The ''Corpus mensurabilis musicae'' (CMM) is a collected print edition of most of the sacred and secular vocal music of the late

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

period in western music history, with an emphasis on the central

Franco-Flemish The designation Franco-Flemish School, also called Netherlandish School, Burgundian School, Low Countries School, Flemish School, Dutch School, or Northern School, refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition or ...

and Italian repertories. CMM is a publication of the American Institute of Musicology, and consists of 109 series (individual volumes or sets of volumes) as of 2007. Renowned composers whose works have appeared in other collected editions, such as Josquin des Prez,

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina ( – 2 February 1594) was an Italian composer of late Renaissance music. The central representative of the Roman School, with Orlande de Lassus and Tomás Luis de Victoria, Palestrina is considered the leading ...

, and

Orlande de Lassus Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Pale ...

, are generally excluded from the set. Many of the series are devoted to works of a single composer, and in some cases they are organized into sub-volumes because of their size (for example, "Volume 1" contains the works of

Guillaume Dufay Guillaume Du Fay ( , ; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397(?) – 27 November 1474) was a French composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and repr ...

; it actually consists of 6 separate bound volumes, separately containing motets,

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

es, mass fragments, other liturgical music, and secular songs). Other series contain anthologies and contents of

codices The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

and manuscripts, documents which typically compile the work of many composers: for example, series 46 has the complete Old Hall Manuscript of music from early 15th-century England, and series 85 has the six anonymous L'homme armé masses from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Most of the editions are prefaced by biographical notes as well as notes on the transcriptions. The work was begun by

Armen Carapetyan The American Institute of Musicology (AIM) is a musicological organization that researches, promotes and produces publications on early music. Founded in 1944 by Armen Carapetyan, the AIM's chief objective is the publication of modern edition ...

, who founded the American Institute of Musicology in 1944; work on CMM began in 1947, and continues to the present day, with the volumes continually being updated and reissued. After Carapetyan's death in 1992, Gilbert Reaney and Frank D'Accone became co-editors; after Reaney's death in 2008 and until present day, D'Accone is the sole editor. Other related publications of the American Institute of Musicology include the ''

Corpus of Early Keyboard Music The American Institute of Musicology (AIM) is a musicological organization that researches, promotes and produces publications on early music. Founded in 1944 by Armen Carapetyan, the AIM's chief objective is the publication of modern edition ...

'' (CEKM), the ''

Corpus scriptorum de musica The American Institute of Musicology (AIM) is a musicological organization that researches, promotes and produces publications on early music. Founded in 1944 by Armen Carapetyan, the AIM's chief objective is the publication of modern edition ...

'' (CSM), containing editions of writings about music by early music theorists, and the '' Musica Disciplina'' (MD), which publishes current scholarly work on early music.

References

CMM Home
Project description and volume contents, from the American Institute of Musicology web site * Sydney Robinson Charles, ''A Handbook of Music and Music Literature in Sets and Series''. Schirmer Books, New York, 1972. No ISBN.

External links

{{portal bar, Classical music, Music Music anthologies Renaissance music Medieval music manuscript sources