“Working on Ademar has been like discovering a lost continent.” So Richard Landes begins the Acknowledgments of his book Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History: Ademar of Chabannes, 989–1034. From Richard's research and that of other scholars, we knew that Adémar had made distinguished contributions to the fields of history, literature (homilies in particular) and computus. His musical activities had received attention from Léopold Delisle, Paul Hooreman, John A. Emerson and Michel Huglo, but these accomplishments were largely perceived as a footnote to his better-known literary achievements. So, the topography of Richard's lost continent was principally literary and historical.

If Richard's research discovered a lost continent, then that which led to this book on Adémar's musical accomplishments and the companion edition of his music has resulted in the discovery of a veritable subcontinent that significantly enlarges it. When Richard published his book in 1995, scholars had identified approximately 1,000 folios of autograph manuscript in Adémar's hand, already a staggering amount of material, of which some seventy-five contained music, or less than 10 per cent, perhaps in some part justifying the footnote status of his musical activities.