Bologna Q15. The Making and Remaking of a Musical Manuscript

This year's wlnner. the unanlmous cholce ofthecommlttee. aptlydescrlbed by one of Itsmembers asan exemplarof"regal musicologa" a career-crownlng achlevement thatwlllforeverseta benchmarkfor facsimile edltlons.
Thls year's prlze-wlnnerlsan Introductory study and facsimile of a crucia 115th-century manuscrlpt, for whlch the quallty of photography and reproduction Is breathtaklng.Photographed In color whenlt was dlsbound, wlth llleglble pages dlgltally restored, the edltlon allows us to read some music for the very fi rst tlme. I nltlals have been fi Imed on both sldes enabllng the editor to dlscern music thatwasdlscarded when the man uscrlpt was recopled. Reproduclng the originai cover, watermarks, and gatherlng slgnatures, the facsimile can actually clalm to be more useful and Informative than havlng the originai on one's desk. Havlng studledthls man uscrlpt and Its repertolre for nearly 35 years. the editor has prefaced the facsimile wlth a maglsterlal essay of 383 follo-slzed pages. whlch provldes a hlstory of the manuscrlpt. Its structure and chronology, theclrcumstances surroundlng Itsvarlousrecopylngsand revlslons.and an overvlewofthe nature, style. and reception of the 328 composltlons It transmlts. It Is a scholarly achlevement of the hlghest order.