Book 5

Editing Early Music

by John Caldwell

Published 28 February 1985
This book is a guide to the editorial procedures suitable for music written from the Middle Ages to about 1830 and replaces the 1963 pamphlet by Thurston Dart, Walter Emery, and Christopher Morris. An introductory chapter on the principles of editing and transcribing is followed by three chronologically-arranged chapters: the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the Renaissance, and Baroque and Classical periods. The final chapter deals with the preparation of copy and other practical matters. The book does not aim to describe early notations in detail; rather it is intended for the guidance of those who have already acquired a good knowledge of palaeography, notation, and source studies, and who may wish to give practical thought to the problems of presentation in the form of an edition. John Caldwell is University Lecturer in Music and a Fellow of Keble College. He has been the general editor of the Series Musica da Camera (OUP) and is general editor of Corpus of Early Keyboard Music (American Institute of Musicology.