Scores in old notation (medieval, renaissance etc)

[jujimufu]

I was going through my university's library today and I saw a lot of medieval and renaissance scores in original notation. They were collected in volumes, usually focused (usually) around a composer. I think there was a preface by an editor, but I am fairly sure the music itself has not been edited, as it appears to be fascimiles of the manuscripts of the composers or copies of the works by other people (and their contemporary publications).

Would IMSLP be interested in such scores? Or do we focus entirely on 'traditional' western notation? Or 'traditional' western notation and after? (so a contemporary piece with non-standard notation would still be acceptable, while a medieval piece in non-standard notation wouldn't).

I think it would make a great addition, although there is lots and lots and lots of music which is in the older notations, and which has also been transcribed in modern notation.


P.S. I could also take a photograph of the Seikilos epitaph, as I will be in Copenhagen in December! That could be the oldest piece of music on IMSLP (and it is on old notation (more like.. ancient)

[panda]

Yes please! Some of us could be able to make our own editions in modern notation and then post them as well. Almost all singers will find it very hard to use the first edition Monteverdi partbooks which have been posted but they're a fantastic resource.

[pml]

Hi all,

I don't see anything in the IMSLP's remit that would exclude original sources of mediæval or renaissance music, so please, go for it. Facsimiles of original manuscripts are useful in a scholarly as well as a musical sense. As an example of a manuscript with a rather bare musical component, consisting only of neumatic glyphs above a small fraction of the lyrics, I offer you the Codex buranus, a facsimile which would be of interest to anyone with more than a passing interest in the works of Carl Orff.

There are also some scholarly complete works editions of Renaissance composers that may gradually be entering the public domain under urtext provisions (a pity for example, that the Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae was published in the US!), or older complete works sets where copyright has already lapsed, e.g. Haberl's edition of Palestrina's works, Pedrell's edition of Victoria's, etc. The scholarly editions at least have the option of readily being used for performance - although there are a number of specialist early music ensembles (some of which are vocal, pace panda's post above) that can play or sing direct from facsimiles of original sources.

Regards, Philip

[jujimufu]

Sounds great then I'll get down to it. Any preferences, or should I just grab a random book and scan it?

the only problem might be that the book is a bit too big for the scanner. I will see if I can get around it, though.

[pml]

I'd suggest trying to be a little bit more systematic about it, rather than randomly grabbing something off the shelf - there is a *huge* amount of material there. For example, the CMM I mentioned above is one of the larger renaissance editions, around 650 volumes in 110 series - and that's new typesetting, not the original facsimiles. Even with the methods for saving vellum and ink that Renaissance scribes used, the amount of manuscript out there is several lifetimes' worth of scanning...

Regards, PML

[jujimufu]

Fair enough..

Well, then - I'll try and find composers whose works are not on IMSLP in manuscript or re-typeset forms, so it will be more of an addition rather than just adding the old-notation version of already-uploaded pieces (and then people can make their own typesets/typesettings/whatever of the old notation, if they want).

Sounds good enough?

[sbeckmesser]

I'd love to find out what you have access to. I feel that as much as possible of the acknowledged supreme masters should be uploaded first, with anonymous works further down on the list (with the exception of any Medieval organum, which I'd love to see in facsimile form as well as in modern notation). IMSLP is sorely lacking in content by Josquin, Dufay, Palestrina, Lassus (only 1 entry!) and Ockeghem (also 1 entry!), just to name four of the biggest names. The recent postings of Dunstaple (Dunstable) are a tremendous step forward for early music on IMSLP.

Also, if you are scanning an entire volume, please include any textual material that precedes and follows the music. For pre-baroque music this material is essential for the proper interpretation of the notes as it will (or should) describe the editorial approach, which can be extremely controversial with some types of music. It is also essential that indexes to such volumes be included, since dozens of pieces can be involved.

Finally, many early-music pieces are referred to by the volume in which they appear (PIece No.X in Volume Y), a system that is essential in dealing with anonymous compositions. I think that volumes from a multi-volume collected-edition set should be scanned absolutely complete and listed at IMSLP under the name and volume of the collected edition.

--Sixtus

[jujimufu]

Sixtus:

Go here: https://arsca.linneanet.fi/cgi-bin/Pweb ... rst&init=1 (click "Search Limits" on the bottom-right of the search box, and define the Location: field to "Sibeilus-Akatemia Helsinki" - because that's where I have access to!) (I mean, I also have access to all the other institutions in the list, but a) I've never been and don't know where they are, library times etc, and b) they don't really contain any music stuff, not much more than can already be found in the Sibelius Academy library).

If you find something that grabs your attention, send me a message and if it's not too big I'll give it a try!