Medieval Music: A Guide to Research and Resources: Databases, Organizations & Websites

Detailed outline of medieval sections in this article:
I. Introduction
  1. The nature of manuscripts.
  2. The functions of manuscripts.
  3. Preparation and copying.
  4. Historical survey: up to 1600.
  5. Historical survey: from 1600.
  6. The study of manuscripts.
  7. The content of musical manuscripts.
  8. Manuscripts in musical society.
II. Western plainchant
1. General.
2. 9th and 10th centuries.
  3. 11th century.
  4. 11th–12th centuries.
5. 12th century.
6. 12th–13th centuries.
7. 13th century.
8. 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
9. Mozarabic chant.
10. Old Roman chant.
+ Bibliography
III. Secular monophony
1. General.
2. Latin.
3. Occitan.
4. French.
5. German.
Important text manuscripts
Song collections, isolated melodies and fragments
13th century
14th century
15th century
6. Galego-Portuguese.
7. Italian.
8. Other languages and later repertories.
9. Bibliography
+ General
+ Latin
+ Occitan
+ French
+ German
+ Galego-Portuguese
+ Italian
+ Other languages and later repertoires
IV. Organum and discant
1. General.
2. The Winchester Troper.
3. Aquitanian and related sources.
4. Parisian and related sources.
o Bibliography
V. Early motet
1. General.
2. Principal individual sources.
Bibliography
VI. English polyphony, 1270–1400
1. General.
2. The Worcester Fragments.
3. Other individual sources.
Bibliography
VII. French polyphony, 1300–1420
1. General.
2. The Machaut manuscripts.
3. Principal individual sources.
Bibliography
VIII. Italian polyphony, c1325–c1420
1. General.
2. Principal individual sources.
3. Other fragments.
Bibliography
IX. Renaissance polyphony

The RISM database contains 34,941 musical manuscripts and 21,768 printed scores from 55 Swiss musical institutions, both private and public, including archives, libraries, convents, and private collections. The 50,235 cataloged titles each contain up to 100 fields per bibliographic record and follow the RISM A/II directives on data entry, with the following main search fields:- Name of composer, name of arranger etc., with dates of birth and death;

- Catalogue title (title of the work in its standard form);
- Musical incipit;
- Description of materials used;
- Institution where the source is held and its library reference.

The printed musical scores have been cataloged for the first time in www.rism-database.ch, as opposed to the RISM A/II database.