Petrucci's Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, Canti B: A critical performer's edition of Ottaviano Petrucci's Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, Canti B

This edition started life as an activity for students studying historical performance at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire when the global pandemic put a hold to our practical workshops on reading 15th and 16th-century notation. We decided to continue the classes with ‘community editing project’ and turn our attention to the theory of Renaissance notation. Some of the pieces we had explored in practice were from Petrucci’s Harmonice Musices Odhecaton ‘Canti B’ publication, and this proved an ideal collection with which to explore the relationship between musical text and performance and to address issues present when making this repertoire accessible to modern performers yet faithful to the practices and conventions of the time.
The interest in this repertoire from performers has shown there was a need for a new edition, one which combines the scholarship of a critical edition with the pragmatism of a performing version. We hope, therefore, this edition serves a dual purpose for those wishing to study, and those wishing to perform these beautiful works.