Sally Harper provides the first serious study of Welsh music before 1650, and draws on a wide range of sources in Welsh, Latin, and English to illuminate early musical practice. Although few books with conventional notation survive, this study shows that such sources may be considered alongside other types of more prolific material, such as vernacular poetry, histories and chronicles, inventories of pieces and players, and musical treatises. Viewed as a whole, this body of material bears witness to a flourishing and unique musical tradition of considerable cultural significance, aspects of which have an important bearing on wider musical practice beyond Wales.

Contents: Introduction; Part I The Sources and Practice of Medieval Cerdd Dant: Cerdd Dant: a Welsh bardic craft in context; Mastering the bardic crafts: oral and written sources; Harp and crwth in early medieval Wales; The players of Cerdd Dant and their social code; Gathering the documentation of Cerdd Dant; Historical and theoretical sources of Cerdd Dant; The Robert ap Huw manuscript and other Welsh tablature. Part II The Latin Liturgy, its Chant and Embellishment: Sources for the medieval Welsh liturgy: an overview; The early Welsh Clas institutions; Anglo-Norman liturgical reform; Shaping a new liturgy: the adoption of Sarum Use in Wales; Sources with music I: the Penpont Antiphoner; Sources with music II: the Bangor Pontifical; Late medieval evidence I: the institutions; Late medieval evidence II: musical practice. Part III Welsh Music in an English Milieu c.1550-1650: Mirroring England: cultural imitation and infiltration; Domestic and popular music-making I: the context; Domestic and popular music-making II: the repertory; A Welsh translation of John Case's Apologia Musices; The post-Reformation church I: parish and people; The post-Reformation church II: cathedral and household chapel. Appendix of manuscripts; Bibliography; Index.