Readers paging through the second volume of English music scholar Dr. Charles Burney's imposing General History of Music (1782) were probably surprised to find a troubadour melody reproduced in its original notation (figure 3.1). Burney had found it – and of this he was rightly proud – buried in the bowels of the Vatican. The tune was a famous one, Gaucelm Faidit's lament on the death of Richard I the Lionhearted, king of England, and was thus of historical interest to its English readers. Its original format, with the plain ‘square notes’ sitting lifeless on their medieval staff, might appeal to a strictly antiquarian reader. For his intended broader public however, Burney chose to provide a second version which might better make this strange medieval music leap to life. ‘As the original may be difficult to some of my readers in its antique guise’, the author explained, ‘I hope the rest will excuse my attempting a translation of it’.