Music work rich in scholarship

This new reference work, like the Dictionary of Irish Biography, fills a long perceived need, for it covers not only all aspects of music, composition and performance in Ireland, it deals with traditional classical and modern composers. Nor in a country where Handel’s Messiah had its first performance, is sacred music neglected, but it is placed in a true perspective of music as a whole. Harry White is Professor of Music at UCD and a Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Barra Boydell was Professor in the Department of Music at NUI Maynooth until his retirement in 2010.  For what it delivers these two volumes, rich with the latest scholarship, are remarkable value.