# Looking for recommendations to learn about early music (Gregorian, ars antiqua, etc.)



## Tom Storer (Jan 4, 2018)

I'm interested in getting to know early vocal music, and following it through the years as it developed and influenced other music. Through the telephone app Idagio I've been discovering exquisite music and then using Wikipedia to dig deeper. But as useful as it is to stream and get general overviews, I realize that what I really need is high-quality liner notes, and even books about this music written for a lay audience (I have no musical training and am perfectly happy to go in slightly over my head; however, professional-level stuff wouldn't help me much).

So, any recommendations for individual CDs or box sets with excellent documentation, or for online articles, online or print periodicals, or books about this fascinating and crucial period of Western music, will be welcome. And of course, feel free to plug your favorite composers, artists, recordings and so on, and to offer your own insights.

Thanks!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

If I were you I would go to Hyperion's website and search for their recordings by the ensemble Gothic Voices. For each CD you will find liner notes online, free to access, with essays by Christopher Page. These are often worth reading, and the recordings are interesting too.

In addition, if you seek out the website of the ensemble Sequentia, you'll find some useful essays there. The same with the website of the group Cantus Modalis. Also, if you go to the site of Glossa Music, you'll find some inspiring material by Bjorn Schmelzer, who runs a group called Graindelavoix, and by the Dufay specialist group Cantica Symphonia.

I can't recommend a book on chant in English. I can if you can read French.

If you are interested in performance challenges then there is a very good book of essays: Tess Knighton and David Fallows, _Companion to Medieval Music_ (Dent, London 1992)

If I were you I would avoid buying a big box of performances by the same ensemble. Early music is much harder to interpret than later music and consequently there's a huge amount of performer discretion about everything that matters. The important thing is to gain exposure to lots of different approaches - it's an exciting, lively area and there are many creative things being done.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Hesperion XX, Montserrat Figueras, Jordi Savall: CD series _El Cant de la Sibilla vols. I-II-III_

Especially vol.2, perhaps. Very attractive music, IMHO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_the_Sibyl
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=543724


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## Tom Storer (Jan 4, 2018)

Thanks for the tips, Mandryka! Duly noted.



Mandryka said:


> I can't recommend a book on chant in English. I can if you can read French.


Je parle français couramment, puisque je vis à Paris depuis des lustres. Alors allez-y !



> If you are interested in performance challenges then there is a very good book of essays: Tess Knighton and David Fallows, _Companion to Medieval Music_ (Dent, London 1992)


Not sure what you mean by "performance challenges"?


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## Tom Storer (Jan 4, 2018)

joen_cph said:


> Hesperion XX, Montserrat Figueras, Jordi Savall: CD series _El Cant de la Sibilla vols. I-II-III_
> 
> Especially vol.2, perhaps. Very attractive music, IMHO.


Thanks for the recommendation!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Tom Storer said:


> Thanks for the tips, Mandryka! Duly noted.
> 
> Je parle français couramment, puisque je vis à Paris depuis des lustres. Alors allez-y !
> 
> Not sure what you mean by "performance challenges"?


Performance challenges - the score is often very hard to decipher - the text in the manuscripts may not be aligned with the musical notes, for example, and there may be all sorts of embellishments that the composer assumed that musicians would implement, and didn't record in writing. Pitch and even rhythm are disputed for many pieces, as is the role of instruments, and the way to form notes while singing. All this makes each performance like an experiment - that's what I find particularly fascinating. The book I mentioned is a collection of essays, well worth having in my opinion.

Tu peux lire français alors si tu t'intéresses à Plainchant, achète _Les Voix de Plain Chant_ de Marcel Pérès. C'est de loin le meilleur livre que j'aie jamais lu à ce sujet - c'est anthropologique et historique, pas technique, et c'est très contestataire.


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## Tom Storer (Jan 4, 2018)

Mandryka said:


> achète _Les Voix de Plain Chant_ de Marcel Pérès.


Done!

