Olive Music Editions, 1. Dordrecht/Arezzo, 2019. 21 x 30 cm, xviii, 76, 413pp.

Now that both facsimile issues of Modena alpha M.5.24 (Mod A) are, lamentably, permanently out of print, we are fortunate to have this beautifully executed and printed modern edition following the highest standards of scholarship. It’s the first stand-alone edition of this illustrious codex to be published, providing all 104 compositions with integrated references, commentary and performance practice queues following each piece. An extraordinary addition to the renaissance library, facilitating research and performance alike. Hardbound.

About Modena αM.5.24 (also known as Mod A): The ms is one of the most representative witnesses of the dissemination of French music in Italy, in works by Italian composers during the late trecento and early quattrocento. The manuscript documents over 100 compositions, 56 of which are unica (12 mass fragments, 1 hymn, 3 motets, 1 motet in the form of a caccia, 36 ballades, 17 rondeaux, 19 virelais, 2 canons, 1 caccia, 2 madrigals and 6 ballate). Matteo da Perugia is the composer most represented with more than 30 works, followed by Antonello da Caserta, who can be credited with 6 of the 8 compositions with French texts. Among the other composers we find familiar and unfamiliar names (Antonio Zacara da Teramo, Filippotto de Caserta, Jaquemin de Senleches, Guillaume de Machaut, Bartolino da Padova, Bartolomeo da Bologna, Johannes Ciconia, Corrado da Pistola, Egardus, Magister Egidius, Johannes de Janua, Matheus de Sancto Johanne, Andreas Sevorum, Blasius, Galiot, Grenon, Hasprois and Francesco Landini) and, in fact, one of the major problems is to solve their identification and biography. Even more difficult in general, and still without a clear solution, are many questions regarding the cultural milieu and the historical events that produced this codex. $240