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The Si Placet Repertoire of 1480-1530. (Music Reviews).(Book Review)-

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The Si Placet Repertoire of 1480-1530. Edited by Stephen Self. (Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance, 106.) Madison, Wisc.: A-R Editions, Inc., c1996. [Acknowledgments, p. vi; introd., p. vii-xii; text and trans., p. xiii-xv; 2 plates; score, 85 p.; crit. report, p. 87-101. ISBN 0-89579-373-3. $42.]

De tous biens plaine: Twenty-eight Settings of Hayne van Ghizeghem's Chanson. Edited by Cynthia J. Cyrus. (Recent Researches in the Music of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, 36.) Madison, Wisc.: A-R Editions, Inc., c2000. [Acknowledgments, p. vii; introd., p. ix-xvi; text and trans., p. xvii; 1 plate; score, 106 p.; crit. report, p. 107-20. ISBN 0-89579-475-6. $57.]

Fortuna desperata: Thirty-Six Settings of an Italian Song. Edited by Honey Meconi. (Recent Researches in the Music of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, 37.) Middleton, Wisc.: A-R Editions, Inc., c2001. (Acknowledgments, p. vii; introd., p. ix-xxxvii; 5 plates; score, 147 p.; crit. report, p. 149-90. ISBN 0-89579-477-2. $92.]

Costanzo Festa. Counterpoints on a Cantus Firmus. Edited by Richard J. Agee. (Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance, 107.) Madison, Wisc.: A-R Editions, Inc., c1997. (Acknowledgments, p. vi; introd., p. vii-xiv; 2 plates; score, 297 p. ISBN 0-89579-376-8. $99.]

In his seminal article on theories of imitation and musical borrowing in the Renaissance, Howard Mayer Brown notes that "the particular ways in which composers imitated one another have been noticed in isolated instances, but they have never been brought together and viewed as part of the standard technique of the time. No attempt has been made to discover just how widespread the practice was, or to find a single organizing principle behind this sort of activity" ("Emulation, Competition, and Homage: Imitation and Theories of Imitation in the Renaissance," Journal of the American Musicological Society 35 [1982]: 10). Since the appearance of this landmark essay, scholars have made numerous and valuable contributions to the topic. Four volumes recently published by A-R Editions in its two series Recent Researches in the Music of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance and Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance provide us with additional insights into key aspects of Renaissance borrowing--in particular, the amplification and arrangement of existing pieces. Of course, the basic idea is timeless--throughout history composers from Perotin to Igor Stravinsky have borrowed and reworked existing compositions for various purposes. But when looking at these particular editions, the intriguing questions are why early and later Renaissance composers turned to borrowed material, how they did it, and what larger patterns arise from the various ways they...

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