This book presents one author's view of the range and depth of recent scholarly study of sacred and liturgical music of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as represented in a range of nineteen articles published in the last twenty or so years. It reprints, and contextualises, groups of articles on music of the French and Flemish Low Countries, Italy, Germany, England and Spain. Spanning a broad range of scholarly approaches, the anthology aims to inform aspiring scholars in the field, and to stimulate future studies in these and related areas.

Contemplating Shostakovich marks an important new stage in the understanding of Shostakovich and his working environment. Each chapter covers aspects of the composer's output in the context of his life and cultural milieu. The contributions uncover 'outside' stimuli behind Shostakovich's works, allowing the reader to perceive the motivations behind his artistic choices; at the same time, the nature of those choices offers insights into the workings of the larger world a " cultural, social, political a " that he inhabited. Thus his often ostensibly quirky choices are revealed as responses a "...

The 'cyclic' polyphonic Mass has long been seen as the pre-eminent musical genre of the late Middle Ages, spawning some of the most impressive and engrossing musical edifices of the period. Modern study of these compositions has greatly enhanced our appreciation of their construction and aesthetic appeal. Yet close consideration of their meaning cultural, social, spiritual, personal for their composers and original users has begun only much more recently. This book considers the genre both as an expression of the needs of the society in which it arose and as a fulfilment of aesthetic...