Medieval and Renaissance Sources




Medieval Music

Overview of music in the Middle Ages:-

  • From A.D. 800 onwards (Plainchant)
  • Evidence of polyphonic music (Before Winchester Troper)
  • Winchester Troper and related sources
  • The second stage of Western polyphonic music - Aquitanian sources and the Codex Calixtinus

  • The link between Aquitanian and "Notre Dame" polyphony
  • The third stage of Western polyphonic music - Magnus Liber Organi

  • Clausulae, Conductus, and Motet
  • English polyphonic music from St. Andrew music book
  • Secular monophonies in different regions - Martin Codex, Chansonnier du Roi, Jenaer
  • Liederhandschrift, etc.
  • The fourth stage of Western polyphonic music - Codex de Montpellier, Bamberg Codex, Codex de Las

  • Huelgas, etc.
  • Polyphonic and monophonic music from La Roman de Fauval
  • The emergence of cyclic mass - Codices Apt and Ivrea
  • English music in the fourteenth century - the Worcester fragments and related sources
  • Instrumental music in the middle ages - British Library, MS Harley 978, British Library, MS Egerton 29987, Codex Faenza, etc.
  • Music in Italy in the fourteenth century - The Squarcialupi Codex, The Rossi Codex, The Lucca Codex,
  • British Library, MS Egerton 29987, etc.
  • French music in the late middle ages - The Codex T. III. 2. Turin (The Boverio Codex), The Franco Cypriot Codex, The Chantilly Manuscript, etc.
  • English music since the Worcester Fragments - The Old Hall Manuscript, Trent Codices, Oxford,
  • Bodleian Library, canconic 213.13, and related sources


  • Renaissance Music

    Overview of music in the Renaissance:-

  • The Old Hall manuscript
  • Isorhythmic motets and Ordinary mass settings in pairs (Gloria-Credo; Sanctus-Agnus dei)
  • Fauxbourdon and English discant style
  • Continental manuscripts (Trent Codices, Bologna 2216, Bologna Q15, Munich 3232a, Astoa A'D19, Modena a X.1.11.i, etc.)
  • Secular music in renaissance manuscripts - Ballades, Virelais, and Rondeaux

  • Monophonic dance tunes of the fifteenth century (Brussels MS 9085 and S' ensuit l'art et instruction de bien dancer)
  • Italian dance tunes and the treatise by Antonio Cornazano
  • Monophonic Chansonniers (Paris, Bibl. nat. fr. 9346 and Paris, Bibl. nat. fr.12744)
  • Eight Chansonniers of the mid-fifteenth century (Dijon; Sevilla-Paris; Mellon; Copenhegen; Escorial, Laborde, Nivelle de la Chaussee, Pixerecourt)
  • Vocal music in England I (Egerton MS 3307, Eaton choir book, Ritson manuscript, Fayrfax manuscript, etc.)

    Four Florentine Chansonniers of the late fifteenth century (Florence 229, Florence 117, Bologna Q17, Cappella Giulia)

    Collections of chansons printed by Ottaviano Petrucci (Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A, Canti B numero cinquanta, and Canti C No. cento cinquanta)

    Frottolists and their music (Modena a.F.9.9, etc.)

    Petrucci and his motet anthologies

    Italian madrigal

    Parisian chansons

    Vocal music in England II (King Henry VIII's Songbook, The Baldwin Commonplace book, The Lant Roll, Ravenscroft's Pammelia, etc.)

    Lute-songs, English madrigals, and Consort music (In nomine)

    Keyboard music in England (Oxford Mus.371, Royal App. 56, Royal App. 58, Virginal MSS, etc.)

    Lute music in England (Royal App.58, Dublin Viriginal MS, etc.)

    Catholic music in Germany from late fifteenth century onwards (Munich mus.3154, Apel Codex, Lindner choirbook, etc.)

    German Lied and Lutheran music



    Paul Reale, June, 2000.