Major advances have been made in the field of early music research over the last fifty years or so, and a large number of researchers are engaged in unravelling the clues to the evolution of the history of early music, not only from a purely musicological point of view, but also from social, cultural and economic perspectives. In this context, every year witnesses important rediscoveries of unknown composers and works that help us to form a more balanced view of over seven hundred years of musical composition and performance.

In the vast majority of cases, the specialized, academic nature of such research, combined with a lack of appropriate channels in which to publish its findings, prevents it reaching a wider audience of interested, non-specialist readers.

Since it came into being ten years ago, Goldberg Magazine has endeavoured to act as a bridge between early music scholars and researchers on the one hand, and non-specialist music enthusiasts on the other, making new knowledge resulting from research available and accessible to the wider public. Aware of the crucial importance of enhancing and widening the public’s knowledge of all matters relating to early music as the first step towards creating new audiences, the Goldberg Foundation is keen to promote dissemination of knowledge in this field as the basis for the consolidation and preservation of the great musical heritage of the Western tradition.

In a bid to foster the widest possible diffusion of all aspects relating to the world of classical music in general, and early music in particular, the aim of the Goldberg Foundation, in the tenth anniversary of the magazine, is to ensure that scholars and researchers have a platform from which to make their work available to a wider readership than that of the purely academic world. It is to that end that the Foundation has created the Goldberg Prizes for the Dissemination of Early Music.

The competition is open to early music researchers, musicologists and scholars all over the world. The conditions of entry are as follows:

- Articles may deal with any aspect of the history, composition or performance of early music, the latter being understood as music belonging to the period from the Middle Age to the beginning of the 19th century.

- Articles may deal with an individual composer or work, a style, instrument(s), performance practice or any other topic relating to the social, cultural or economic aspects of music.

Whilst observing the highest standards of historical and musicological rigor, the articles should specifically address a wide audience, introducing the aforementioned aspects to a broad, well-informed readership which, although interested in early music, does not necessarily have specialist knowledge in this field. Particular merit will be attached to the clarity and readability of the texts.

- Articles may be submitted in Spanish, English, French, German and Italian, and should be 3,000 - 4,500 words long.

- The closing date for the submission of articles is 30 October 2007. Articles should be in Word format and sent by e-mail as detailed in the rules of the competition.

- Three prizes of 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 euros, respectively, will be awarded in recognition of the best articles and essays submitted. The prize will include prominent publication of the article or essay, both in Goldberg Magazine and on the Goldberg website www.goldbergweb.com at a date after January 2008.

- The prizes will be awarded by a jury consisting of the members of the Directors of the Foundation and the Editorial Board of Goldberg Magazine. The decisions of the jury will be published before 1st January, 2008. Goldberg Foundation reserves the right to declare all or any of the prizes void if, in the opinion of the jury, the articles submitted do not satisfy the required standards of quality.

Click here for full details of the COMPETITION RULES