ABSTRACT
Anonymity reigns, outwardly at least, within thirteenth-century motet collections where pieces are never accompanied by author ascriptions. Medieval documents or theoretical treatises sometimes name motet composers, and motet material occasionally appears within different types of music and/or text sources in which author ascriptions are conventional. Fortuitously and unusually, such information exists to reveal the respective identities of two motet composers in the concluding sections of the Montpellier Codex, the thirteenth century's largest and most lavish motet collection. These motet attributions to Petrus and to Adam are very well known, long recognised and emphasised in discussions of a polyphonic repertoire that is otherwise devoid of composer figures. The date of Adam's complete works compilation, whose literary texts contain some helpful datable clues, has not been given serious consideration in relation to Mo fascicle 7, in which Adam also plays an important role. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book.
