New Senfl Edition, vol. 4: Motets for 6 & 8 Voices, Canons

Ludwig Senfl (c.14901543) is a key figure in the Central European musical world between the time of Heinrich Isaac (1450/51517) and Orlando di Lasso (1532?94). In both of his positionsat the imperial court of Maximilian I, where he launched his career as a singer and composer, and in Munich, where he worked from 1523 as court composer for Wilhelm IV of Bavariahe was greatly involved in the musical developments of his time. Although the extraordinary quality of Senfls music has been acknowledged since the dawn of musicology, the major part is still inaccessible in an edition and therefore only inadequately studied by scholars and performers alike. The New Senfl Edition (NSE) fills this gap by publishing Senfls uvre in a critical edition that will provide a comprehensive overview of the composers work based on up-to-date research. The repertoire is hereby organised systematically according to number of voices and alphabetically; the transcriptions as well as the critical apparatus are conceived according to up-to-date editorial guidelines. Works surviving only in fragmentary form along with works whose authorship remains uncertain have been included in the edition to complete the picture, whereas clearly misattributed works are not edited. The fourth volume of the NSE issues all six- and eight-part motets, as well as the canons. It offers editions of Senfls famous reworking of the Ave, Maria Virgo serena by Josquin Desprez, the humanistic praise motet Martia terque quater for Charles V or the early Sancte pater / Sancte Gregori confessor Domini. The exceptional and hitherto unavailable eight-part motets (presumably composed for state events) are recorded in a separate section, as are the works conceived as pure canons, including Crux fidelis Ecce lignum crucis O crux, ave, composed as a three-part double canon; the canon Laudate Dominum, which was conceived for 36 voices, or the riddle canon Salve, sancta parens, designed as a magic square. The critical reports, which come along the musical material, provide information on each motet with regard to the texts set to music, the pre-existent plainchant material, an evaluation of the sources, as well as contextual and historical information. The edition thus provides philologically reliable musical texts, along with extensive scholarly research on each individual composition. In order to help emancipate Senfls work from narrowly conceived, nationalist historiographies of music, the NSE will be published in English. The published volume (in print and online, open access) forms part of the renowned series Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich which ensures the international dissemination of Senfls music. This enables a comprehensive explorationscholarly and practical alikeof one of the most prominent composers of the first half of the sixteenth century.

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