Early English Music
Making church music from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries available in a form that's both scholarly and practical.
Early English Church Music was established in 1961 by its founding General Editor, Frank Llewelyn Harrison.
A scholarly critical edition of international importance, EECM has produced 67 volumes of English sacred music from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries.
EECM publishes critical music editions of polyphony and chant, as well as facsimile volumes.
EECM's principal focus is on the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, a golden age that includes preeminent composers:
- Leonel Power
- John Dunstaple
- Walter Frye
- Robert Fayrfax
- William Cornysh
- John Taverner
- John Sheppard
- Thomas Tallis
- William Byrd
- Orlando Gibbons
EECM editions are prepared by leading experts in music editing, moderated by members of the editorial board (who are themselves international authorities on early music editing), and published by the outstanding Stainer & Bell. EECM editions therefore set a benchmark of rigour and quality.
Since its inception EECM has enjoyed the support of The British Academy.
It has also been a major collaborator with other Newcastle research projects such as Tudor Partbooks (AHRC, 2014-17).
Newcastle University's Magnus Williamson has been General Editor (2008-21) and is currently Chairman of the editorial board, while his EECM edition of Latin polyphony by John Sheppard (d. 1558) was published in 2012.
