Recent Researches in the Music of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance

ISSN 0362-3572
Charles M. Atkinson, general editor

The series Recent Researches in the Music of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance presents modern editions of both monophonic and polyphonic music that result from research into specific composers, repertories, manuscripts, and genres of music dating from approximately 500–1500 C.E. The breadth of conception of the series is suggested by the editions that have been published thus far. They range from specific repertories of plainchant, including Beneventan and Nonantolan tropes, to studies of monophonic or polyphonic genres in specific manuscripts (the motets of the Montpellier Codex, the conductus in Wölfenbüttel 1099, the laude in the Florence Laudario). The series features works of specific composers (the complete works of both Vincenet and Cornago; the masses and secular works of Martini) and settings of "popular songs" of the early Renaissance (collections of compositions based on "Fors seulement," "De tous biens plaine," and "Fortuna desperata").

In every case the editions include a discussion of historical context and performance practices, complete translations of texts, and a critical report. Where necessary, as is the case with the Beneventanum Troporum Corpus, the edition also provides a transcription of the original notation in all its complexity and richness. The goal of these editions is to make the music of the past available to performers and scholars of the present in a form that is a pleasure to use and that represents the highest standards of musical scholarship.