Music: In the Grove

For three-quarters of a century, the sun never set on Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. For archivists and amateurs, professors and performers around the world, England's queen-size compendium* was the first authority on the ways and means of music. But the fourth edition of Grove's (published in 1940) was much the same as the first (1878), and after World War II, London's Macmillan & Co. decided it was high time for a completely revised edition. After nearly ten years of labor—by about 500 contributors under the stern supervision of London Music Critic and Scholar Eric Blom—Grove V is out at...