(adding characters to reach minimum permissible length of post)


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

I. Medieval & Renaissance box sets (an overview):

The following is a list of my favorite box sets. Generally, you have to buy these sets within a year or two of the time they come out, as they tend to go out of print quickly, and then can become super pricey: as with the Huelgas Ensemble's box set, "The Secret Labyrinth", which, believe it or not, was once an incredible bargain, when it initially sold for $20-25: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Labyr...byrinth&qid=1558892257&s=music&sr=1-2-catcorr

1. To start, I'd recommend a 8-CD set with a book of about 200 pages, entitled "Flemish Polyphony", which is part of Jérôme Lejeune's History of Music series on the Ricercar label: 



. The set is devoted to the leading Franco-Flemish composers of the 15th & early 16th centuries, who were collectively known as I Fiamminghi in Italy (or "the Flemish"), where a number of them held important ducal family & church posts in Rome, Florence, Ferrara, Bologna, etc.: starting with the Burgundian composers of the 1st generation: Guillaume Dufay (one of the giants in music history), Gilles Binchois, Hugo and Arnold de Lantins, through to Johannes Ockeghem (a major composer) and the later generation--Josquin Desprez (another giant) and Pierre de La Rue, who were both students of Ockeghem's, & Jacob Obrecht, etc.:

https://www.amazon.com/Flemish-Poly...lyphony&qid=1558892467&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/r/ric00102a.php

From there, you can move onto "Music in Europe at the Time of the Renaissance", if you wish: which explores the music of the 16th century from Josquin Desprez to Orlando de Lassus (or Roland de Lassus, or Orlando di Lasso--take your pick), etc.:

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Europe...KMEN2R2KSS8&psc=1&refRID=MS1BEKA8PKMEN2R2KSS8

I'd also recommend the following sets:

2. The complete works of Johannes Ciconia, performed by La Morra and Diabolus in Musica:





https://www.amazon.com/Ciconia-Oper...ohannes+ciconia&qid=1558893499&s=music&sr=1-2

3. The complete motets of Guillaume de Machaut, performed by Ensemble Musica Nova (as part of their excellent Machaut series)--the set has been issued twice:





https://www.amazon.com/Guillaume-Ma...+motets&qid=1558893590&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr
https://www.amazon.com/Machaut-mote...+motets&qid=1558893590&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr

(Although there will be some duplicating--which in Renaissance music is usually welcome, as performances of favorite music can differ considerably--I'd also recommend a remarkable CD of Machaut motets from the group Liber UnUsualis:





https://www.amazon.com/Guillaume-Ma...machaut&qid=1558897022&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr

and another Machaut CD from The Clerk's Group of motets from the Ivrea Codex (also remarkable): https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7942187--motets-by-guillaume-de-machaut)

There's also a discount Brilliant box set from Ensemble Gilles Binchois, entitled, "Sacred and Secular Works of Guillaume de Machaut": which is a real bargain: 




https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Secul...illiant&qid=1559076364&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr

In addition, I'd recommend 3 discount box sets of recordings drawn from the Hilliard Ensemble's early EMI years, when Paul Hillier sang with the ensemble: The Hilliards were the group that got me into early music (along with David Munrow & Bruno Turner), for which I am deeply grateful. I treasure their early EMI (Virgin & now Erato) recordings, which were a revelation at the time: as here were just four guys singing mostly 3 & 4 part Renaissance polyphony, in a style that influenced and paved the way for other later groups--such as the Orlando Consort, Ensemble Jachet de Mantoue, Cinquecento, Stimmwerck, etc.. My only complaint is that the recordings have not been remastered since the first EMI CDs (from the 1980s), and some of them could use it, especially when I consider how good these recordings sounded on my EMI LPs:

4. https://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-...lliard+ensemble&qid=1558893749&s=music&sr=1-1

5. https://www.amazon.com/Franco-Flemi...lliard+ensemble&qid=1558893749&s=music&sr=1-8

6. https://www.amazon.com/Renaissance-...r=0G1FW9XBG4REQMCKF8BC&qid=1559077157&s=music

Included in the above sets are the following essential masterworks:

Dufay: Nuper Rosarum Flores: 



Dufay: O Sancte Sebastiane: 



Dufay: Missa L'homme armé: 



Ockeghem Requiem: 



Ockeghem: Missa Prolationum & Marian Motets: 



Josquin: Motets & Chansons--including the motet, "Miserere Mei Deus", which is considered one of the towering works of the early Renaissance (one musicologist described it as the musical equivalent of Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling), along with Josquin's motet, "La Deploration de la mort Johannes Ockeghem", and beautiful "Ave Maria": 



Orlando Lassus: Penitential Psalms: 



Old Hall Manuscript: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/old-hall-manuscript
William Byrd: 3, 4, & 5 part Masses, and Consort Songs--such as "Ye Sacred Muses", which was composed on the death of Bryd's teacher, Thomas Tallis:









Other favorite Hilliard Ensemble recordings that are not included in the above sets:

--John Dunstable motets: 



