Musica Britannica
Exploring Britain’s cultural heritage in a national collection of music
About
Founded in 1951, Musica Britannica is an ongoing series of scholarly editions, intended as a representative collection of the monuments of British musical culture. The Musica Britannica Trust, which has been a registered charity since 1976, aims to promote, support and develop research into British music. Our primary activity is the publication of scholarly editions, but we also award grants to support new recordings of this repertory and provide opportunities for emerging performers through our annual competition, the Lewis Memorial Prize.
Opening of François Cellier, Captain Billy. British Library, MS Mus. 1824/2/2/1, fol. 2r
Publications
During our first 75 years, over 110 volumes of Musica Britannica have been published. The repertory ranges from Medieval songs, carols and secular polyphony to late-Victorian operettas, and early 20th-century songs and orchestral works.
Award and Competition
We award grants annually to support the production of high-quality recordings of repertory included within the edition.
The Lewis Memorial Prize competition is also held every year for performers of material from the edition, rotating on a triannual basis between singers, keyboard players and consorts.
Close up of 1778 Kirckman harpsichord held at Royal Academy of Music. Reproduced with permission from the Royal Academy of Music.
News
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Lewis Memorial Prize Competition 2026
The application deadline for the 2026 competition, which is for keyboard, passed on 5 December 2025. The panel is now in the process of shortlisting the candidates who will be invited to perform in the final. We are delighted to announce that the expert judge for the competition will be the renowned harpsichordist and musicologist Davitt Moroney.
Photo: Robert Munsell -
2025 Recording Award winners announced
Grants have been awarded to support two recording projects. Caroline Taylor and George Ireland will use music from MB 56 in their recording of Spring songs, and a recording of Restoration court music taken from MB 103 will be made by Martin Perkins and the Musical & Amicable Society (pictured above).
Photo: Martin Perkins