Newly discovered 14th-century polyphony in Oxford
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Joseph W. Mason
Newly discovered 14th-century polyphony in Oxford
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
T he history of medieval music has always
rested on fragmentary sources, and polyphony
in medieval England is no exception to this. Ernest
The VR consists of 16 paper quires or gatherings
(irregularly foliated), 15 of which have a parchment
sewing guard around their spine; all quires have a
H. Sanders and Peter M. Lefferts describe this as parchment sewing guard inside them, stitched in the
a ‘lamentable’ state of affairs: English polyphony middle bifolium of the gathering (except quire IX).5
is found plentifully in liturgical manuscripts and Table 1 lists the fragments, showing their positions
miscellanies, but is not the sole contents of any in relation to the gatherings, the presence of musical
surviving codex between the Winchester Troper notation and text, and the appearance of three iden-
and the Old Hall manuscript.1 For evidence of tifiable music hands. The VR has recently been digi-
the existence of large anthologies of polyphony in tized and images of the source are available online.6
medieval England, we must instead look to frag- Of the 31 surviving parchment fragments, at least
ments of these manuscripts that have been bound 28 have visible music notation of some kind (either
into or wrapped around other books. Sometimes noteheads, note tails, staff lines, or all three of these).
these fragments are tiny, damaged or illegible: the Eighteen have Latin text underlaid beneath a musi-
reconstruction of a large source from such small cal staff (though the staff has been trimmed away
fragments is often frustrated by the patchy sur- on some fragments); the script is mostly a large
vival of a manuscript that has been cut up, and the and formal gothic textualis that is easily legible
fact that fragments might be sewn or glued into where letters have not been cut in half. Staff lines
a book, difficult to remove without damaging the are ruled—whether individually or with a rastrum is
host volume. not clear—and at least three music hands are visible
New discoveries of fragmentary polyphonic on the fragments (see Table 1 and illus.1). Notation
sources from England arise with some frequency.2 hand 1 is a large and formal black-full mensural
The focus of this article is the very small frag- notation with ligatures and an ‘e’-shaped custos on
ments of medieval music bound in Lincoln College, red staves. Notation hand 2 is smaller and less for-
Oxford, lc/a/r/1, which came to light in 2018.3 mal, black-full mensural notation with ligatures, a
Lindsay McCormack, the college archivist, alerted slender, sideways ‘y’ custos, and lead-point staves.
me to the presence of music notation on the sewing Notation hand 3 is black-void mensural notation
guards of the oldest register of the college, the Vetus with no ligatures on the surviving fragments, a
Registrum (hereafter VR). These strips of parch- ‘v-with-tail’ custos and red staves. Notation hand 1
ment, sewn outside and within each paper quire is often accompanied by text; notation hand 2 may
to strengthen the binding, are very small indeed, have been accompanied by text, since a few letters
measuring 29cm in width and approximately 3cm in are visible beneath the notation on one fragment.
height. (Precise measurements are difficult because There is no evidence for text accompanying notation
the fragments have not been removed from the bind- hand 3. No decoration, such as the pen-flourished
ing.) Comparable cases include the vertical strips of initials found in many English 14th-century sources,
parchment removed from Cambridge, Jesus College appears on the fragments.
Ms. qb1 and the vertical strips bound in Oxford, All These Latin texts and snippets of mensural nota-
Souls College, Ms. 56.4 tion are the remnants of a source of motets (and
Early Music, Vol. xlix, No. 2 © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. 245
doi:10.1093/em/caab008, available online at www.em.oup.com
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Advance Access publication September 4, 2021
Table 1 Sewing guards in the VR. The hypothetical fragment 21 and the front flyleaf are lost. * indicates that only staff
lines and tails are visible on the fragment.
