Abstract

The main part of the dissertation is concerned with a detailed investigation of all known sources which contain consort music estimated to have been written during the period 1550 to 1600 approximately. These are over eighty in number (mainly manuscripts) and range in date from c1570 to the mid-seventeenth century. A second volume is devoted to a thematic catalogue in which the entire repertory, listed under individual sources in Volume One, is collected together and classified.