Preserved anonymously and without title in Barcelona 1967 is a unique six-voice polyphonic Mass which to a large extent ‘parodies’ Josquin's famous setting of the Marian sequence Inviolata, integra et casta es Maria. It was copied along with other works apparently imported from northern Italy to the court of the duke of Calabria in Valencia in the early 1540s, the supposed provenance of the choirbook, and bears every indication of having been written by a skilled Franco-Flemish hand c.1520–3. More particularly, the counterpoint, richly woven texture and sonority have much in common with music attributed to Philippe Verdelot, especially in works he composed from c.1518 through to his time in Florence up to 1527. This article draws upon several works by Verdelot for stylistic comparison, including an eight-voice Inviolata setting now attributed to him, as well as music by his contemporaries, and also shows how the composer of the Mass was skilled in manipulating Josquin's themes, and contrapuntal textures and structures, thus demonstrating his debt to the master.

The manuscript of Thomas Morell's letter about his collaboration in oratorio writing with Handel, a key document in Handel studies, is in Cambridge University Library, its presence there previously unknown to Handel scholars. Its addressee can be identified as John Nichols, who used its information in his biographical publications, and its date can be narrowed to 1776–81. The letter is printed accurately for the first time, along with the fullest account to date of Morell's character, circumstances, career, abilities and interests, and a reassessment of the position of his letter in our knowledge of Handel.

To try to understand the vocal styles demanded by the famously exacting Giuseppe Verdi, I consider a wide range of evidence, including the composer's scores and letters, contemporary treatises, reports on performances, and selected early recordings. On the basis of this material, I contend that the vocal styles known and advocated by Verdi differed radically from what is proposed by most modern pedagogues and nearly always heard in opera houses today. An examination of the evidence, as it bears on specific technical and expressive procedures, sheds light on nineteenth-century vocal style, offering novel interpretative possibilities to the modern performer.

Stephen Sondheim composed a three-movement piano sonata for his thesis in music at Williams College and submitted the two outer movements upon graduation. Sondheim has since been unwilling to publish or disseminate the work, and a college stipulation has prevented reproduction of the thesis. The sonata shows the influences on Sondheim's emerging musical style – predominantly Ravel, Rachmaninov (influences previously established by scholars), Prokofiev and Hindemith (influences less well established) – and demonstrates that his compositional language was significantly developed by the time of his graduation. Similarities abound between the sonata and the mature musicals of the 1970s and beyond. In addition to providing examples from the completed movements – a feat made possible by Sondheim's decision to grant limited permission to reproduce the sonata – the article examines a two-page sketch for the second movement, a manuscript that had remained in Sondheim's sole possession until October 2000.