«Medioevo musicale» offers a comprehensive catalogue of the bibliographic and discographic records of journals and the most recent non-periodical publications. Additionally, websites containing material useful to the study of medieval music (repertories, bibliographies, doctoral theses, etc.), as well as online journals, have also been surveyed and catalogued.

The discographic section, edited by Francesco Molmenti, in addition to the records collected from direct reviews or gathered from journals, also presents the results of surveys of card and electronic catalogues, the latter marked (Cat.).

The other sections of the bulletin were edited by Davide Checchi (first part), Stefania Vitale (second part - «Istituzioni e storia della liturgia» and «Monodia liturgica»), Antonio Calvia (second part - «Polifonia liturgica»; third part) and Michele Epifani (fifth part).

The entries on individual works, collections, treatises, and manuscripts have been subdivided into editions and studies. Thus, for example, in the section devoted to an author, all editions including partial ones of the particular authorÕs works precede the studies.

The criteria used in compiling the records have remained unchanged: bibliographic information, in some cases a summary of contents, then a slash which marks the indication of the source(s), and the name(s) of the reviewer(s) where the record is based on the reading of a review.

Below each headword, the records located elsewhere and which are cross-referenced are indicated only with the reference number, following the designation Vide which appears directly after the headword, or following a Vide etiam printed after other files grouped under the same headword. In the index of manuscripts, the city and name of the library are written in small caps, the shelf mark in bold; spacing indicates different library.

The first part contains records pertaining to authors and anonymous texts, the musical life of large geographical areas (regions and states) and of cities and local institutions (churches, convents, monasteries, and other religious institutions; universities, scriptoria, and libraries). It concludes with a section on the history of musicology and research methods. Authors and anonymous texts are in alphabetical order. The list covers musicians and anonymous works of music, treatise writers and anonymous treatises, poets who worked in song genres and anonymous texts destined for musical performance. Authors and texts that precede the medieval epoch are also included, when studied in relation to the influence they exercised on medieval musical culture. For the designation of authors we have chosen to adopt the most commonly used form, and in certain cases cross-reference other recorded forms of the name. Overall, for authors who wrote exclusively in Latin (for example treatise writers or authors of liturgical texts) we have used the Latin form, in certain cases cross-referenced with the form of the name in the original language of the author; for musicians and poets who wrote in vernacular, we have used the form in the author's original language, and in certain cases cross-referenced the Latin form. Moreover, we have included cross-references for significant variants. Particular attention has been paid to the anonymous treatises, which have been designated, for the sake of uniformity, by the name of the editor followed by the year of publication, with the title and the incipit indicated. A system of cross-references allows one to return to the main headword from the title and from the first line.

Large geographical areas are listed alphabetically according to their modern name in Italian. For local institutions the reference is the city, also alphabetically ordered, according to the modern name in the relevant language.

The second part is entirely devoted to liturgical music. It is divided into three principal sections: "Istituzioni e storia della liturgia" (Institutions and history of liturgy), "Monodia liturgica" (Liturgical monody) and "Polifonia liturgica" (Liturgical polyphony). In the section "Monodia liturgica", the sources have been further categorised accounting for the type of liturgical book. Following this are the bibliographical entries pertaining to the liturgical office. For the two main entries - Liturgia delle ore (Liturgy of the Hours) and Liturgia della Messa (Liturgy of Mass) - the forms (in alphabetical order) have been specified and for each of these the incipit of the individual works which have been studied (also in alphabetical order). At the end of the section the Latin rites which differ from the Franco-Roman ones (Ambrosian, Beneventan, Roman, etc.) and non-Latin ones can be found. In the section "Polifonia liturgica", after the sources come the genres - that is the Mass and the other liturgical polyphonic genres (Clausula, Conductus, Motetus and Organum). Only bibliographic entries on the early motet and conductus have been included, as they are still closely tied to the liturgical context..

