The Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), one ot the most famous figures in European history, lived at a time ot violent change, which was impressively symbolized in his character and life. He was virtually an embodiment of the spiritual situation of that epoch: a man of medieval, chivalrous ideals, and at the same time a man of the new age in his patronage of science, humanism and the arts.
In 1477 the young Maximilian was married to Maria of Burgundy, the daughter and heiress of Charles the Bold. Burgundy was the last centre of medieval culture. At that most brilliant court in Europe Maximilian became acquainted with the most eminent artists, heard the works of Netherlands composers sung and played by the best musicians of the time. There his love of music developed into profound knowledge, and he gained the experience of music and musicians which he was later to put to such good use in the foundation of his own court musical establishment. This establishment was, deservedly, the object of widespread admiration. The music ot Maximilian's court gave the decisive impulse to the dawning musical culture of Germany.
The contrasts of that transitional period are emphasized by a clear distinction between north and south: in Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance, the spiritual transformation had taken place more completely than in the northern countries. The visual arts had cast off all "Gothic" (considered at that time to be tantamount to barbaric) forms, had discovered secular impulses. This land was bound to appear to many, especially artists north of the Alps who still lived and worked largely in the spirit and forms of the middle ages, as a shining example. In order to point out the widely differlng forms existing at the same time it is sufficient to mention a few of the foremost artists of that period: Adam Krafft, Tilman Rlemenschneider, Mathls Nithart, known as Grünewald as representatives of the late Gothic spirit, while Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael were at work in Italy. Albrecht Dürer, who was closely connected with Maximilian for a time, was the first German artist to make the new ideals his own, following several artistic pllgrimages to Italy. In music the different epochs were less clearly differentiated, but here, too, the two faces of art at that time are distinguishable. The composers of the generation of Isaac and Josquin went a way which led from the rhythmical and tonal diversity of the earlier Netherlands masters to the noble suavity of the classically polyphonic, imitative textures of the 16th century. It is noteworthy that although this change was brought about by Netherlands composers, they were all men who had lived in Italy, the land of the new art.
The outstanding composer ot the circle around Maximilian was Heinrich Isaac. The Emperor had engaged this Flemish musician, who had previously been employed at the Medici court in Florence, as his court composer in 1495. Isaac was required to provide compositions, but he was permitted to continue living in Florence, and to keep up his contacts with other patrons. Naturally he had to visit the Imperial court from time to time at the Emperor's command. Isaac's musical versatility has often been praised. While he tended towards conservatism in tonal and harmonic respects, favouring harsh fifths and the complex rhythms of the early Netherlands masters, he was highly inventive in matters of form. A great deal of his instrumental music has survived. One particularly interesting piece is the Bataglia. In this dark music we find tone painting of a kind which was then new: in addition to battle cries and trumpets we can hear painful lamentation and the typical rhythms of galloping horses - all these elements were to appear regularly in later musical battle pictures. The two Latin homage motets were probably composed during the winter of 1507/O8 in connection with the Reichstag at Constance.
The only personal pupil of Isaac known to us was Ludwig Senfl, who came from Zürich, When Isaac died Senfl succeeded him as court composer to Maximilian. While his songs aim at complete euphony, his instrumental pieces, in which he frequently set himself complex contrapuntal tasks, are reminiscent of the harsher tonal world of his teacher. - The Motet "Quis dabit oculis nostris", lamenting the death of Maximilian, has been wrongly attributed to Senfl ever since Ott published it under his name in 1538 (see Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst, Zweite Folge [Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern], Jg. 3, Bd. 2: Ludwig Senfls Werke, Erster Teil, ed. by Theodor Kroyer, Leipzig 1903, p. XXXV, and Theodor Kroyer, Ludwig Senfl und sein Motettenstil, Munich 1902, pp 20-21); in fact, according to the Codex Bologna, Biblioteca Musicale Martini, Ms. Q 19 ff., 76-78, printed in: Monumenta polyphoniae italicae II, Rome 1936, pp. 108-112., it was composed by Costanzo Festa, and its original text related to the death of Queen Anne of France (1514). - Anton Brumel was also among the internationally recognized masters of his generation. His instrumental piece based on the wellknown song "Tandernac" (To Andernach) is full of wild rhythmical audacities such as were no longer customary at that time. - Pierre de LaRue was closely connected with the Imperial family. From 1492 onwards he was employed at Maximilian's Burgundian court. LaRue was the romanticist of the age. A work typical of his almost impressionistic style is "Fors seulement". - Jacob Obrecht was active in various towns of Flanders throughout almost all his lifetime. It may be assumed that Maximilian, during his Burgundian period, became acquainted with this renowned composer.