Gathering Fragment Relation to gathering at (fols.) Musical notation Music hand Text
Front flyleaf [lost] Y
I 1 Outside 1r/14v Y 1
2 Inside 6v Y 1
II 3 Outside 15r/29v Y 1 Y
4 Inside 21v Y 1 Y
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
III 5 Outside 30r/53v Y 1 Y
6 Inside 35v Y 1
IV 7 Outside 54r/66v Y
8 Inside 59v Y 2 Y
V 9 Outside 67r/74v Y 1 Y
10 Inside 74v Y 1?*
VI 11 Outside 82r/95v Y 1 Y
12 Inside 89v Y 1
VII 13 Outside 103r/109v Y 1 Y
14 Inside 105v Y 1, 2
VIII 15 Outside 115r/126v Y 1?* Y
16 Inside 120v Y 1, 3
IX 17 Outside 129r/139v Y 1 Y
18 Inside 130v/132v Y 1 Y
X 19 Outside 141r/147v Y 1
20 Inside 146v Y 1 Y
XI 21 (lost) Outside 159r/166v
22 Inside 161v Y 1 Y
XII 23 Outside 169r/178v
24 Inside 176v Y 1 Y
XIII 25 Outside 178v/199v Y 1 Y
26 Inside 192r Y 1 Y
XIV 27 Outside 201r/215v
28 Inside 206v Y 2 Y
XV 29 Outside 216r/225v Y 1 Y
30 Inside 222v Y 1, 3
XVI 31 Outside 231r/241v Y 1
32 Inside 236v Y 1
perhaps other types of polyphony too) copied in the fragments all suggest that the original source was
14th century. The text and notation for three known also produced in England.8 The following examina-
motets can be identified in 13 fragments, which are tion of the fragments argues that this original source
listed in Table 2; the text and notation on 15 further was a large collection of motets, copied in the 14th
fragments have yet to be identified (in addition to century and possibly created or used in Oxford.
the text and notation on the reverse of the 13 frag-
ments with known concordances; see Appendix 2).7 Reconstructing the fragments
The English origin of the three identifiable motets, All evidence suggests that the fragments were pre-
the English provenance for all three concord- sent in the VR when it was originally bound between
ant sources, and the style of notation in the VR 1480 and 1520.9 The VR was the first record book of
246 Early Music May 2021
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
1 Three notational hands in the VR: Oxford, Lincoln College, lc/a/r/1, fols.21v, 105v and 222v (© Lincoln College, Oxford,
2021)
Lincoln College, founded by Richard Fleming in When the book was first made, all 16 extant paper
1427 with the mission of counteracting Lollard her- quires (and possibly more, now lost) were bound
esies.10 The earliest entry dates from 1472 and entries together, with sewing guards in the centre of each
continue until around 1640.11 The paper of the vol- gathering and also around the outside of each gath-
ume, which may have been left to the college in 1452 ering. The sewing guards were cut horizontally
by one of the fellows, John Shryrburn, has the same (parallel to the staff lines) from the original music
watermark (a fleur-de-lys and a capital letter M) manuscript, folded in half and then mounted side-
throughout.12 The stitching and supports are origi- ways.13 Quire XI lacks its outer sewing guard but
nal, while the covers of the book (parchment leaves retains its inner guard. It is likely that quire XI was
wrapped around alum tawed) are a later addition, part of the original volume because its inner sew-
replacing earlier covers of the book which no longer ing guard bears black-full mensural notation in
survive. notational hand 1, and therefore originated from the
Table 2 Concordant motets and unidentified texts in the VR. The side of the fragment is indicated by the letter ‘i’
(inside) or ‘o’ (outside), where the outside of the fragment is closest to the spine and the inside of the fragment is closest
to the centre of the gathering as now bound.
Motet Fragments Concordances
Tu civium primas / O cuius vita / Tu 1i, 4i, 6i, 8i, 11i, 15i, 18o, 20i, 24o, 29o, 32i Cambridge, Gonville and
caelestium primas / Congaudens super te Caius College (GB-Cgc), Ms.
