Sean Gallagher is Visiting Associate Professor of Musicology, Boston University, USA.

• Contents: Introduction; Part I Sources and Transmission: The Vatican manuscript Urb. Lat. 1411: an undervalued source?, James Haar; Embellishment and urtext in the 15th-century song repertories, David Fallows; Pietrequin Bonnel and Ms. 2794 of the Biblioteca Riccardiana, Joshua Rifkin; Petrucci's Canti volumes: scope and repertory, David Fallows; Composition - copying: performance - recreation: the matrix of stemmatic problems for early music, Stanley Boorman; The salon as marketplace in the 1550s: patrons and collectors of Lasso's secular music, Donna G. Cardamone. Part II Genres: The constitution of the 15th-century German tenor lied: drafting the history of a musical genre, Martin Staehelin; Ockeghem and the motet-chanson in 15th-century France, Honey Meconi; Josquin's chansons as generic paradigms, Lawrence F. Bernstein; The frottola and the unwritten tradition, William F. Prizer; The early madrigal: a re-appraisal of its sources and its character, James Haar; Chanson and air, Kate van Orden; Lied and madrigal, 1580-1600, Ludwig Finscher. Part III Composers and Contexts: 'Trained and immersed in all musical delights': towards a new picture of Busnoys, David Fallows; Seigneur Leon's papal sword: Ferrara, Du Fay, and his songs of the 1440s, Sean Gallagher; Heinrich Isaac among the Florentines, Blake Wilson; Willaert and the canzone villanesca, Nino Pirrotta; Monteverdi, Marenzio, and Battista Guarini's 'cruda amarilli', Massimo Ossi. Part IV Performers and Performance Issues: The a capella heresy in Spain: an inquisition into the performance of the cancionero repertory, Tess Knighton; Psyche's Lament: some music for the Medici wedding in 1565, Howard Mayer Brown; From minstrel to courtier - the royal musique de chambre and courtly ideals in 16th-century France, Jeanice Brooks; Courtesans, muses, or musicians? Professional women musicians in 16th-century Italy, Anthony Newcomb. Part V Instrumental Music: The use of borrowed material in 16th-century instrumental music, John Ward; Innovation in instrumental music 1450-1510: the role of German performers within European culture, Keith Polk; Songs without words by Josquin and his contemporaries, Warwick Edwards. Part VI Music and Poetry: Ricercare and variations on O Rosa Bella, Nino Pirrotta; The composer as exegete: interpretations of Petrarchan syntax in the Venetian madrigal, Martha Feldman; Name index.