ABSTRACT
Since its rediscovery in 1939, the so-called Faenza Codex (I-FZc 117) has been recognized by performers and scholars as an extremely valuable source of instrumental music. It contains the largest surviving collection of instrumental pieces from before 1450, and provides rare examples of ornamentation and improvization. 1 But for whom, for what purpose, or even for what instrument(s) the manuscript was intended has never been clear, nor has anyone answered the question of why it contains evidence of a performance tradition that was usually extemporized. The results of the present inquiry, while not entirely conclusive, shed some new light on both the instrumental practices and the manuscript traditions of the 15th century.