--Perotin (music from Notre Dame Cathedral): 



--Carlo Gesualdo: Tenebrae: 








--Orlando di Lasso (or Lassus): Requiem: 



--Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, "Canticum canticorum": 



--Medieval English Music: 




Paul Hillier subsequently founded the chamber choir, Theater of Voices, & made the following two excellent CDs (which I believe are offered in a 2 for 1 discount set by Harmonia Mundi):

--The Age of Cathedrals: 



--Hoquetus: https://www.amazon.com/Hoquetus-Medieval-European-Vocal-Music/dp/B00000IXTP)

By the way, the booklet notes to the following Hilliard Ensemble CD--which is comprised of highlights from their EMI years--are only two pages, but they're informative & worth reading: as the author discusses how monks from religious orders developed the earliest Latin musical treatises, by pursuing the idea of "harmonia mundi", or the divine principles of order in the world & cosmos: which served as the foundation for the western music. The CD is entitled "Introitus: A spiritual journey through time". If you buy only one or two CDs to begin with, this one would make a good choice: as it includes Dufay's motet, "Nuper Rosarum Flores"--which was composed for the consecration of Brunelleschi's Duomo in Florence, & John Dunstable's mystical motet, "Veni Sancte Spiritus", and Josquin Desprez's moving motet on the death of his teacher, Ockeghem--"La Deploration de la mort Johannes Ockeghem", plus instrumental works played by Jordi Savall's Hesperion XX: https://www.amazon.de/Introitus-Vok...iard+ensemble&qid=1558895443&s=gateway&sr=8-2. (However, if you purchase the Hilliard's box sets above, you'll be duplicating works on this CD.)

7. The Complete L'Oiseau-Lyre Medieval and Renaissance recordings (part of The Florilegium Series): a 50-CD box set, which is well worth the extra space it will take up on your shelf. But unfortunately I see that it's now selling for $999.99 on Amazon!, so apparently it has already gone out of print, despite that it was released in 2016. What a shame. (It included the only CD release to date of the Medieval Ensemble of London's LP of Josquin's complete 3-part secular music, which I had been waiting decades to hear!):

https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Ren...e+L'Oiseau+Lyre&qid=1558894164&s=music&sr=1-1

Here's a list of its contents:
https://www.deccaclassics.com/en/cat/4788104

8. Other excellent early music box sets that you might want to consider:

--Ferrara ensemble, led by Crawford Young: Songs of Codex Chantilly, c. 1390: 




--La Reverdie: a compilation box set, entitled "Knights, Maids, and Miracles: The Spring of Middle Ages": https://www.amazon.com/Springs-Midd...rds=la+reverdie&qid=1558896084&s=music&sr=1-2

--Mala punica, led by Pedro Memelsdorff: Vertú contra furore, Musical Languages in Late Medieval Italy, 1380-1420: 




--Medieval Ensemble of London--Complete secular music of Guillaume Dufay, on L'Oiseau-Lyre: 




--Ensemble Plus Ultra, led by Michael Noone--Tomas Luis de Victoria: Sacred Works:














--Sequentia: The music of Hildegard von Bingen--included are all Sequentia's Hildegard recordings, except for one additional 2013 CD: https://www.amazon.com/Bingen-Celes...equentia+bingen&qid=1559407232&s=music&sr=1-5). The survey has been issued twice:

Unfortunately, the Sony set isn't a bargain anymore, as it's OOP: https://www.amazon.com/Sequentia-Hi...ngen+sequentia&qid=1559148092&s=music&sr=1-12
Nor is the other, more elaborately presented box set: https://www.amazon.com/Hildegard-Vo...ingen+sequentia&qid=1559148092&s=music&sr=1-6. Fortunately, you can still buy their Hildegaard recordings individually, and I'd recommend one of their most popular CDs--"Canticles of Ecstasy": 




--A Secret Labyrinth: A Celebration of Music from the Middle Ages to Renaissance (the complete Sony recordings of the Huelgas Ensemble, on 15 CDs): Their recording of music from the Huelgas Codex is a desert island disc in my collection, and just one of many wonderful CDs in this collection: 




--Carmina Burana: Songs of the Middle Ages--Philip Pickett, New London Consort, with singers Catharine Bott and Michael George: on 4 CDs. This is the best Carmina Burana survey available, but sadly, I have to mention that Pickett is presently incarcerated for rape and indecent sexual assault--on his students, no less:

https://www.amazon.com/Carmina-Bura...+burana+pickett&qid=1559075336&s=music&sr=1-2
ETC.
https://www.amazon.com/Carmina-Bura...burana+pickett&qid=1559075336&s=music&sr=1-11

