MUSIC

Prefatory staves. All the editions include prefatory staves showing the original opening clefs, stave signatures (if any), mensural signs, all rests (if any) up to the first note figure, and the first note figure present in the source.

In editions from 2024 onward, when note values ​​are kept full, the prefatory staves include only the original opening clefs, stave signatures (if any), and mensural signs present in the source.

Note-values. Original note-values are either kept full or halved, depending on the usual practice of each editor. (In this respect, performers are advised to check the prefatory staves.) Final notes, irrespective of their original shape, take the value that completes the last bar in the piece, section or movement of a piece. A fermata sign is always added to the final note at the end of a piece or movements of a piece even if this is not present in the source. Adding of a fermata sign at the end of sections is optional and depends on musical context.

Bar-lines. Bar-lines are regularly placed on the staves according to the original mensural sign. Occasional examples of irregular barring are used without further notice.

Clefs and pitch. Original clefs are replaced by modern clefs according to the range of each voice-part. Music is not transposed even when notated in high clefs, always keeping the original written pitch. (In cases when music is originally written in high clefs, transposition down by a fourth or any other suitable interval is advisable for performance purposes.)

Ligatures and coloration. Ligatures are indicated by a horizontal square bracket over the notes concerned. Coloration is indicated by a broken horizontal square bracket over the note, or notes, concerned.

Accidentals. Accidentals placed before a note are present in the source. These accidentals apply until the bar-line unless cancelled. Editorial, implied and cautionary accidentals are placed above the notes concerned. Editorial accidentals apply to the note concerned and any immediate repetition of the same note. Redundant accidentals in the source are suppressed without comment.

Other notational signs. In editions from 2024 onward, the signum conguentiae, when originally used to mark sections that are repeated (such as the final part of the respond after the verse in responsories), is replaced by the modern segno.

Chant. Sections in chant present in the source are reproduced in the original square black notation with the clef modernised.

Lacunae and emendations. Missing music and other notational elements editorially reconstructed are placed in square brackets. Emendations unmarked in the score are noted in the critical commentary.

Text. Texts given in italics represent the realisation of textual repeat signs in the source. Texts provided in square brackets are editorial. Most copyists took little or no care with regard to the alignment of syllables and notes, so that the detailed distribution of text is usually editorial and made without comment. In Latin texts, syllable division follow the standards for sung ecclesiastical Latin as in the Liber usualis. On abbreviations, spelling, capitalisation, and punctuation in the texts, see the Editorial methods > Texts below.

 

CRITICAL COMMENTARY

The critical commentary records the source readings that differ from the edition’s and, when applicable, also the substantive variant readings in the existing concordant sources with reference to the source used for the edition. Unless the editor finds it relevant, for instance in establishing stemmatic relations among sources, trivial nuances in the notation such as the different placement of ligatures or the alternative use of minor color for dotted figures are not recorded. The description of where and how the edition differs from the source is shown as follows: the voice-part; the bar number, or numbers; the location in the bar expressed as a symbol number or numbers (notes or rests, including notes tied from the previous bar); and the source reading. A similar method is used to describe variants in different sources. Pitch is referred to using the Helmholtz system, where middle c is c’. Pitch-classes are indicated using uppercase letters in italics. The following abbreviations are employed:

A	Altus
B	Bassus
b(b).	bar(s)
Br	Breve
C	Cantus
Ct	Contra
d-	dotted (e.g. d-Br = dotted breve)
F	Fusa
L	Longa
lig.	ligature
M	Minima
Mx	Maxima
n(n).	number(s) (referring to notes and rests)
-r	rest (e.g. Br-r = breve rest)
S	Superius
Sb	Semibreve
Sm	Semiminima
T	Tenor

 

TEXTS

All texts in the Archive are normalised according to the criteria outlined below. The only exceptions are the texts of attributions, rubrics and other inscriptions, which are transcribed diplomatically.

Orthography

Latin. Latin orthography is normalised according to Lewis & Short.

Ibero-Romance languages. In Portuguese and Spanish texts orthography is normalised according to modern usage, except where the original spelling corresponds to a different pronunciation. Thus, in the case of Portuguese, the character /ũ/ is kept in the word "ũa" and derived forms; in the case of Spanish, the following characters are kept as in the original source: /b/, /ç/ (except before /e/ and /i/, where it is replaced by /c/), /s/, /ss/, /v/, /x/, and /z/. In addition, the etymological /h/ is not added unless written in the original. Archaic cases of enclisis, proclisis, apheresis and apocope are signalled with an apostrophe where applicable, except for the Spanish contractions "deste", "dese" and their related forms, which are commonly kept in modern editions of early texts.

Punctuation. Minimal punctuation is introduced editorially without notice to facilitate the comprehension of the text, although this may have entailed preferring of a particular interpretation over other possible interpretations.

Abbreviations. Abbreviations are tacitly solved and their orthography normalised according to either Lewis & Short for Latin or modern usage for Ibero-Romance languages.

Capitalisation. Initial letters are capitalised either according to the sentence structure or in case of proper names of persons and places, according to modern usage. In the editions of music, nomina sacra are also capitalised.

Texts in the "Full text" field at the "Texts" section. The text presented in the "Full text" field is an edition of the text in the reference source, not the product of a critical collation of different sources. Square brackets indicate letters or words supplied by the editor, while round brackets are used to register significant alternative readings where the individual voice-parts are not in agreement. The text is set in a way so as to clarify its nature and visualise its structure.