Abstract The state of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, or Ordensstaat (1228–1525), belongs to those ‘vanished kingdoms’ which—devoid of any contemporary heirs—remain on the margins of historical narratives about music. The aim of this article is to describe polyphonic practices in medieval Prussia on the basis of archival and musical sources. Although the information they contain is of a fragmentary character, referring mainly to the first half of the 15th century, it does indicate that a variety of music was cultivated: from simply polyphony in chant notation to international Ars Nova. Outside the major ecclesiastic centres, conditions for the cultivation of polyphony could have existed at the court of the Grand Master, at which musicians—mostly instrumentalists—from across Europe appeared. Particular attention is devoted in the article to fragments from the Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Ms. 2153a) which contain works in the style of Central European polyphony, belonging to the genres of motet, cantio and rotulum. These and other sources indicate that the culture of medieval Prussia should be seen from the perspective of various European connections, and not as Germanic or Polish culture, as has often occurred in the past.

Abstract This article represents a follow-up to a previous article on ‘Farinel’s Ground’, published in the May 2021 issue of this journal. There, I had focused on the numerous instrumental versions of this extremely popular ground bass, not least because the late 17th- and early 18th-century folia—as it was known more widely across Europe—seems to have been primarily an instrumental genre. Nevertheless, the popularity of this ground in the 1680s—and of some of the divisions associated with it—gave rise to a number of vocal versions or ballads, some of which may have been at least comparable in popularity to the instrumental versions printed in The Genteel Companion (1683) and The Division-Violin (1684). Sharing the same melody and bass (whether notated or implied), these ballads were written and published during some of the most turbulent years in British history (1682–1702). While the origins of the first of these, Thomas D’Urfey’s The King’s Health or ‘JOY to great Caesar’, can be traced to the violin and recorder divisions on Farinel’s Ground published at more or less the same time as D’Urfey’s song, the song itself seems to have spawned a number of offshoots, including later instrumental versions referring to its textual incipit. Resulting from a study of the music, text and context of songs on ‘Farinel’s Ground, this article also discusses issues applicable to English broadside ballads of the 17th century more generally, such as changes in the political environment and the at times almost decorative function of musical notation on broadsides.

Journal Article Female-voice song before 1500 Get access Female-voice song and women's musical agency in the Middle Ages, ed. Anna Kathryn Grau and Lisa Colton Brill's Companions to the Musical Culture of Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2022), €215 Elizabeth Eva Leach Elizabeth Eva Leach elizabetheva.leach@music.ox.ac.uk https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6212-8091 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Early Music, caad057, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/caad057 Published: 04 January 2024

Journal Article French flute innovations Get access Rien de Reede, The school of Blavet: flutists in Paris in the second half of the eighteenth century (Amsterdam: Linos Edition/Broekmans & van Poppel, 2022), €29.50 Ardal Powell Ardal Powell ardalp@me.com Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Early Music, caad065, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/caad065 Published: 29 January 2024

Abstract The wreck of the frigate Gloucester off Norfolk on 6 May 1682 has always figured in histories of the Restoration period; it was taking James, Duke of York (the future James II and VII) to Edinburgh to collect his wife Mary of Modena and his daughter Princess Anne after his years of exile in Scotland. It has long been known that there were royal musicians on board, two of whom were drowned, though interest in the subject has been rekindled by the discovery of the wreck and an exhibition of artefacts from it in Norwich in 2023. Some other historic wrecks have proved to contain musical instruments, including the Mary Rose and several Dutch ships, though the Gloucester is unique in that a musical artefact—a brass trumpet mouthpiece—can be matched to documentary evidence concerning the musicians on board. Court documents concerned with replacing lost instruments and compensating survivors and the families of victims show that those on board included four royal trumpeters and a kettledrummer (Walter Vanbright, who was drowned); a five-man group drawn from the Twenty-Four Violins, led by the composer Thomas Farmer and including Thomas Greeting (who was also drowned); and the oboist, recorder player and bass violinist James Paisible, who had apparently been working in Edinburgh in the Duke of York’s household. Paisible may have been a member of Farmer’s string group, though there is a possibility that he was accompanied by three other French musicians, forming a separate recorder/oboe consort. An anecdote concerning James rescuing the string player Edmund Flower from drowning throws light on the musical and religious politics on board the Gloucester: the earliest version, published in 1730, claimed wrongly that the duke ‘turn’d him out of his band because he would not turn Papist’.

Journal Article Biennial Baroque in Geneva Get access Alexander Norman, Alexander Norman Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Adrian So, Adrian So Adrian.So.2016@live.rhul.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Chiara Girlando Chiara Girlando Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Early Music, caad052, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/caad052 Published: 09 December 2023

Journal Article Baroque operas from madness to enlightenment Get access David Vickers David Vickers david.vickers@rncm.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Early Music, caad046, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/caad046 Published: 20 January 2024

Abstract Considers recent arguments about the choirbook Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare, Ms. dccxli, and a convent in the city where it resides.

Journal Article The Spanish Golden Age and beyond Get access Tess Knighton Tess Knighton tknighton@icrea.cat Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Early Music, caad017, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/caad017 Published: 27 July 2023