Christ Church, Oxford, Mus 739–43, 750–3 and 1074–7 are interconnected manuscript vocal partbooks of contrafacta from London of the 1620s that employ Puritan texts. The chief compiler was John Browne, Clerk of the Parliaments (1608–91) whose instrumental music has been much discussed. His family background gives clues for identifying another copyist in these sets as his guardian uncle, and for giving them a context in an era with little other documentation for musical family piety of radical sorts.

German court ballet of the early modern period is mentioned only rarely in musicological discourse. The present study examines the question of instrumentation in this genre (which incorporated poetry, song and dance), taking as its primary evidence 83 printed libretti from 1650–1700 held by the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbiittel, the Wiirttembergische Landesbibliothek and the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. With their occasional references to specific instruments, these constitute an important source of information on the development of the orchestra, supplying evidence of the continuation of European-wide traditions of instrumental associations with certain theatrical topoi (also confirmed in contemporary German dance manuals), and offering clues regarding the means through which French compositional and performance styles were disseminated throughout the German-speaking lands. The libretti also provide information on the use of costumed musicians, on the widespread employment of a distinctive type of music referred to as ‘lieblich’ (sweet) and of collaboration between dancing masters employed at diverse courts.

The full range of George Frideric Handel's medical problems has not been adequately considered despite numerous specialist articles. Contemporary evidence used by previous writers is combined with new evidence from the correspondence of James Harris and other sources in a lengthy table arranged chronologically. The subsequent discussion focuses on four areas: obesity, binge-eating disorder, paralysis, and blindness. The likelihood that lead poisoning, probably from excessive consumption of wine and rich foods, caused the paralysis and blindness is explored in depth. The testing of bone or hair fragments is the only means of establishing a sure diagnosis, and that would require exhumation.

The library of University of Wales Lampeter, one of the oldest universities in Britain, collected many rare items, including music, during the first thirty years after its foundation in 1822. This music collection has never really been explored hitherto, and there are no printed references to it in the standard literature. The collection contains nearly 200 items, ranging from 1711 to the mid-nineteenth century but dating mainly from 1770–1820. Alongside the printed music are sixteen instrumental tutors and fifteen manuscripts. Judging by names written on some of the items, the collection was assembled piecemeal from various private collections. For nearly a third of the items, no exact match has yet been found elsewhere. These include previously unknown editions of music by Arne, Mozart and others; previously unknown works by composers such as William Burnett, Francis Linley and William Howgill; and even possibly unknown composers such as J. Gray and Henry Schroeder.

Founded in 1961, the RMA Research Chronicle is unique among English-language journals in its emphasis on the raw materials of musicology: lists, indexes, catalogues, inventories, etc. It is an international refereed journal and publishes high-quality articles in all areas of musicology.