGuides: Diversity in Classical Music: General Resources

Repertoire Guides

Click the tabs at the top of the page to find more resources for specific groups.

Online Resources (selections)

Boulanger Initiative Database
Over 8,000 works by women and gender-marginalized composers.
The Composers Equity Project
List of women, gender non-conforming, and ALAANA composers.
Institute for Composer Diversity
Research resources plus databases of composers and works searchable by genre, ensemble, and composers' demographic information.
New Muses Project
Recommendations of underrepresented composers to explore, who are similar to a well-known composer you enter. Includes short biographies, selected works, and bibliography for each composer.
No Broken Links
Solo and chamber repertoire for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, and horn. Focuses on work by BIPOC, women, transgender, & gender non-conforming individuals.

Books in the Library (selections)

Latin American Classical Composers by Martha Furman Schleifer, Gary Galván (Editors)
Call Number: ML105 F53 2016 [Allen reference]
Biographical data and selective works lists for over 2,300 composers from Central and South America and the Hispanic Caribbean. Includes index of composers by country and women composers.
Music by Black Women Composers by Helen Walker-Hill
Call Number: ML128 W8 W35 [Allen reference]
Publication Date: 1995
Listing of works, arranged by type of instrument and size of ensemble. Full text available in print or via Google Books.
Music of Black Composers (series) by Aaron Horne
Separate books for brass, keyboard, string, and woodwind music.

About The Classical Canon

Read the resources below to learn more about the musical canon, how it was established, and why composers and performers of certain demographic groups are so underrepresented. Then, explore this guide to discover some of the many musicians from those underrepresented groups.

Web articles

Beethoven Was an Above Average Composer—Let’s Leave It at That
From the series “Confronting Racism and Sexism in American Music Theory,” by music theorist Philip Ewell.
The Myth of the Composer-Genius
Critiques the idea of a composer "genius," pointing out that it devalues the skill, training, and societal factors that lead to success. By music professor Evan Williams.
You Can't Change the Canon...Or Can You?
A great explanation of how the classical music canon was formed. By musicologist Linda Shaver-Gleason.

Books in the Library

Critical Music Historiography by Markus Mantere; Vesa Kurkela
Call Number: ML3797 C757 [Allen shelves]
Publication Date: 2015
Argues that methods for a critical re-evaluation of the past are needed. Tackles under-researched domains of music history as well as rethinking older historiographical concepts.
Gender and the Musical Canon by Marcia J. Citron
Call Number: ML82 C57 G4 [Allen shelves]
Publication Date: 1993
Examines the practices and attitudes that have led to the exclusion of women composers from musical 'canon.'
The Oxford Handbook of the Operatic Canon by Cormac Newark, William Weber (Editors)
Call Number: ML1700 O935 2020 [Allen shelves]
How opera evolved from a market driven by novelty to one of the most arthritically canonic art forms in existence.