512/543, fol.252v
Virgo Maria patrem parit / O stella 25o GB-Cgc 512/543, fol.248v
marina nos a / Virgo Maria, flos divina / Cambridge, Pembroke
Flos genuit regina qui College (GB-Cpc), Ms.228,
fol.iv
Veni creator spiritus eximie / Veni 26i Cambridge, Corpus Christi
creator spiritus College (GB-Ccc), Ms. 65,
fol.135v
Ave maris stella (?) 13o, 22i
Unidentified text or music (on both 1o, 2, 3, 4o, 5, 6o, 7o, 8o, 9, 11o, 12, 13i, 14, 15o,
sides of fragment unless specified) 16, 17, 18i, 19, 20o, 22o, 24i, 25i, 26o, 28o, 29i,
30, 31, 32o
Early Music May 2021 247
same manuscript as the other sewing guards with the covers were replaced. It is probable that the end
music notation. At some point in the book’s his- leaf belonged to the same manuscript of polyphonic
tory, quire XI came loose from the binding and was music. From the traces of red staff lines on the cover
kept separately from the rest of the book. Its outer of the VR, the spacing of the visible lines at 6mm
leaves are very dirty, more so than the outer leaves of intervals matches the red staff lines on the extant
other quires. At this point, the sewing guard around fragments.
quire XI, if one ever existed, probably fell away. My reconstruction of the original source for the
Later, quire XI was hitched into the binding using a fragments is based on their transmission of one
slighter thread.14 motet, Tu civium primas / O cuius vita / Tu caeles-
At one point during its history, the VR also had tium primas / Congaudens super te, which other-
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
at least one parchment end leaf placed at its begin- wise exists in full only in Cambridge, Gonville and
ning; this end leaf, now lost, was from a music man- Caius College, 512/543 (GB-Cgc 512/543), a small
uscript, since traces of red staff lines are visible on collection of polyphonic pieces appended to a 14th-
the inside of the left board, probably imprinted from century text on the see of East Anglia and cathedral
the facing end leaf. The end leaf was probably part of Norwich.15 This is an unusual motet, with all four
of the original binding and stayed in place when voices carrying different texts, and is paralleled only
by Virgo Maria patrem parit / O stella marina nos
a / Virgo Maria, flos divina / Flos genuit regina
qui. Both Tu civium and Virgo Maria are found in
GB-Cgc 512/543 and both motets consist of two pairs
of voices, each pair occupying the same registral
space. In the presentation of these motets, the scribe
of GB-Cgc 512/543 responded in different ways to
the challenges posed by four fully texted voice parts.
Voice-exchange motets could be presented in ‘long-
form’, where all the musical material to be sung by
a single voice part is written out, or ‘short-form’, as
we find in GB-Cgc 512/543 and the VR fragments.16
In GB-Cgc 512/543, the four voices of Tu civium are
laid out consecutively (illus.2a), while for Virgo
Maria, the two pairs of voices face each other across
an opening (illus.2b). In Virgo Maria, each pair of
voices is copied as if it is a single voice part, with a
2 Layout of (a) Tu civium and (b) Virgo Maria in GB-Cgc 3 Layout of Tu civium in the original source of the VR
512/543 fragments
248 Early Music May 2021
32i
24o Tu civium primas per imp[er]ium summi celestium patris tu apo
ora filium supera regentem regem glorificatum domina
4i
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
6i
milicie cum leticia de crimina modulamina per totum celica
20i
18o canunt hodie colegia gaude dicencia
11i
confinia p[er] te firmata in fide catholica ubi preconia laudum
1i
mentum et documentum [Christ]i tu Baronia cognominaris gracia in
29o
angelica conregnant
15i tua memoria hinc [Start of second tenor text (?), pasted down] 8i
4 Placement of fragments on the opening for Tu civium
siglum halfway through to indicate where the sec- twin compositions’.18 This would mean the triplum
ond voice of the pair begins. Frank Ll. Harrison and duplum of Tu civium being conceived as a single
shows through his edition of Virgo Maria (which voice part (likewise the two tenors), with one singer
he does not consider to be a motet) that it uses singing the triplum and then duplum, and another
voice-exchange technique: each voice sings one of singer singing the duplum and then the triplum.
