Pt. I. The age of the Great Schism (1378-1417). 1. The central tradition. Trends in sacred music. Aesthetic ambitions of the Ars subtilior. The pride of the isorhythmic motet. Writing and performing secular music. The ballade of the faithful Medea. Composers and patrons. 2. The lateral traditions. Paris and the Low Countries. England. Italy. 3. The Council of Constance. A new publicity of music. Sacred ceremonies. A 'conciliar repertory'. Secular song and its transformations -- Pt. II. The age of Dufay and Dunstable. 1. North and south. The genesis of the new style on the Continent. Dufay and his colleagues in Italy (1420-c. 1436). The chanson and Binchois. 2. West and east. Anglo-continental relations and the Old Hall Manuscript. Insular practices. From the Old Hall Manuscript to the Caput Mass. A sweep through Europe -- Pt. III. The common traditions. 1. Music in the life of the institutions. The Church and the world. Locations for music in the church: choir, nave and chapel. Chapel music and its performance. Choir music and chapel music compared. The functions of chapel music, and Dufay's last works. Schools and the Kantorei. The universities. Singing in public. Music in monastic life. Music and the secular authorities. Various public uses of music. The European scene. Various private uses of music. 2. Monophonic song, simple polyphony and instrumental music. Developments of liturgical chant. The Latin cantio and related forms. Simple polyphony. European practices of vernacular song. Aspects of transmission, performance and notation. Instrumental ensemble music. Keyboard music -- Pt. IV. Europe after 1450: diversity and participation. 1. Britain: homegrown glories. Musical institutions. The sacred repertory at home. Secular polyphony. Antiphon settings. Mass settings. 2. France and the Low Countries: the invention of the masterwork. The enterprising 1450s. Mass and motet to c. 1465. Liturgical and devotional music: some sacred institutions. Secular song. Mass and motet from c. 1465 to c. 1480. Regis and Obrecht. 3. Central Europe: masters and apprentices. Organists and song collectors. Chapels, schools and their music books. The musical patronage of the Habsburgs. Some particular developments of central Europe. 4. Italy and Spain: the encounter of music and Renaissance. The Italian Quattrocento and the music historians. Courtly fashions: education and humanism. The improvvisatori; dance music. Foreign secular music. Native secular music in Italy and Spain. Music in the cathedrals and cities; music theory. Sacred polyphony in the courtly sphere. Music by Josquin and his competitors in Milan and Ferrara. Faces of musical humanism