The Gaspar van Weerbeke Edition

The Gaspar van Weerbeke Edition presents the complete work of one of the great composers of the second half of the fifteenth century for the first time in a critical edition. After intensive planning, the first volume of the edition appeared in 1998. Two FWF projects supporting the Gaspar van Weerbeke Edition produced two further volumes. As a result, Gaspars motets and his early masses are now available in ambitous scholarly editions. The aim of the second extension of the project is to prepare the second volume of Gaspars mass compositions and to complete another volume containing his chansons. Once these two volumes are published, the five-volume Gaspar van Weerbeke Edition will be complete. The edition of the second volume of Gaspars masses will allow not only an accurate evaluation of Gaspars role in the history of this genre and his contribution to the development of new compositional techniques. It will also provide more general insights into the blossoming of the genre at the end of the fifteenth century. Gaspars small uvre of chanson compositions is characterised by questions of authorship. The American Institute of Musicology/ A-R Editions publishes the Gaspar van Weerbeke Edition at their own cost in the renowned series CORPUS MENSURABILIS MUSICAE (CMM). International distribution of the edition is thereby guaranteed.

The purpose of the project has been furthering the study of one of the most important composers of the late fifteenth century, Gaspar van Weerbeke. Heretofore in modern musicology, his contribution has been relatively neglected. The specific scholarly lacuna the project was designed to fill was the lack of a critical edition of his works. Now in its third phase, the project has brought this goal to fruition. This phase of the project oversaw the revision of the proofs and final publication of the first volume of Gaspars masses, the complete edition and publication of the second volume of masses, and the completion of the edition of Gaspars settings of liturgical texts, songs, and instrumental works (now about to be submitted for publication). This brings the five-volume edition of Gaspars Complete Works to a close. The significance of this is two-fold: scholars can much more easily study all of the composers works and evaluate his contribution to music history. Just as important, performers can use the edition to perform and record his works, allowing a broader audience to experience the musicand in turn fostering more research. In addition to the edition, the project developed a website devoted to Gaspar, including a complete and cross-referenced list of his works and sources, with links to source descriptions and images (www.gaspar-van-weerbeke.sbg.ac.at). The project also hosted the international conference Gaspar van Weerbeke: Works and Contexts in June/July 2017, with papers, lecture-recitals, and other presentations by over 20 scholars. Drawing from some of the papers presented at the conference as well as the work of other scholars in the field, the project team edited the book Gaspar van Weerbeke: New Perspectives on his Life and Music (forthcoming with Brepols). Along with the edition, this book sets the groundwork for a new generation of research on this important Renaissance composer.