the two notated parts, but singing the material in The sole extant complete version of Tu civium does
different orders, that is, singer 1: triplum–duplum; not have sigla like Virgo Maria, precluding any firm
singer 2: duplum–triplum; singer 3: first tenor–sec- conclusions. The presentation of Tu civium in the
ond tenor; singer 4: second tenor–first tenor.17 This VR fragments, however, may strengthen Lefferts’s
layout is matched in Cambridge, Pembroke College, hypothesis.
228 (GB-Cpc 228), which transmits only the triplum The version of Tu civium in the original source
and duplum for Virgo Maria, and also has a siglum for the VR fragments was also across a single open-
(five red dots) above the opening of the duplum. ing but laid out differently from GB-Cgc 512/543,
Harrison believed that Tu civium would have with the triplum (Tu civium) and duplum (O cuius)
been performed in the same way; since the motet is on facing pages. The first tenor (Tu caelestium) was
so similar to Virgo Maria in its ranges and unusual likely copied directly beneath the triplum. The sec-
texting, Lefferts, who identifies the two composi- ond tenor (Congaudens super te) followed it imme-
tions as motets, goes so far as to call them ‘virtually diately without changing line and continued on the
Early Music May 2021 249
facing page underneath the duplum (illus.3). This The layout of Tu civium in the VR fragments
hypothetical layout can be deduced from the eleven therefore presents a mixed conception of the motet.
fragments that transmit part of the text or music On the one hand, with the triplum and duplum
notation for the motet, with six fragments provid- on facing pages, the two upper parts do not seem
ing crucial evidence for the ordinatio of the original to have been understood by the scribe to be a sin-
source. The position of these fragments in this open- gle voice part to be sung by two singers in voice
ing of the original source is shown in illustration 4. exchange. They appear as separate entities, arranged
The notation for the beginning of the duplum is pre- in such a way as to be distinct from one another. On
served on fragment 32, which is preceded by blank the other hand, the consecutive copying of the two
parchment. On fragments where a line of music and
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
the text for the line above is given, very little space is
left in between; the blank parchment on fragment 32
thus suggests that the duplum is at the top of a page.
Unlike GB-Cgc 512/543, the VR source cannot have
presented the triplum and duplum consecutively on
the same page because of the way that the two tenor
voices must have been placed. Fragment 29 gives the
text for the final words of the first tenor (bar the final 5 Two sides of fragment 29: Oxford, Lincoln College,
three words, which are on fragment 15) and, under- lc/a/r/1, fol.216r (© Lincoln College, Oxford, 2021)
neath this text, the opening notation of the second
tenor, demonstrating that, as in GB-Cgc 512/543, the Table 3 Minimum number of folios for the VR
two tenor parts are copied consecutively without a fragments. * Folio D is hypothetical as there are no
change of line. The first tenor thus ends on the same surviving fragments for it.
folio as the beginning of the second tenor. The divi-
sion between the two tenor parts is marked by two Folio
circular sigla on fragments 29 and 15.19 The text for
the end of the duplum, ‘canunt hodie collegia gaude A recto text of unidentified A and B
dicencia’, is on fragment 18, and below this is the top motet voice must be
of a staff, on which a c2 clef and several noteheads verso Tu civium triplum, first contiguous
are visible, including one semibreve–semibreve– tenor, second tenor
B recto Tu civium duplum,
breve ligature. This notation cannot correspond to
second tenor
the start of the second tenor, whose notation is on verso text of unidentified
fragment 29. (The s–s–b ligature for the start of the motet
second tenor is visible on the part of fragment 29
on the spine of the VR.) Nor can it be the beginning C recto text of unidentified C and D
motet voice must be
of the triplum or first tenor, since neither of these
verso Virgo Maria triplum contiguous
voices has a s–s–b ligature of the same shape in its
and duplum
first line; notation for the first line of the triplum D* recto Virgo Maria first and
is, in any case, on fragment 24. The notation on second tenor
fragment 18 is likely that for the second tenor text, verso
‘confinia per te firmata in fide catholica ubi preco-
E recto text of unidentified
nia laudum’, whose text is on fragment 11. This indi-
motet voice
cates that shortly after the start of the second tenor, verso Veni creator spiritus
the scribes continued the voice on a facing page triplum
directly underneath the duplum. The end of the sec-
ond tenor is found on fragment 8 and is followed F recto? text of unidentified
motet voice
by blank parchment, an indication that the second
verso? Ave maris stella (?)
