See also Printed biographical sources for composers and their works held in the Yale University Music Library
and
Biographical resources (from Authority Control at Yale)
General resources | Composer biographies | by time period | Women composers and musicians | Performer biographies
Birth and death indexes | Online music publishers' catalogs
Multiple composer biographical sources by city, country, or geographic area | instrument or genre
General:
Biographie-Portal
• Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB)
• Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB)
• Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950 (ÖBL)
• Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS)
• Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon (OeML)
• Rheinland-Pfälzische Personendatenbank (RPPD)
• Sächsische Biografie (SäBi)
• Slovenska biografija (SBI)
Music:
- MGG (Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart)
- ASCAP, 2nd ed.
- Authority tools for audiovisual and music catalogers: an annotated list of useful resources
- Eitner: Biographisch-bibliographisches Quellen-Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten
- Fétis: Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique vol. 1 | vol. 2 | vol. 3 (D-Gibbons) | vol. 4 | vol. 5 | vol. 6 | vol. 7 | vol. 8 | vol. 8 | suppl. 1 | suppl. 2
- DW3 from Duke University; note: this is an archived version of the page; it is no longer being maintained
- Internet Broadway database
- Internet movie database
- Afrocentric voices in classical music (focus on African American performers and composers)
- Composers of African Descent
- AMS composer home pages
- American Composers Alliance
- American Composers Forum
- ccm composers-classical-music com includes 7494 composers
- The christian fellowship of art music composers
- Classical and contemporary composers
- Classical composers
- Classical composers database
- Classical music on the web: British and Irish composers | Non-British composers
- Composer birth & death dates from the University of Illinois Bands, current through 1/1/2006
- Composer pages from Stanford University
- Composers from Indiana University
- Composers (from T. Moore)
- Composers biographies from The Gaudeamus Foundation
- Composers' homepages from Simmons College
- Composers-classical-music
- Composer homepages from Duke University
- Les compositeurs from CDMC (Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine)
- Contemporary classical music
- Dichter und Komponisten (Poets and composers)
- Directory of composers on the net from Center for the Promotion of Contemporary Composers
- IRCAM Alphabetical list of composers
- Jewish Music WebCenter | Milken Archive: American Jewish music
- Komponisten-Daten
- Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit
- Library of Congress copyright search: books, music, etc.
Library of Congress Copyright Office. Catalogue of copyright entries 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 - The living composers project
- Meet the composer
- MusicMoz: Contemporary composers |Early 20th-century composers
- Musiques actuelles: Les compositeurs classiques
- Notamorn
- On music dictionary: composers
- Russian Jewish encyclopedia; not specific to music
- Society of Composers
- Amati violin and bow makers
- Vox Novus; a collective of contemporary composers
Composer biographies by time period
- Babel scores: contemporary music online (from the last 40 years) (requires subscription)
- List of 21st century classical composers (Internet archive version)
- Komponisten der Gegenwart from Edition Text + Kritik
- Medieval Music & Arts Foundation composer pages
- Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical era composers
Women composers and musicians biographies
- By country: Czech | Dutch Foundation for Women in Music | Japan| New York
- Brass music of Women composers database
- Las compositoras españolas de obras con guitarra
- Contributions of Jewish Women to music and of Women to Jewish music
- Early music women composers, from Ancient & Byzantine to Late baroque & early classical
See also Women's early music chronology - Early Women masters
- Ebel, Otto. Les femmes compositeurs de musique : dictionnaire biographique, 1910; PDF
- Archiv Frau und Musik
- Hildegard Publishing Company a music publisher devoted to "promot[ing] and preserv[ing] the music of women composers of the past and present"
- Leonarda Productions
- Meisterinnen der Töne
- Mujer y guitarra española
- Musik und Gender im Internet
- Sigma Alpha Iota Composer Bureau; SAI is an international music fraternity for women in the United States. This web site includes information about American composers (and some Canadian), both female and male.