The third part contains bibliographic entries concerning the textual tradition (history and reception, philology, semiography); non-liturgical genres (belonging to monody, polyphony, or instrumental) and treatises; theory and analysis; iconography and musical instruments; links between music and other disciplines and art forms. In the section dedicated to semiography, the different systems of notation have been accounted for, and arranged in alphabetical order. In the section dedicated to genres that are not liturgical, bibliographic entries have been grouped both according to genres and forms and according to the language of the verbal text.

In the fourth part are reference works and among these catalogues of manuscripts, in order according to the city or geographical area where they are currently located.

The fifth part is devoted to the account of congresses and collections of essays. Here there are true volumes of miscellanea, but also books of other kinds, such as critical editions and catalogues of manuscripts prefaced by studies. Individual contributions are normally designated separately and located in the relevant section, with reference to the volume in which it may be found.

The last part contains discographic editions, divided into six broad categories: religious monody, secular monody, religious polyphony, secular polyphony, repertories of oral tradition, and miscellanea.

The complete discographic entry contains the following information:

-disc title

-musical group or individual performers, and where applicable preceded by the conductor

-author of the essay or introduction accompanying the album notes, where present

-place, record label and catalogue number, release date

The summary specifies:

-format type (CD = Digital Audio Compact Disc; CD-ROM = Compact Disc - Read Only Memory; DVD = Digital Versatile Disc; SACD = Super Audio Compact Disc)

-type of recording (DDD = digital recording and mixing)

-date and place of recording

-individual components of the musical complex (in the case of instrumental music, the names of the instruments are taken directly from the cover or from the album notes)

-pieces performed (genre, title, manuscript or print source)

-indication of photograph reproduction of manuscripts and printed books, if they exist

-text of the vocal pieces and translations where available

It is not always possible to collect all this information, even when the disc has been seen. There are various reasons for missing information; for example, it may occur that the genre of each piece performed has not been specified, or that the location of the recording has not been indicated, or that the date of reissue is available but not that of the original recording, or even that the manuscripts and editions used have not been specified or have been indicated as approximations, etc. The records contain the spelling of the names and titles as they appear on the CD; in the index they have been standardised. The genre of the composition performed is indicated according to the following table of acronyms:

A Antiphona

ABN Antiphona ad Benedictus

ACH Anthiphona in coro

ACL Acclamatio

AL Alleluia

AMG Antiphona ad Magnificat

BALD Ballade

BALL Ballata

CAC Caccia

CAR Carola

CHA Chanson

CO Communio, Antiphona ad Communio

CON Conductus

CTC Canticum

CTG Cantiga

EST Estampie

HYMN Hymnus

IN Introitum, Antiphona ad Introitum

INV Invitatorium

IpH In principio Horarum

LAU Lauda

LCT Lectio

Lied Lied

LMT Lamentatio

MAD Madrigale

MOT Mottetto

OF Offertorium

ORG Organum

ORG-AL Organum-Alleluia

ORT Oratio

PAS Pastourelle (Pastorela)

PLN Planctus

PR Prosa

PS Psalmus

R Responsorium

RBr Responsorium breve

RON Rondeau

SEQ Sequentia

TR Tractus

TRK Kyrie cum Tropo

TRP Tropus

VIR Virelai

VRC Versiculum

The volume has eight indices: manuscripts; geographical locations; names and noteworthy items; scholars; compositions referenced in the discographic records; musical groups, directors and performers (always in reference to the discography); CD-ROM and websites used in the survey. The field dedicated to names and noteworthy items includes names of saints, historical figures, illuminators and artists in general, musicians and writers not included in the index of entries on authors (overall the Italian form of the name is used, except in the case of saints who are almost always cited in reference to liturgy), religious orders, technical terms and significant concepts that are the object of reflection, and the liturgical cycle. We have tried to make research on genres that do not have their own specific section as easy as possible; for example, the liturgical offices dedicated to saints (under Ufficio) or offices in verse (under Ufficio ritmico).