The Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) is an online database of all European

polyphonic music Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

sources before 1550. Founded in 1998, it is based in Oxford and maintained by the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

's Music Faculty and the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

Overview

It is the only complete listing of all medieval and early modern manuscripts of European polyphonic music. It is founded on a digital archive of images of European

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and early to high-Renaissance

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

music ranging from complete manuscripts to fragments. The collection, created by the

and

Royal Holloway University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

, includes metadata for all manuscripts from 800 to 1550 A.D., and most of those from 1550 to 1650, with images for about 20% of the sources. The image collection is added to on a regular basis thanks to donations from libraries and collaborations with projects who acquire images and are able to donate them to DIAMM for display. The project has recently benefited from collaborations with two AHRC-funded projects
Sources of British Song
(contributing images of manuscripts of monophonic song c. 1150-1300. The project uses sub-pages on DIAMM for its website) an
Tudor Partbooks
(contributing images of all Tudor partbooks dating from c. 1500 to c. 1630). DIAMM relies primarily on grant funding and donations from users for its maintenance. The project is currently not funded, and is maintained on a voluntary basis. It has recently founded DIAMM Publications, which produces high-quality colour facsimiles of manuscripts in the image collection accompanied by academic introductory studies by leaders in their fields, without the considerable markup of conventional publishers. The income from publications is largely put back into other publications, but is also available to support the online resource when funds are urgently required.

Publications

* Magnus Williamson. ''The Eton Choirbook. Full colour facsimile with introductory study'' (Oxford: DIAMM Publications, 2010). * John Milsom. ''The Dow Partbooks. Full colour facsimile with introductory study'' 6 vols (Oxford: DIAMM Publications, 2010). * Kerry McCarthy. ''William Byrd, Masses for 3, 4 and 5 voices. Full colour facsimile with introductory study'' 5 vols paperback (Oxford: DIAMM Publications, 2013). * David Fallows. ''The Henry Book. Full colour facsimile with introductory study'' (Oxford: DIAMM Publications, 2014). * Earp, Lawrence, Leo, Domenic, Shapreau, Carla. ''The Ferrell-Vogüé Machaut Manuscript. Full colour facsimile with introductory study'' 2 vols (Oxford: DIAMM Publications, 2014).

References

Citations

Sources

External links

*
DIAMM Publications
on the Oxford University Stores website {{portal bar, Classical music, Middle Ages, Music Medieval music manuscript sources Music libraries