This article presents a typology for a large corpus of Proper Offices from the former Francia occidentalis, composed before the year 1000. A threefold classification for these historiae will be proposed: (1) the Carolingian basilical Office (8–9 c.); (2) Offices organized in modal order (after 900); and (3) Offices composed around the year 1000. The methodology established for this hitherto unpublished, not widely known repertory will permit certain conclusions to be drawn. For example, some Offices have historical importance either because of their age or because of the evolution of the style of melodic composition which they imply, or because they belong to a hagiographic output significant in the history of Carolingian texts. These historiae suppose the literary participation of well-known authors like Hilduin of St Denis, Hincmar of Rheims or Milo and Hucbald of St Amand, thus inviting us to rethink attribution criteria applicable to these historiae. I propose to focus essentially on the written transmission of the repertory in Western sources of plainchant. This transmission is characterized by a series of continuities and disruptions in the process of diffusion and exchanges among basilicas, monasteries and cathedrals of Carolingian and post-Carolingian Francia. The reworking of hagiographic texts suggests a model applicable to the rewriting process found in musical compositions.

This article traces the early reception of Ludovicus Decus Regnantium, the most common Proper Office for Saint Louis, King of France, canonized in 1297. It is generally considered a Dominican Office thought to have been produced on commission by the Dominican, Arnaud DuPrat, after his Order instituted Louis’ feast day. A number of factors confuse this attribution, including the existence of an earlier, rare Office for Louis, Nunc Laudare. A close examination of the extant evidence for the attribution and early reception of the Office leads to the conclusion that the Office was not celebrated by most, or even many, of the Dominican convents in France. It can thus be better understood in its Parisian and royal milieu within the context of the close relationship between the royal court of Philip the Fair (r. 1285–1314) and the Dominican convent of the Rue St-Jacques in Paris.

This essay discusses the anonymous Trent 88 motet Advenisti / Lauda Syon (fols. 336v–337r), plus a batch of anonymous pieces in Trent 88 and Trent 89 which share similarities in their use of the sign O2, unconventional notation, number symmetries and style – all of which are features suggesting that their composer was a westerner rather than a German musician. Comparisons will be made with works by Busnoys, Barbingant and others. One of these anonymous pieces (a three-voice Mass exclusively using O2) is known to refer sporadically to Dufay's chanson Adieu m'amour. The presence of a further set of references in this Mass is also suggested, which may derive from Frye's motet Ave regina celorum.

Another reissue of Decca's long series of recordings made at the abbey of Solesmes is good news. Accord is a French reissue label of the Universal group (formerly PolyGram) that earlier had reissued about a dozen CDs that matched each original LP in content. The first five reissues were listed in A Gregorian Chant Discography, and five more were reported here in 1994 (nos. 19 to 23). Now, duplicating the contents of at least seven of those earlier discs, a new programme has begun with the cooperation of the monks of Solesmes to arrange the chants according to the liturgical year. Titles have been brought up to date, such as ‘Sixth Sunday of Easter’ and ‘chant d’entrée'. New digital transfers made from the original tapes provide superb sound. The first twelve discs have appeared in eight packages (two or three discs in some cases), and we can expect as many as another dozen discs to come.

I read with special interest the article by John Haines published several years ago in Plainsong and Medieval Music on the death of Pierre Aubry (‘The ‘‘modal theory”, fencing, and the death of Aubry’, 6 [1997], 143–50). While I thank him for clearing up the rumours of a duel with Jean Beck resulting in Aubry's death, I must admit to disappointment in having to abandon the idea that Aubry and Beck fought a duel over a musicological disagreement. Haines's conclusion that the fencing accident that resulted in Aubry's death was a ‘suicide in disguise’ is, however, untenable, whatever Aubry's state of mind at the time might have been. The fact that this theory has been repeated as fact (‘Généalogies musicologiques’, Acta Musicologica, 73 [2001], 24) prompts the present communication.