Josquin des Prez en zijn muzikale nalatenschap (Hilversum 2011).
Josquin des Prez and his Musical Legacy. An Introductory Guide – English edition with minor revisions (Leuven 2013)

“As no one else, Elders knows how to find a perfect balance between scholarly meticulousness and clear wording, without of course avoiding musicological terminology.” Ignace Bossuyt, in Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis

“There are few scholars better qualified to write an introductory guide to the life and music of Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450-1521) than Willem Elders.” Richard Sherr, in Renaissance Quarterly

“La competenza onnicomprensiva accumulata da Elders negli oltre quarant’anni di studio dedicati a Josquin rende questa guida autorevole e affidabile.” Francesco Saggio, in Rivista italiana di musicologia

Symbolic Scores. Studies in the Music of the Renaissance (Leiden/New York/Köln 1994)
This second book on musical symbolism presents studies that are concerned with the symbolism inspired by ideas and themes inherent in the musical culture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It comprises the following essays:
– Introduction
– Guillaume Dufay’s Concept of Faux-bourdon (previously published in 1989 in Revue belge de musicologie 43)
– Josquin’s Mass for All Saints and the Book of Revelation (the revised and enlarged version of Josquins Gaudeamus Mass. A Case of Number Symbolism in Worship, published in 1985 in Studi musicali 14)
– The Soggetto ostinato as a Contextual Sign in Mass and Motet
– Symbolic Scoring in Tudor England
– Sign and Symbol in Music for the Dead
– Music and Number in Token of the Holy Virgin
– Canon and Imitation as Musical Images of the Three Divine Persons
– The Conception of Musica celestis and Musical Composition

“The author’s observations and interpretations of musical symbolism are generally preceded by an overview of the structure and style of the works in question, and the student of Renaissance music will recognize that a critical intelligence is at work behind the author’s speculative interpretations.” Martin Picker, in Notes

“Elders moves through his subject with immense authority and expertise in the repertories with which he is most familiar …” Roger Bray, in Music and Letters

“With Willem Elders musical symbolism is in good hands, as his justly and univer¬sally praised Studien zur Symbolik in der Musik alten Niederländer (1968) demonstrate. Elders’s cautious approach to this delicate topic is clearly apparent from the fact that it took him 26 (!) years to produce a sequel¬ to his first book – the present work …” Ignace Bossuyt, in Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis

Componisten van de Lage Landen (Utrecht/Antwerpen 1985).
Composers of the Low Countries, English edition, translated by Graham Dixon (Oxford 1991)
The book considers this influential school of composers in the broader context of Renaissance culture … and examines the identity of the ‘Netherlands School’ and the extraordinary trend of migration southwards.

“In this book, Willem Elders has not confined himself to an easy succession of a number of facts, but has got down to the very core of the music itself.” Herman Baeten, in Musica antiqua

“Elders has taken account of the most up-to-date research by other scholars, and his clear and judicious footnotes are pointers to further reading for the non-specialist.” Jeffrey Dean, in Music and Letters

Studien zur Symbolik in der Musik der alten Niederländer (Bilthoven 1968)
The book is an attempt to review systematically the various features in Netherlandish music which were utilized as symbols as well as to develop a means for controlling the process of their interpretation.

“Erstmalig hat es ein Forscher unternommen, systematisch ein Gebiet zu bearbeiten, über dessen Bedeutung die Musikwissenschaft sich nicht einig ist und deren Forschungsergebnisse z.T. völlig entgegengesetzt beurteilt werden.” Walter Blankenburg, in Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis

“As is the case with any survey, this book is valuable because it brings together a large amount of material related to the subject, the number of passages cited ranging well into the hundreds.” Edgar H. Sparks, in Notes

“… und so sind seine Studien zur Symbolik in der Musik der alten Niederländer zum Muster einer vorurteilslosen Untersuchung geworden.” Carl Dahlhaus, in Die Musikforschung

“This author’s work stands as a persuasive proof of the importance of allegory in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and it points the way for future study.” Maria Rika Maniates, in The Musical Quarterly

“The study of symbolism in music is a rich and fascinating one, for the further pursuit of which Dr. Elders’s book provides an excellent basis and stimulus.” John Bergsagel, in Music and Letters

“… W. Elders échappe à la tentation de chercher partout et à tout prix des symbolismes, des significations cachées, et des allusions ésotériques non voulues par le compositeur.” Edith Weber, in Revue historique