This is a collection of twenty-nine of the most influential articles and papers about medieval musical instruments and their repertory. The authors discuss the construction of the instruments, their playing technique, the occasions for which they performed and their repertory. Taken as a whole, they paint a very broad, as well as detailed, picture of instrumental performance during the medieval period.

Essays on important topics in early music.

Through an in-depth study of instruments and illustrations from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the author pieces together information on instruments available to early musicians and the religious and secular purposes for which they were used.