Anthony Rooley, The Consort of Musicke:

--John Dowland: The Collected Works: https://www.amazon.com/Dowland-Coll...+Rooley+dowland&qid=1559077044&s=music&sr=1-1
--Music of Sundrie Kindes: https://www.amazon.com/Musicke-Sund...oquence&qid=1558920312&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr
--Le Chanssonier Cordiforme: https://www.amazon.com/Chansonnier-...oquence&qid=1558920312&s=music&sr=1-2-catcorr

--Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks (5 CDs)--sung by Blue Heron, led by Scott Metcalfe: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Heron-C...ic&sprefix=peterhouse+part,popular,166&sr=1-1. The award winning group, The Cardinall's Musick, has also given us a 4 CD survey of the music of English composer, Nicholas Ludford, released by the now defunct ASV label, which is recommendable. And, they've recorded excellent surveys of the music of Robert Fayrfax, William Byrd, and Thomas Tallis, as well.

--The Eton Choirbook: There have been two excellent surveys done of this beautiful collection of music--first by Harry Christophers & the Sixteen Choir (which was initially released by the now defunct Collins label--on 5 individual CDs, and later reissued by the Coro label on 5 CDs, and in a 5 CD box set): https://www.amazon.com/Christophers...y+christophers&qid=1559076560&s=music&sr=1-4; & secondly, a more recent survey by Stephen Darlington & the Choir of Christ Church Oxford: https://www.amazon.com/Choirs-Angel...lington&qid=1559076882&s=music&sr=1-4-catcorr ):

Here are YT links to two CDs from the Sixteen's survey:








ETC.

--The Complete Works of Thomas Tallis--performed by Chapelle du Roi, led by Alastair Dixon: a great survey: 




9. Finally, here are some box sets by pioneering, older groups: whose music making is wonderful, but their musicological decisions weren't always in accordance with the latest 'scholarship' (such as their use of instrumental accompaniment):

1. David Munrow, The Early Music Consort of London:

--Music of the Gothic Era: 



 (as beautiful and other worldly as this music is, it can get quite repetitive, like Philip Glass's works...)
--The Art of the Netherlands: 



--The Art of Courtly Love: 




2. Bruno Turner, Pro Cantione Antiqua of London: "The Flowering of Renaissance Choral Music"--while the singing is beautiful, Pro Cantione Antiqua's now somewhat old-fashioned approach can seem a bit stodgy or heavy to me these days; although they were my introduction to much of this music, and for that I am grateful (plus, Turner's selection of music is wonderful):

Isaac motet: Tota pulchra es: 




To get a better sense of what I mean, I'd suggest that you compare Pro Cantione Antiqua's singing of John Dunstable's motet, Veni Sancte Spiritus, to the Hilliard Ensemble's later recording:

Hilliard Ensemble: 



Pro Cantione Antiqua (with instruments): 




3. Thomas Binkley, Studio der frühen musik: About the year 2000, Binkley's pioneering 1970-76 EMI/Electrola LPs were reissued in a series of CD box sets that covered a range of recordings once issued in the EMI Reflexe series. The volumes that included Binkley's recordings are particularly sought after by collectors--since Binkley's influential recordings of Machaut & Dufay, Bernart De Ventadorn "Chansons D'Amour", Martim Codax "Canciones de Amigo", Johannes Ciconia, Roman de Fauvel, Francesco Landini, Camino de Santiago I & II, Peter Abelard, etc., won awards in their day:

Volume 1:
https://www.amazon.de/Reflexe-Stationen-europäischer-Musik-Vol/dp/B000005GSI
https://www.amazon.de/Reflexe-Vol-1...E8RS6GYS51W&psc=1&refRID=RKPWR4TDHE8RS6GYS51W
Volume 2: https://www.amazon.de/Reflexe-Vol-2...+Reflexe+vol.+2&qid=1559063147&s=music&sr=1-1
ETC.


