- Swedish music by women composers
- Women composers, a scoreography from the University of Oregon music library
- Women composers database
- Women composers' materials: the collection of Hudební informacní stredisko Ceský Hudební Fond
- Women composers web index
- Women hymn composers before 1900
- Women of note
- Women's music
- For sound recordings
- Performer biographies from Thomas Moore
- Anybirthday.com "relies on driver's license and voting registration for its information, with the hazards those sources entail"--Mark Scharff
- Necrology from Gaylord Music Library, Washington University in St. Louis
- RootsWeb
- Social Security death master file, free
By country or geographic area
International Association of Music Information Centres: 43 member organisations in 38 countries
See also Classical music country index
- Classical composers archive: by country
- Argentina: Música Clásica Argentina | Compositores & Intérpretes
- Armenia: Armenian composers
- Australia: Australian music centre | Australasian Computer Music Association
- Austria: Music Information Center Austria | Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon Online | Osterreichischer Komponistenbund | Interessengemeinschaft Niederösterreichische Komponisten (Association of Composers of Lower Austria)
- Basque area (Paiís Vasco): see Spain
- Belgium: CeBeDeM: Belgian Documentation Centre for Contemporary Music | Database of Flemish composers after 1950 | Studiecentrum voor Vlaamse Muziek
- Brazil: Brazil Centro de Documentação de Música Contemporânea Note: alphabetical by composer's first name! | Multimusica | Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira
- England and Great Britain: British Music Page list of composers | British and Irish composers | North-West Composers Association | Central Composers' Alliance | British composer project | Early English music, 1385-1714 | British Music Collection (UK contemporary music)
- Bulgaria: Union of Bulgarian composers | Index of contemporary Bulgarian composers
- Canada: Canadian Music Centre | Encyclopedia of music in Canada | Canadian League of Composers | Canadian compositions for trombone | Contemporary Canadian composers
- Catalonia: see Spain
- Colombia: Compositores colombianos
- Croatia: Croatian Composers' Society (English version)
- Czech Republic: Ceský hudební slovník osob a institucí | Czech Music Information Center | Czech composers (from Wikipedia)
- Denmark: Det virtuelle musikbibliothek (Online Music Research Library of Denmark) | Værkfortegnelser for danske komponister (Worklists for Danish composers) | Samfundet til udgivelse af Dansk musik (Society for the publication of Danish music): The composers) | Dansk Komponist Forening
- Estonia: Estonian Music Information Centre | Estonian Composers Union | Estonian composers (from Wikipedia)
- Finland: Music Finland | Society of Finnish Composers
- France: CDMC | Musica et memoria
- Georgia: Les peuples géorgiens: musique (in French)
- Germany:
- Allgemeine deutsche Biographie & Neue deutsche Biographie
- Deutsches Komponistenarchiv
- Deutscher Komponistenverband
- Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum
- Handbuch deutsche Musiker, 1933-1945 by Fred K. Prieberg
- Komponisten der Gegenwart
- Künstler im Kultur-Netz
- Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit
Gerber, Ernst Ludwig. Neues historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler, 1812-1814 A-D | E-J | K-R | S-Z - By city or region
- Greece: Greek Composers' Union
- Hungary: Contemporary Hungarian composers | Hungarian composers | Magyar zeneszerzk listája (List of Hungarian composers; from Wikipedia) | Kortárs magyar zeneszerzok kincsestára (Treasury of contemporary Hungarian composers; note: Internet Archive version)
- Iceland:Icelandic composers (from Wikipedia)
- Ireland: Contemporary Irish composers | British and Irish composers
- Israel: Israel Music Information Center | Israel composers' league
- Italy: Banca dati dei compositori Italiani | Italian composers whose songs have been recorded by or with the Trio Lescano A-C D-L D-L Q-Z | Federazione CEMAT (electroacoustic and computer music)
- Japan: Music from Japan: composer index
- Latin America: Latin American Music Center catalog (Catholic University) | Colegio de Compositores Latinoamericanos de Música de Arte | Catálogo de obras para saxofón de compositores de América Latina
- Latvia: Music in Latvia (Latvian version)
- Lithuania: Lithuanian composers
- Luxemburg: Luxemburg Society for Contempory Music
- Macedonia: Composers Association of Macedonia
- Mexico: Diccionario enciclopédico de música en Mexico (PDF)
- New Zealand: New Zealand composers from the Centre for New Zealand Music | Australasian Computer Music Association
- Norway: Norwegian composers (from Wikipedia)
- Poland:Polski Centrum Informacji Muzycznej | Polish composers, from USC | Culture.pl | Polish composers from Middle Ages to Baroque
- Portugal: Atrium: base de dados de compositores portugueses | Compositores contemporâneos | Centro de Investigação & Informação da Música Portuguesa
- Romania: Romanian music information center
- Russia: Illiustrirovannyi biograficheskii entsiklopedicheskii slovar' gitaristi i kompository (illustrated biographical encyclopedic dictionary of guitarists and composers (in Russian (Cyrillic)) | Two centuries of Russian composers | Russiches Musikarchiv | Muzykal'naia entsiklopediia | see also Soviet Union
- Scotland: Scottish Music Centre | Scottish composers
- Slovakia: Hudobné Centrum Slovakia | Slovak composers (from Wikipedia)
- Sloveni: Society of Slovene composers
- South Africa: Domus | South African composers (from Wikipedia)
- Soviet Union: Soviet composers | A bibliography of trumpet concertos from the former Soviet Union | see also Russia
- Spain: Important Spanish composers of the twentieth century
- By city or region
- Basque area (Paiís Vasco): Musikagileak (Association of Basque Navarrese composers)
- Catalonia: Associació Catalana de Compositors | Cat Música
- Valencia: Asoiacion de compositores sinfonicos valencianos
- By city or region
- Sweden: Föreningen svenska tonsättare (Society of Swedish composers) | Classical Music Center Sweden | Svensk music | Musik-Lexikon scanned from the ed. published: Tryckt hos J. & A. Riis, 1864. | Liste schwedischer Komponisten klassischer Musik (from Wikipedia) | Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon (not music specific; digital version of the 1906 ed.) | Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (not music specific) | Swedish song | Swedish music by women composers
- Switzerland: Schweizer Musikedition | Répertoire international des sources musicales: Schweiz | musinfo banca dati sulla musica in Svizzera)
- By city or region
- Vaud: Musiciens vaudois
- By city or region
- Ukraine: Music Information Center Ukraine
- United States:
- General:
- American Composers Alliance
- Composers bureau from Sigma Alpha Iota
- National Association of Composers/USA: composer list (with work lists) | links to members' homepages
- By state or city:
- General:
Multiple composers biographical sources by instrument or genre