Les organa à deux voix pour l'Office du manuscrit de Florence, Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, plut. 29.1, and: Les organa à deux voix pour la Messe (de Noël à la fête de Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul) du manuscrit de Florence, Biblioteca Medicea- Laurenziana, plut. 29.1, and: Les organa à deux voix pour la Messe (de l'Assomption au Commun des Saints) du manuscrit de Florence, Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, plut. 29.1 (review)

The three volumes under review here form the center of a set presently constituted of seven books (volume 6 in two parts), with an eighth to come. Published by Éditions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, Le Magnus liber organi de Notre-Dame de Paris now makes available the Notre Dame organa tripla and quadrupla (vol. 1, ed. Edward H. Roesner [1993]); the organa dupla from Florence, Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana MS Pluteus 29.1 (F; vols. 2–4, edited by Mark Everist and under consideration here); the clausulas from the same source (vol. 5, ed. Rebecca A. Baltzer [1995]); and parts A and B of the organa dupla from Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek MS 1099 (W₂) to form volume 6 (ed. Thomas B. Payne [1996]). Still to come is a volume, whether in one part or two, that will contain the organa dupla of Wolfenbüttel MS 628 (W₁) and the clausula repertory of that source. When this edition appears the scholarly community will have available for the first time the complete repertory of Parisian organa and clausulas from the three main surviving sources, in editions devoted individually to each, brought out by some of the most eminent scholars in the field. Given the central position occupied by this repertory in the development of European art polyphony, the volumes are indispensable to all libraries having serious obligations in the field of European music history. The books are, to be sure, costly, but this is in part the result of economic changes that have taken place over the past half century. At least in the present instance we are rewarded with sound value and exemplary instances of the bookmaker's art. The paper, the layout, the binding, and the occasional color facsimiles are all of the finest quality.

These features are combined with excellent scholarship, which furnishes the raison d'être for the enterprise. It is difficult to provide an evenhanded description of the level of scholarship given...