New Senfl Edition (NSE) 1: Motets for four voices (A–I)

Since the nineteenth century, Ludwig Senfl (c.14901543) has been recognized as one of the most important Renaissance composers in the German speaking lands. Although the outstanding quality of his extensive uvre has been acknowledged since the dawn of musicology, the major part is still inaccessible in an edition and has so far been not accordingly recognised by scholars and performers alike. This is all the more astonishing as Senfl was active in two of the most important musical centres of the early sixteenth century: at the court of Emperor Maximilian I he launched his career as a singer and composer; and from 1523 he worked in Munich as court composer for Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria. The New Senfl Edition (NSE) aims to fill 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. In comparison to earlier, unfinished editions, the NSE offers numerous advantages: the repertoire to be edited is organised systematically according to the number of voices and alphabetically, and the transcriptions as well as the critical apparatus are conceived according to uniform, 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 have been excluded. As only 25% of Senfls motets appeared in an edition up to today, the NSE opens with the publication of all of Senfls four-voice motets in two volumes. With this publication it will be possible to address a gap in research that has persisted since the beginning of the twentieth century and resulted in the neglect of Senfl as a motet composer. The first volume includes such extraordinary compositions as the motet cycle Quinque Salutationes Domini Nostri Jesu Christi which was composed for the devotional services held for Wilhelm IV of Bavaria or the famous Ecce quam bonum for the Imperial Diet in Augsburg 1530. While utmost importance is placed on the legibility of the music, the critical reports, which come along the musical material, provide comprehensive information on each motet with regard to the texts set to music, the pre-existent plainchant material, an evaluation of the sources (including a synoptic description of the variant readings), 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 the work of Senfl from narrowly conceived, nationalist historiographies of music, the NSE will be published in English. The publication in print and online (open access) in the renowned series Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, will disseminate Senfls music internationally, and finally enable a comprehensivescholarly and practical exploration of the illustrious composers uvre.