Browse by Text
This revision of the Medieval Music Database, first mounted on the
Internet in 1994 and expanded in 1996 has now further expanded
the range of works which can be browsed from 7,800 to 70,000.
Its current scope covers all of the music of the fourteenth century
and all liturgical chant currently electronically indexed, adding
to these links transcriptions with modern music notation (where melodic
information is available),original manuscripts where possible and
links to the electronic editions themselves.
Browse by Composer
All of the named composers of the fourteenth century are listed,
along with the alternate forms of their names. All of the manuscript
sources of their works, biographical literature and recordings are
identified and cross-linked to details of each individual work, genre
and manuscript. New composers are progressively being added, working
backwards from the fourteenth century.
Browse by Genre
All genres of liturgical chant, polyphony and secular lyrics have
been consolidated into one list for ease of searching.
Browse by Manuscript
All manuscripts containing the repertoire of the fourteenth century
are listed, with facsimiles, inventories, literature and recordings,
with cross-links to individual works. A unique feature of these listings
is a list of concordant manuscripts, in which every source
which has at least one work in common with the currently selected
manuscript is listed.
Browse Complete Manuscripts:
Four complete manuscripts are currently available: a Cistercian
Gradual of the thirteenth century, a certified Dominican antiphonal
of the fourteenth century, a Franciscan Common of the Saints from
the fourteenth century and an Italian thirteenth-century Antiphonal.
Details of decoration and alterations to the text are identified,
with links to the relevant folios. Each manuscript can be 'paged through'
with the navigation buttons provided.
The Browse by Liturgical Feast
This function displays the music and texts for each feast of the
liturgical year according to medieval Dominican sources, divided betwwen
the Temporal Cycle (Advent to the last Sunday after Pentecost) and
the Santoral Cycle (from January through December). Transcriptions
of the music into modern notation with the original notation immediately
above each note are given for each piece, with a link to a colour
image of the original manuscript, when this is available.
A unique feature of this listing is a comparative analysis
of related melodies: when similar melodies are used for different
texts the melodies are listed together with transcpriptions into modern
notation and details of the relationship between the melodies are
identified.
The Search facility
Texts of liturgical chant from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries
and the texts of polyphonic songs of the fourteenth century can be
searched: some 70,000 works in all. Melodies based on an annual cycle
of Dominican chants as currently identified in the description
of sources may be searched using intervallic notation. For details
of melodic searching see search
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