It would be great to see EMI reissue these OOP sets at an affordable price, or do a comprehensive box set of Binkley recordings. The good news is there have been several partial reissues:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classic...-de-santiago-musik-der-pilgerstrase-jacobsweg
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8360285--music-at-the-time-of-the-crusades
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Middle...e+middle+ages&qid=1559075016&s=music&sr=1-115

Here's a Binkley discography, as he also recorded for Teldec: http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/performers/binkley.html

By the way, www.medieval.org is a valuable website! They write an ongoing section on new early music CDs that I follow closely: http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/cds/recent.shtml, and used to give annual awards each year, starting in 1994 (although they discontinued that after 2014, regrettably): http://www.medieval.org/music/early/years.html

Note that the above suggestions are intended as a reference guide: to serve as part of an ongoing exploration of the music of the Middle Ages & Renaissance, and not to be explored all at once, but rather dipped into selectively, as the spirit moves you.

But don't take out your credit card just yet!, as I'm planning to write a second post on recommended early music film documentaries & books, and a third post to outline my favorite early music ensembles & their most representative recordings to date, which will include a number of my most treasured 'desert island' discs--which you may want to focus on instead of the box sets.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

I don't know if the original poster is still there, but, as promised, here are my recommendations for early music film documentaries & books, which I plan to follow with a third post as outlined above:

II. Videos: film documentaries:

1. Capella Pratensis: There is a fascinating documentary on the life and work of Franco-Flemish composer Jacob Obrecht included in Capella Pratensis's CD recording of Obrecht's Missa de Sancto Donatiano: https://www.amazon.com/Jacob-Obrech...atensis&qid=1558992537&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr. It's important to watch because leader Stratton Bull & his singers demonstrate the current scholarly thinking on how Renaissance sacred masses were sung, that is, by a small group of singers (4 to 8 voices), & not large choirs, standing around a single score: 



. Personally, I dislike large choirs singing complex Renaissance polyphony, as they're too slow and cumbersome and tend to turn the delicate, intricate, expressive individuality of each polyphonic part into a haze of murky sounds--especially in church acoustics that echo heavily. The exception being when Renaissance composers wrote specifically for and tailored their music to large, even massive singing forces: such as with certain works by Thomas Tallis ("Spem in Alium"), Johannes Ockeghem ("Deo gratias"), Josquin Desprez ("Qui habitat"), Giovanni Gabrieli ("Exaudi me Domine"), Robert Carver ("O bone Jesu"), and Alessandro Striggio ("Ecce Beatum lucem", & Striggio's recently rediscovered "Missa Ecco si beato giordo"), etc. In such cases, the polyphony has been deliberately and fittingly made less lithe, complex, & intricate, though the sound and thick vocal textures are massive, like a cathedral wall:









https://www.amazon.com/Striggio-Par...giolini&qid=1558993099&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr
Carver: "O bone Jesu": 




Accordingly, I suspect that there may also be a more ancient tradition for using larger choirs in Great Britain (still intact today), which is probably connected to the old English choirbooks: such as the Eton, Peterhouse, and Baldwin Part Books, and, a partial tradition for larger choirs at the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and in the larger churches of Catholic Spain.

But otherwise, I don't believe that most Renaissance music was composed for more than one or two singers on a part (which is where the one-voice-to-a-part Baroque tradition of Buxtehude, Telemann, and J.S. Bach comes from, in my view). Surely, the early composers wanted the complexity of their vocal music to be clearly heard? Why else would they have taken the time to write such intricate and complex polyphony, if they'd expected all the subtleties in their music to get lost in a haze of blurry sounds and church echoes?, or made overly ponderous by large, homogenous choirs that couldn't be as lithe & nimble as the music requires. Not to mention that when too many singers are loaded onto a part, the choir's intonation almost inevitably becomes less exact, and less pinpointed and precise (except for possibly larger choirs that possess an extraordinary virtuosity, such as John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir). Thus, I don't believe that, generally speaking, most early composers were writing for large choirs, except for when they were writing for large choirs!; that is, when a larger size choir was specifically called for in their works for 10, 19, 24, 36, & 40 voices, or parts.

2. Werner Herzog: "Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices" (1995, for televsion): If you thought that Vincent Van Gogh was the quintessential tortured & maladjusted 'artist', think again!--as no one outdoes the murderous, masochistic, and deeply religious Count Carlo Gesualdo, who murdered his first wife and her lover, when he caught them in flagrante, and later in life had his servants beat him three times a day. It's an odd documentary about a very strange man of genius, which I didn't entirely care for ... although Herzog has called it "one of the films closest to my heart"--why am I not surprised? (actually, I'm a Herzog fan). You can watch the film for free on YT, & it's worth it just to see Alan Curtis's group Il Complesso Barocco sing Gesualdo Madrigali; although I was less enthusiastic about the Hilliard Ensemble's contributions, & surprisingly so, considering their excellent recording of Gesualdo's Tenebrae, on ECM):





https://www.amazon.com/Gesualdo-Ven...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B004EVNPIK