tenor finishes at the bottom of the page.
250 Early Music May 2021tenor parts, just as in GB-Cgc 512/543, might argue recognizable from the fragments, Virgo Maria and
for the opposite: there is essentially one tenor part Veni creator. A partial reconstruction of the text and
divided into two halves, whose division is marked music on the reverse of the duplum for Tu civium
by two circle sigla. is provided in Appendix 1. Similarly, the text on the
From this reconstruction of Tu civium a num- reverse of the triplum of Virgo Maria (fragment
ber of conclusions can be drawn about the physical 26) does not belong to Tu civium or Veni creator;
characteristics of the original manuscript. First, the this fragment must be from the verso of a third folio.
source of the VR fragments was a codex, not a rotu- Facing this third folio must have been the remainder
lus. This is indicated by the blank parchment above of Virgo Maria, probably the first and second tenor
the start of the duplum and beneath the end of the if the layout was the same as in GB-Cgc 512/543.
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
second tenor. The continuation of the second tenor Given that no fragments transmit any of the text
underneath the end of the duplum also proves that or music for these fully texted tenor parts, it must
the motet was copied across facing pages of a codex be the case that this fourth folio has been lost. The
of some kind. Second, the hypothetical layout of Tu fragment that transmits part of Veni creator must be
civium points to a text block of ten staves. This can be part of a fifth folio since the text on its reverse does
approximated from the amount of text that fills the not relate either to Virgo Maria or to Tu civium. As
width of a fragment in comparison to the amount of in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 65 (GB-Ccc
space that the same text takes up in GB-Cgc 512/543. 65), the triplum of Veni creator (to which fragment
The triplum and duplum likely each took up six 26 belongs) was probably copied on the verso of the
lines; the first tenor occupied three whole lines and folio, with a facing page that transmitted the duplum
a small amount of a fourth, while the second tenor and second tenor.20 Whether any of the texts trans-
occupied the remainder of this line and four whole mitted by the fragments are part of this lost duplum
lines on the facing page. The text block of the source cannot be proven. Finally, there must have been
must have been approximately 220 × 370mm, and a sixth folio on one side of which—perhaps the
the VR source was thus a sizable music manuscript, verso—was transmitted a setting of the text Ave
larger (and more formal) than GB-Cgc 512/543. maris stella, to which two fragments probably relate
A text block of this size is not unusually tall, further
indication that this was a codex rather than a rotu- Table 4 Width of text block in a selection of 14th-century
lus. Text and music notation line up fairly closely polyphonic sources
on either side of the fragments, indicating careful
ruling of the text block. Illustration 5, for example, Source Approx. width of text
shows letters that have been cut about two-thirds of block (mm)
the way up on both sides of fragment 29.
