Publications

Events / Workshops / Panels

2025

‘WHY WORCESTER?’

AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting Minneapolis, 6–9 November 2025

3-paper panel session organized and presented by the ERC-BROKENSONG project.

Pre-MEC ERC-BROKENSONG Workshop

City, University of London, MONDAY 2nd June 2025

Afternoon workshop on developing encoding standards for pre-mensular and Insular notations organized and led by the BROKENSONG project.

BENEDICAMUS and BROKENSONG

University of Cambridge, St John’s College, FRIDAY 9th MAY 2025

Joint Workshop of the ERC-Funded Research Projects BENEDICAMUS: Musical and Poetic Creativity for A Unique Moment in the Western Christian Liturgy (University of Cambridge) and BROKENSONG: Polyphonic Singing and Communities of Music Writing in Medieval Britain and Ireland, c.1150–c.1350 (Maynooth University)

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters

  • Karen Desmond, ‘A Music Roll in Princeton and its Origins in Thirteenth-century Yorkshire’, Plainsong and Medieval Music (accepted and forthcoming 2026)
  • Karen Desmond, ‘W. de Wicumbe as a Composer of Alleluya Rondelli’, in Composers in the Middle Ages, ed. Gaël Saint-Cricq and Anne-Zoé Rillon-Marne, 195–221 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2024).
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Medieval Music Rolls, Scribes and Performance: The Extant Rolls of Thirteenth-century English Polyphony’, in Manuscripts and Performances in Religions, Arts, and Sciences, ed. A. Brita et al., 189–210 (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2024), https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111343556-007 (open access)

Conference Papers and Invited Talks

2025

  • Inês Nunes Trindade, ‘Twelfth-century Liturgical Fragments at Worcester Cathedral’, Conference paper, Books, Music, and the Liturgical Life of the Medieval Church, University of Helsinki (City Centre Campus) and the National Library of Finland, 13–14 November 2025.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Worcester II’, Conference paper, AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, 6–9 November 2025.
  • Johanna-Pauline Thöne, ‘Worcester III’, Conference paper, AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, 6–9 November 2025.
  • Eric Nemarich, ‘Worcester I’, Conference paper, AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, 6–9 November 2025.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Approximations of Angelic Song: Earthly and (Imagined) Heavenly Soundscapes in the Ritual Performance of Polyphonic Alleluyas’, Conference paper, En Plein Air: Soundscapes of Ritual and Festivity in Europe and beyond from the Middle Ages to the Present, Complesso museale Santa Maria della Scala, Siena, 24–26 September 2025.
  • Johanna-Pauline Thöne, ‘Traces of Contrafacture and Reworking in the Motet Collection Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS e. Mus. 7’, Conference paper, Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Newcastle University, Durham University, Northumbria University, 30 June–4 July 2025.
  • Eric Nemarich, ‘Polyphony in Thirteenth-century England: The Documentary Evidence’, Conference paper, Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Newcastle University, Durham University, Northumbria University, 30 June–4 July 2025.
  • Eric Nemarich, ‘Polyphony in Thirteenth-century England: The Documentary Evidence’, Conference paper, Society for Musicology in Ireland 23rd Annual Plenary, University College Dublin, 18–20 June 2025.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Polyphony in the Convent: The Case for Late Medieval Shouldham’, Conference paper, Society for Musicology in Ireland 23rd Annual Plenary, University College Dublin, 18–20 June 2025.
  • Johanna-Pauline Thöne, ‘Anglo-French Musical Relations in the Fourteenth Century: Contextualising the Motet Collection Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS e. Mus. 7’, Conference paper, Society for Musicology in Ireland 23rd Annual Plenary, University College Dublin, 18–20 June 2025.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘The Encoding of Insular Polyphony in English Mensural and Pre-mensural Notations’, Conference paper, Music Encoding Conference 2025, City, University of London, 3–6 June 2025.
  • Inês Nunes Trindade, ‘The Discovery of a Substantial Twelfth-century Missal Fragment at Worcester Cathedral’, Conference paper, BENEDICAMUS and BROKENSONG, University of Cambridge, St John’s College, 9 May 2025.
  • Eric Nemarich, ‘Finding a Place for Libri Organorum at St Paul’s, London’, Conference paper, BENEDICAMUS and BROKENSONG, University of Cambridge, St John’s College, 9 May 2025.
  • Johanna-Pauline Thöne, ‘The Motet Collection Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS e. Mus. 7: Contexts, Chronologies, and a Case Study’, Conference paper, BENEDICAMUS and BROKENSONG, University of Cambridge, St John’s College, 9 May 2025.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Networks of Polyphony in 14th-century England, and Possible Connections to Shouldham’, Invited paper for the conference Leading Women in Medieval Religious Communities, Notre Dame University London Global Gateway, 7–9 March 2025.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Introducing BROKENSONG: Fragmentary Manuscripts and the Reconstruction of Insular Musical Communities, c.1150 to c.1350’, Invited lecture, DCU Musicology Seminar Series, Dublin City University, 19 February 2025.
  • Inês Nunes Trindade, ‘The Veneration of Saint Scholastica in the British Isles: The Worcester Gradual F. 160 as Case Study’, Conference paper, Joint SMI and ICTM-IE Postgraduate Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 16–17 January 2025.

2024

  • Karen Desmond, ‘In Pieces: Introducing the BROKENSONG Project’, Invited lecture, Seminar in Musicology, University College Dublin, November 2024.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Broken Songs: Reconstructing Insular Polyphony, c.1150 to c.1350’, Invited paper for Reconstructing and Resounding Early Music, Haute École de Musique, Genève & Université de Genève; EPHE/PSL, Geneva, October 2024.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘A Music Roll and its Origins in 13th-century Yorkshire: A Re-examination of Princeton, University Library, MS Garrett 119’, Conference Paper, Royal Musical Association 60th Annual Conference, London, September 2024.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Repetition and the Polyphonic Alleluya’, Invited lecture, Medieval Song Lab, Yale University, November 2024.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘A Music Roll and its Origins in 13th-century Yorkshire: A Re-examination of Princeton, University Library, MS Garrett 119’, Conference paper, Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Granada, 6–9 July 2024.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘The Worcester Sound: Detecting “Communities of Style” in Medieval Polyphony’, Conference paper, Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research: Methodologies, Projects and Challenges, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, June 2024.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘In Pieces: Introducing the BROKENSONG Project’, Invited lecture, Department of Music Seminar Series, Maynooth University, March 2024.

2023

  • Karen Desmond, ‘Repetition in the Insular Polyphonic Alleluya and the Integrity of Plainchant’, Conference paper, AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, November 2023.
  • Karen Desmond, ‘Measuring Polyphony: An Editor for Encoding Mensural Music’, Conference paper, Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Munich, July 2023.