Louise Hanson-Dyer's commonplace book of early music theory

Abstract

After more than a century of university-based musicology, it is very rare for an early music theory manuscript - especially one in an Australian collection - to step figuratively into the limelight and transform our understanding of music history. Yet Manuscript 244 in the Hanson-Dyer Collection at the University of Melbourne (hereafter LHD 244) has done just that. Purchased from antiquarian bookseller H.W. Belmore in Rome by Louise Hanson-Dyer in 1929, and later part of a generous bequest to the university, LHD 244 offers precious insights into the late medieval and early modern musical culture.