The reconstruction of Tu civium also provides GB-Lwa 33327 255 (width of both
important clues as to the number of motets that columns)
GB-Lwa 12185 246
were part of the original source. Because of the text
GB-Lbl Add. 57950 (Old Hall) 235
that is identifiable on both sides of each fragment, VR 220
and in conjunction with the layout of Tu civium GB-Ccc 65 200
and the likely layout of Virgo Maria and Veni crea- GB-DRc c.i.20 185
tor spiritus eximie / Veni creator spiritus, the frag- GB-Ob e Mus 7 182
ments must come from at least six different folios, GB-Lbl 24198 180
hence a booklet or booklets for which there were GB-Lbl Arundel 14 >168
at least seven different openings. This information GB-Cpc 228 165
is summarized in Table 3 below. The fragments for GB-Cgc 512/543 153
Tu civium must come from two folios that were GB-Onc 362 >146
adjacent (but not necessarily joined as a bifolium). GB-Ob Hatton 81 139
GB-Lbl Sloane 1210 >130
On the reverse of these fragments are texts that do
GB-Lbl 62132 a 128
not belong to either of the other motets that are
Early Music May 2021 251(22 and 13). However these six folios are arranged, Abbey manuscripts and of similar size to the Old
given that A and B must remain contiguous, as must Hall manuscript. In sum, the evidence points to a
C and D, there are always seven openings and there- source of motets that was physically large and pos-
fore there would have been at least seven motets in sibly extensive in its contents.
the original source. Add to these the polyphonic
pieces copied in notational hands 2 and 3, and the
number of polyphonic works in the original source Notation
must have been at least nine. The notation on the VR fragments provides impor-
As Lefferts has shown, some 14th-century frag- tant information about the provenance and dates at
ments of English polyphony came from large col- which the source was first copied, and for which it
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
lections of motets. From their foliation, Oxford, remained in use. The earliest notational hand, hand
New College, 362 (GB-Onc 362) must have had 1, is present on the most fragments (see Table 1
at least 90 folios and Cambridge, Corpus Christi above). This music scribe wrote in black-full men-
College, 65 (GB-Ccc 65) at least 100; London, sural notation, with a range of rhythmic values that
British Library, Add. Ms. 24198 (GB-Lbl 24198) is indicate copying some time during the 14th century:
arranged alphabetically, and within each letter sec- duplex longs, longs, breves presented as square note-
tion there may have been as many as eight motets.21 heads (as opposed to the 13th-century English use
Whether the VR fragments came from a codex of of the rhomboid breve), rhomboid semibreves and
similar heft to these examples is difficult to deter- up-stemmed minims (see further discussion below).
mine. The motets that can be identified may indi- Ligatures appear to be used following Franco’s sys-
cate a codex that was, like GB-Lbl 24198, organized tem of propriety and perfection. Where longs are
alphabetically. If this was the case, Tu civium, Veni divisible into three equal breves, the scribe some-
creator and Virgo Maria would have been copied times uses dots to mark the end of long groups.
close together, perhaps even within the same gath- I have found no cases of dots being used to separate
ering, since sections for T and V would be next to semibreve groups, except for those in Tu civium and
one another. The dimensions of the VR fragments Virgo Maria, discussed below. No dots of addition
indicate that this was a large-format polyphonic appear to have been used, consistent with the lack
source and may have been a significant volume of of dots of addition in English sources before 1400
polyphony. On some fragments, the entire width of (although it is possible that there were dots of addi-
a staff is preserved so that it is easy to determine the tion on parts of the manuscript that have not sur-
width of the text block for the fragments: 220mm. vived).23 As with other English sources, semibreve
Table 4 compares the width of the VR fragments’ rests are notated inconsistently, sometimes standing
text block to those of several 14th-century English on a line (fragment 1) and sometimes descending
codices of polyphony.22 The manuscript from from a line (fragment 25).24 Fa and mi signs indi-
which the VR fragments came is one of the largest cate the solmization of pitches (fragments 31 and 32);
in Table 4, smaller only than the two Westminster the English brevis erecta, used in GB-Cgc 512/543 to
6 Examples of minim stems: Oxford, Lincoln College, lc/a/r/1 (© Lincoln College, Oxford, 2021)
252 Early Music May 2021indicate the raising of a pitch by a semitone, is not later. The first example from fragment 4 may even
found in the fragments. show a downward stem on a semibreve that was
The notation of rhythmic values smaller than later erased, perhaps at the same time as upward
the breve in the VR shows that the original source stems were added to the noteheads either side of it.
