This is the first in-depth study in any language exploring the vast cultural range of instrumental music during the Renaissance.

It has become widely accepted among musicologists that medieval music is most profitably studied from interdisciplinary perspectives that situate it within broad cultural contexts. The origins of this consensus lie in a decisive reorientation of the field that began approximately four decades ago. For much of the twentieth century, research on medieval music had focused on the discovery and evaluation of musical and theoretical sources. The 1970s and 1980s, by contrast, witnessed calls for broader methodologies and more fully contextual approaches that in turn anticipated the emergence of the so-called 'New Musicology'. The fifteen essays in the present collection explore three interrelated areas of inquiry that proved particularly significant: the liturgy, sources (musical and archival), and musical symbolism. In so doing, these essays not only acknowledge past achievements but also illustrate how this broad, interdisciplinary approach remains a source for scholarly innovation.

"Professor William Mahrt of Santford Univeristy and the Church Music Association of America has written a sweeping book--one that it is at once scholarly and practical--on that most controversial topic of music and the liturgy. He provides an over-whelming argument that every parish must have high standrads for liturgical music and he makes the full case for Gregorian chant as the model and the ideal of that liturgical music." - back cover

When we sing lines in which a fifteenth-century musician uses ethereal polyphony to complain mundanely about money or hoarseness, more than half a millennium melts away. Equally intriguing are moments in which we experience solmization puns. These familiar worries and surprising jests break down temporal distances, humanizing the lives and endeavors of our musical forebears. Yet many instances of self-reference occur within otherwise serious pieces. Are these simply in-jokes, or are there more meaningful messages we risk neglecting if we dismiss them as comic relief? Music historian Jane D. Hatter takes seriously the pervasiveness of these features. Divided into two sections, this study considers pieces with self-referential features in the texts separately from discussions of pieces based on musical self-referential elements. Examining connections between self-referential repertoire from the years 1450–1530 and similar self-referential creations for painters' guilds, reveals musicians' agency in forming the first communities of early modern composers.

This series presents introductory guides to key musical genres in the Western classical canon. Designed for the avid listener or the student of music history, each volume offers chapters exploring principal composers and their works, as well as contextual essays. Written by eminent music scholars, generously illustrated with musical examples, and furnished with suggested bibliographies, Routledge Studies in Musical Genres provide readable yet informative surveys for music lovers and dedicated musicians alike. Book jacket.

This entirely new volume of NOHM takes account of developments in late-medieval music scholarship, along with significant changes in the performance practice of the late-medieval repertory, witnessed during the latter half of the 20th century.