diff --git a/src/musikcore/runtime/MessageQueue.cpp b/src/musikcore/runtime/MessageQueue.cpp
index b7cda8287..07a076bf9 100755
--- a/src/musikcore/runtime/MessageQueue.cpp
+++ b/src/musikcore/runtime/MessageQueue.cpp
@@ -112,7 +112,12 @@ void MessageQueue::Dispatch() {
             EnqueuedMessage *m = (*it);
 
             if (now >= m->time) {
-                this->dispatch.push_back(m);
+                /* it's possible the target (receiver) has been unregistered;
+                if that's the case, just discard it. otherwise, add it to the
+                output set to be dispatched outside of the critical section */
+                if (this->targets.find((*it)->message->Target()) != this->targets.end()) {
+                    this->dispatch.push_back(m);
+                }
                 it = this->queue.erase(it);
             }
             else {
@@ -125,9 +130,7 @@ void MessageQueue::Dispatch() {
 
     Iterator it = this->dispatch.begin();
     while (it != this->dispatch.end()) {
-        if (this->targets.find((*it)->message->Target()) != this->targets.end()) {
-            this->Dispatch((*it)->message);
-        }
+        this->Dispatch((*it)->message);
         delete *it;
         it++;
     }