I wish there were more videos that I could recommend... oh wait, there is one!--an enlightening interview with Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, who gives a brilliant explanation as to why music went into a spiritual decline after the time of Elizabethan composer Orlando Gibbons (his favorite composer). Gould saw Gibbon's music as the last surviving remnant or link back to a great spiritual tradition that began in the Middle Ages, which had became corrupted during the High Renaissance, by the later composers' increasingly non-spiritual quest to exploit an individual "competitive identity". Before that, as Gould explains, it was commonplace for composers to work within a certain "anonymity", and he calls them the "pre-identity quest composers" (a term that I like). Indeed, there were hundreds of works composed by "anonymous" during the Middle Ages (and there would be even more if we had not found out the identities of some of these composers from later codices that were compiled); that is, by composers that served "a purpose larger than themselves" (to echo Gould's words), like the anonymous architects and builders of the great Gothic Cathedrals, who dedicated their lives and music to the greater glory of God--as part of a spiritual quest, instead of seeking worldly fame. The western tradition had such a beautifully 'selfless' origin, and that is something to keep in mind when listening to the music of these earlier ages (& perhaps, in contrast, to that of later periods, as well...):

Gould interview:









III. Books--The problem with books on early music is that they are often prohibitively expensive, and can be overly specialized and not for lay readers (in sections), so I'll leave it up to you to sample from the following suggestions, to decide whether or not they are of interest to you:

--Andrew Kirkman (leader of the Binchois Consort): The Cultural Life of the Early Polyphonic Mass: Medieval Context to Modern Revival: https://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Lif...=andrew+kirkman&qid=1558987695&s=books&sr=1-1

--William Elders: Josquin des Prez and His Musical Legacy: An introductory Guide: https://www.amazon.com/Josquin-Prez...josquin+desprez&qid=1558987955&s=books&sr=1-1

--Jesse Rodin (leader of Cut Circle): Josquin's Rome: Hearing and Composing in the Sistine Chapel:
https://www.amazon.com/Josquins-Rom...e+rodin&qid=1558989677&s=books&sr=1-2-catcorr
Interestingly, Rodin's book makes use of "representative" sound examples from a 2-CD set on the Musique en Wallonie label by his 8 singer group, Cut Circle, entitled "De Orto and Josquin: Music of the Sistine Chapel around 1490": https://www.amazon.com/Sistine-Chapel-Musique-chapelle-Sixtine/dp/B009VPETE8. Rodin writes, "these CDs do not amplify the text so much as the text amplified them: almost every chapter points at, relies on, and reacts to the sound recordings by Cut Circle":

--David Fallows: Dufay. Due to the extensive records kept at Cambrai Cathedral, and Dufay's greater renown throughout Europe, we probably have more documentary information on his life than with any other early Renaissance composer. Hence, a study of Dufay can offer a rare glimpse not only into the period, but also into the life of one of its greatest composers. Again, Fallows' paperback used to be very inexpensive...:

https://www.amazon.com/Dufay-David-...fa llows&qid=1558988108&s=books&sr=1-2-fkmr2
https://www.amazon.com/Dufay-Master...fa llows&qid=1558990443&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmr2

There is also a recent 2018 two volume book out on Dufay's life and works by Alejandro Enrique Planchart, which is super expensive, and I've not managed to buy it myself: https://www.amazon.com/Guillaume-Du...lainchart&qid=1559059220&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmr1. Volume 1 is on Dufay's life, and can be purchased separately, but it's still very pricey.

--Elizabeth Eva Leach: Guillaume de Machaut, Secretary, Poet, Musician: https://www.amazon.com/Guillaume-Ma...eywords=machaut&qid=1558988287&s=books&sr=1-2

--The Cambridge Companion of Medieval Music: https://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Co...BN3RA7ZJSKW&psc=1&refRID=FYNPC9M9VBN3RA7ZJSKW

--Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Music: https://www.amazon.com/Companion-Me...J6KMHCWB6P4&psc=1&refRID=2B7RR9B0AJ6KMHCWB6P4

--Here's a good basic music history guide for the lay person: "Music in Time", by William Mann: https://www.amazon.com/James-Galway...am+mann&qid=1558989301&s=books&sr=1-2-catcorr. At the end of the book, Mann includes a valuable list of essential musical works per composer and musical era. (It was also a video television series.)


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