In the early fourteenth century, musicians in France and later Italy established new traditions of secular and sacred polyphony. This ars nova, or "new art," popularized by theorists such as Philippe de Vitry and Johannes de Muris was the among the first of many later movements to establish the music of the present as a clean break from the past. The rich music of this period, by composers such as Guillaume de Machaut and Francesco Landini, is not only beautiful, but also rewards deep study and analysis. Yet contradictions and gaps abound in the ars nova of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries-how do we read this music? how do we perform this music? what was the cultural context of these performances? These problems are well met by the ingenuity of approaches and solutions found by scholars in this volume. The twenty-seven articles brought together reflect the broad methodological and chronological range of scholarly inquiry on the ars nova.

Cultural landscape and geography have affected the history of Western music from its earliest manifestations to the present day. City, Chant, and the Topography of Early Music brings together essays by thirteen leading scholars that explore ways that space, urban life, landscape, and time transformed plainchant and other musical forms. In addressing a broad array of topics and regions--ranging from Beneventan chant in Italy and Dalmatia, to music theory in medieval France, to later transformations of chant in Iceland and Spain--these essays honor and build upon Thomas Forrest Kelly's work in keeping cultural, geographic, and political factors close to the heart of the musicology of chant, early music, and beyond. Two essays complement Kelly's scholarly and pedagogical interests by investigating the role of the city in premieres of works composed long after the end of the Middle Ages.