of the fragments contained a variety of notational The practice of not differentiating between semi-
styles. Different sources of English 14th-century breves through the use of upward stems is also
polyphony notate semibreves and minims in dif- seen in the notation of Virgo Maria (fragment
ferent ways. Where two semibreves occupied the 25) and Tu civium (fragment 32). In these motets,
space of a (ternary) breve, a downward stem could pairs of semibreves are separated by short vertical
be added to a semibreve to show that it was the strokes to ensure that each pair of semibreves is
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
longer of the pair. Up to nine semibreves could fill understood to occupy a full binary breve.
the space of a breve, with stems and the signum There may therefore have been two or more stages
rotundum sometimes used to clarify note lengths to the copying of the notation that I have attributed
where context or convention did not provide suffi- to notational hand 1. In the first layer of copying,
cient information:25 upward stems for minims (the the music scribe may have used downward stems
shortest type of semibreve) are more widely used to designate minorata semibreves (fragment 4) and
after the middle of the century, but were probably may also have used upward stems for minims (also
used before this too.26 fragment 4). Later, more upward stems seem to
In the VR fragments containing notational hand have been added to the notation to designate min-
1 there are a handful of cases where upward stems ims, and downward semibreve stems may have been
are used, all outside of the three motets identified erased. Tu civium, Virgo Maria and Veni creator
in the fragments and some of which are shown in were copied in a post-Franconian notation that did
illustration 6. At least one of these upward stems not distinguish between minorata semibreves and
appears to be a later addition in a lighter ink (frag- minims. The original source of the fragments there-
ment 20), suggesting that the scribe did not always fore showed a range of notational practices, from
distinguish graphically between minima and mino- post-Franconian to something closer to French Ars
rata semibreves. (The latter has two-thirds the Nova notation. This range of notation is not unu-
length of a semibreve that can be divided into three sual for a 14th-century source, and does not clearly
minims.) In the second example from fragment 4, point to a more precise date of copying. The use of
the upward stem appears to be drawn as part of post-Franconian notation in a source does not mean
the notehead and is in the same ink; this would that the source must date before the use of Ars Nova
suggest that the scribe was aware of the practice notation, while the significance of the presence of
of notating minims with upward stems. The other minim stems is a contested issue. Tu civium and
examples in illustration 6 show some informality Virgo Maria, in which there are no upward minim
in the placement and drawing of upward stems, stems in the VR fragments, date from the first half
which may indicate that these stems were added of the century: Frank Ll. Harrison dates GB-Cgc
GB-Cgc
512/543
sed ip - se______ ti - bi ne ce- di-cen - ci - a___________
VR
-se ti-bi ne ce- di-cen - ci - a__
7 Variance in the triplum of Tu civium
Early Music May 2021 253512/543, in which Tu civium and Virgo Maria are notation continued. The black-full notation of hand
also copied, between 1336 and 1355.27 It is likely that 2 is smaller and less formal than the notation in
the initial copying of the VR was carried out around hand 1 and consistently follows the French method
this time too, with alterations to the first notational of notation. Notation in hand 3 is found on red staves
layer perhaps occurring in the second half of the on the reverse of fragments with notation in hand 1
century. (fragments 16 and 30). These staves were likely from
The subdivision of the breve in Tu civium remains the original ruling of the source before notation was
an open question, one that is not solved by the VR entered in hand 1. Hand 3 is black-void notation, of
fragments. At three points in the motet (twice in the which the earliest surviving English examples seem
duplum and once in the triplum) as it is notated in to date from around 1400.29 Although it is difficult to
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
GB-Cgc 512/543, four semibreves are notated that date any of the notational hands with any certainty,
together have the duration of a single breve. In his the presence of both black-full and black-void nota-
edition of Tu civium, Harrison transcribes these tion in the same source indicates that the source was
passages in curta mensura, that is, as four equal used and added to over several decades. The source
minims. As Lefferts points out, however, the lack of was probably first copied before 1350—though this
upward stems in GB-Cgc 512/543 means that these is not certain—and was added to at least until 1400.
