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

Of the two surviving collections of late medieval lauda melodies, the Florence Laudario is the largest and most diverse. These 97 Italian laude and 10 Latin works were compiled during the early fourteenth century for use by the laudesi company of Santo Spirito. The integrity of the codex as a confraternity service book has been preserved by transcribing the entire contents in original order. This is the first English translation of a significant corpus of Italian laude, and most of the melodies have been emended in light of the discovery that many corrupt readings were introduced during the sixteenth or seventeenth century, when the damaged manuscript was trimmed and arbitrarily recopied. The Florence Laudario makes available one of the most beautiful and relatively unexplored late medieval vernacular song repertories.