The most famous organist ot the period was Paul Hofhaimer. Paracelsus once said: "What Hofhaimer is at the organ, Dürer is in painting." - As the organ was primarily an instrument for improvisation, few of Hofhaimer's organ pieces have come down to us. One ot these is "Tandernaken", an arrangement of the song which formed the basis of many instrumental pieces. This work has survlved in a tablature notation by his pupil Kotter; in addition to the customary three voices a fourth is noted, with the remark "to be played by another person". Surprisingly enough it is not the Cantus firmus, the song melody, which is thus to be played by a different musician for greater emphasis, but a richly decorated altus part, which was evidently composed as an after-thought. The distinctive character of this figured part makes it clear that the well-known Cantus firmus was merely the starting-point for the composition and not its principal voice. The altus part should evidently be kept clearly separate from the other moving parts.
In several of the works here recorded we can sense the growing attempt to achieve clearly established form. Thus, for example, the return of the opening motif at the end of lsaac's "Carmen in fa" and "An buos", and such homophonic concluding sections as those of the anonymous "Si je perdu" or Obrecht's "Vavilment" were intended to provide a clear final effect, Other works still lack this formal element of construction. The earlier ideal - that music should commence apparently without any definite beginning, and fade out without a clear ending, as though it could go on for ever - is still evident in certain of the compositions, such as the anonymous "Hercules", or Brumel's "Tandernac".

Notes on performances and instrumentation
Unfortunately little is known for certain about the performing practice applicable to this music, so that we frequently have to resort to hypothesis, and more frequently still have to rely on our musical feeling. The most important problems are: 1. the accidentals to be added, 2. the instrumentation, and 3. the improvisation. 1. in order to avoid destroying the modal richness of the music, accidentals have been added only where this appeared to be absolutely necessary. The transition from modal to tonal writing (i. e, from the old Church tones to the major and minor system) is one of the criteria distinguishing the older music of the Netherlands school from music in the style of Palestrina. 2. It is known from paintings what instruments were played at that time. In choosing the instrumentation for the individual pieces particular attention was devoted to the performing technique and characteristics of the instruments, and to the tonal effects of various instrumental combinations. Some figures are typical of wind instruments, some of strings. - Many of the instrumental pieces bear titles which point to vocal music. At that time there were as yet no hard and fast boundaries between the spheres of vocal and instrumental music. Instrumental pieces were seldom composed as such; musicians adapted vocal pieces for their instruments (organ and lute tablatures), both modes of performance being equally possible and correct. In the sources here drawn upon all the instrumental pieces are without text. 3. While considerable scope was allowed for improvisation in the music of that era, this was true principally of such music as was never written down. ln music which was in fact set down even ornamentation was written out, and in this recording only a few trills and mordents have been added. We possess many proofs that percussion instruments were used, but as no parts were ever written from them these have had to be added. Every modern interpretation of this music represents only one of many possibilities. Naturally limits are set to the musician's imagination; the knowledge and stylistic feeling of the interpreter must produce the most satisfactory union of effect possible. - People ot that period were passionate, vital, strong in their expressions of joy and grief. It is impossible to imagine their music being played in an "objective" manner. However the music of those days was interpreted, the contemporaries of Grünewald and Dürer certainly neither performed nor listened to music in a dry and unconcerned manner.

The instruments employed
The earliest existing string instruments are distinguished by a tone of splendid velvety quality. Such instruments cannot be rebuilt satisfactorily. Fortunately we possess two Italian instruments which belong to the fiddle class, and whose tone fulfils all our requirements. The bass fiddle of 1558 is from the instrumental collection of the Damenstift at Hall, one of the most important musical foundations of the 16th century. In the case of this instrument we know the name of its maker (a very rare occurrence for that period), and also the names of all its owners down to the present day. It was probably the private property of the Archduchess Magdalena, daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand I, who founded the Damenstift at Hall in 1569, taking her musical instruments with her. This instrument is unique. The tenor fiddle is unsigned, but its construction corresponds so completelz to that of the  bass fiddle, that they must be products of the same school, if not of the same maker. These two instruments were taken as the tonal models for the selection of the remaining instruments. It was established that the viols and tenor viol of the baroque age are considerably nearer to the earlier tonal ideal than any moodern reconstructions of fiddles.
The recorders are exact copies of surviving instruments in the Ambras collection. Each one was made in one piece of wood.
Two of the trombonns are copies, one is un original instrument dating from around 1700. As tho construction of the trombone, and therefore also its tone, did not alter from its introduction around 1400 until the middle of the 18th century, we have a guarantee here, too,of an authentic sound-pattern. The organ probably dates from the l7th century, but, as is often the case with English instruments, its specification corresponds to that of far older organs. It possesses three registers,a1l with wooden pipes: Gedackt 8', Open 4' (Principal), Zimbel.