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| Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae | |
|---|---|
| Name | Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Latin, English |
| Subject | Early music, Medieval music, Renaissance music, Baroque music |
| Publisher | American Institute of Musicology |
| Pub date | 1947–present |
| Media type | Print editions |
Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae is a multi-volume critical edition series devoted to medieval and Renaissance polyphonic repertories, established to provide reliable sources for scholarly study and historically informed performance. The series has issued diplomatic editions, modern transcriptions, and critical commentaries that aggregate primary sources from archives, libraries, and private collections across Europe and North America. It functions as a nexus between archival research, philology, and performative reconstruction, affecting scholarship in musicology, paleography, and liturgical studies.
The series was initiated in the aftermath of World War II by the American Institute of Musicology and figures associated with Renaissance music revivalism and scholarly editing such as Frank D'Accone and Aleksandar Srećković; its roots draw on precedents from the Corpus Christianorum and editorial models exemplified by the Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst. Early intention paralleled projects like the Monuments of Music and the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music movement, aiming to collate facsimiles and transcriptions from repositories such as the Vatican Library, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, British Library, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The editorial apparatus reflects methodologies advanced by editors of the Musica Britannica series and scholars influenced by the philological practices of the Weimarer Ausgabe and the Neue Bach-Ausgabe.
Editorial policy follows principles of source collation, diplomatic transcription, and critical comparison informed by the practices of Ottaviano Petrucci studies and the stemmatic approaches used in editions like the Editio Critica Maior. The series prioritizes repertories including Franco-Flemish motets, Burgundian chansons, and late medieval isorhythmic motets represented in codices such as the Chantilly Codex, Rossi Codex, and Trinity College Cambridge MS R.16.2. Editions juxtapose plainchant sources from the Graduale Romanum tradition with polyphonic settings associated with figures like Guillaume de Machaut, Josquin des Prez, Orlando di Lasso, and lesser-known masters preserved in the Cancionero de Palacio. The scope spans compositional genres found in the holdings of institutions such as the Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, and the National Library of Spain.
Major volumes present collected works and thematic anthologies: complete motets of key composers, anthologies of Mass cycles, and repertory studies of chansonniers and chanson. Significant items reprinted include works linked to Guillaume Dufay, the oeuvre related to Cipriano de Rore, and compilations of Franco-Flemish School repertoire. The series issues critical commentaries that reference palaeographical evidence from manuscripts like F-Pn Latin 1139 and I-MO holdings, and present concordances with prints by Petrucci and Antico. The volumes document source sigla, variant readings, and editorial emendations comparable to apparatuses in editions of Palestrina and the collected works of Heinrich Isaac.
Contributors include editors and musicologists affiliated with major research centers: scholars such as Charles Warren who engaged in manuscript cataloguing, editors in the tradition of Margaret Bent, and paleographers influenced by Daniel Heartz and Gustave Reese; other collaborators have included the likes of Geoffrey Chew, Edward Lowinsky, Anne Azéma, and Bernard de Montfaucon-inspired manuscript scholars. Institutional collaboration involved the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University, Yale University, and European archives like the Archivio Segreto Vaticano. Performers and conductors such as Paul Van Nevel and Philippe Herreweghe have used the editions in reconstructive practices.
The series shaped analytical paradigms in studies of mensural notation, modal theory, and contrafactum processes alongside work by Manuscript Studies scholars and theorists following the trajectories of Heinrich Schenker and Leo Treitler. Editions provided primary material for dissertations and monographs at institutions like Princeton University, Oxford University, and Cambridge University, influencing editorial standards adopted by projects such as the New Josquin Edition. Historically informed performance ensembles and recording projects—linked to labels connected with Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi, and Archiv Produktion—have relied on the series for repertory and source-critical justification. Citation networks show cross-references with scholarship on the Council of Trent liturgical reforms and studies of Renaissance patronage centered on courts like the Burgundian Netherlands and the Medici.
Reception has been broadly positive among specialists in Renaissance and Medieval music for making dispersed sources accessible, yet critiques arose concerning editorial decisions, transparency of emendations, and modernization of mensural notation comparable to debates surrounding the New Bach Edition. Critics associated with schools influenced by Historical Performance have argued for more performance-critical commentary and clearer differentiation between diplomatic and normalized readings, while some paleographers called for improved facsimile reproduction quality relative to standards set by the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Ongoing dialogue between editors and performers continues at conferences such as the International Musicological Society and within journals like Early Music History and Journal of the American Musicological Society.
Category:Music editions Category:Renaissance music Category:Musicology