four semibreves could be interpreted as equal or
unequal (iambic/trochaic pairs), as curta mensura
or as (tempus imperfectum) prolatio maior respec- Provenance of the original source
tively. The passages corresponding to these semi- The presence of fragments from a large codex of
breve groups in the duplum have been preserved motets in late 15th-century Oxford raises the pros-
in the VR fragments where, intriguingly, a differ- pect that the codex might have been in Oxford as far
ent reading is offered (illus.7), sidestepping this back as the 14th century. To my knowledge, no 14th-
question entirely.28 Each group of four semibreves, century polyphonic source has as yet been attributed
plus the following two-note semibreve ligature, is a provenance in Oxford with any certainty.30 In her
replaced by a semibreve–semibreve–breve ligature. discussion of insular sources that contain motets
In the first of these instances, this change requires a of both English and French provenance, such as
redistribution of the text, with the text ‘tibi ne celat’ Durham, Chapter Library Ms. c.i.20, Margaret Bent
starting a semibreve later in the VR version and has suggested that Oxford could have been a place
breaking up into two semibreves what had been a where English musicians first encountered French
breve in GB-Cgc 512/543. This is the only significant motets, while Christopher Hohler has suggested
difference in notation between the VR fragments Oxford as the point of dissemination for English
and their identified concordances. polyphony during the 13th century.31 As Lefferts and
Continuing use of the original motet manuscript, William Summers note, however, these hypotheses
probably over a number of decades, is demonstrated are not widely accepted and are not supported by
by the presence of two further notational hands on extant evidence.32 The VR fragments may therefore
the fragments. Notational hands 2 and 3 were almost yield important new information on the presence of
certainly added after the first layer of copying. Hand polyphony in 14th-century Oxford.
2 is found on two fragments: fragment 8, on lead- Although there is little evidence to link the VR
point staves, and fragment 14, on red staves. Because fragments to any institution, either in Oxford or
it carries the text for the end of the second tenor of elsewhere, it is likely that the VR was bound in
Tu civium on its reverse, fragment 8 must have been Oxford and that the binding strips were taken
at the bottom of a folio. The notation in hand 2 seems from a book that had also been in Oxford: from
to have been added in the blank space at the bottom the evidence generated by his survey of pastedowns
of the page, since staves have been ruled in lead- in books known to have been bound in Oxford
point and the notation is partly trimmed, indicating between 1500 and 1640, Neil Ker argues that ‘frag-
further blank space below fragment 8 on which the ments used by Oxford binders are likely to be for
254 Early Music May 2021the most part fragments of books removed from the Oxford, the monastic foundations are perhaps the
Oxford college libraries, or, in the case of service most likely candidates.38 As Lefferts has shown, many
books, from college chapels’.33 However likely, this sources of 14th-century English polyphony are likely
general hypothesis is difficult to prove in many indi- to have come from large and wealthy Benedictine,
vidual cases, because binding fragments typically Cistercian or Augustinian houses such as Worcester
preserve very little material that would allow the ori- Cathedral or Fountains Abbey.39 Furthermore,
gins of their source books to be identified. It seems GB-Cgc 512/543, one of the concordant sources for
almost certain, at least, that the original codex from the VR fragments, is believed to have been copied at
which the VR fragments came did not originate at the Benedictine foundation of Norwich Cathedral.40
Lincoln College, which was a relatively poor institu- The Benedictine colleges in Oxford (Gloucester
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
tion throughout the 15th century and thus unlikely College, Canterbury College and Durham College)
to have owned an expensive music book, with for- are the most likely of the city’s monastic founda-
mal text and music hands that indicate a high level tions to have cultivated polyphony; more research
of craft. Furthermore, the college had made no pro- is needed on the musical life of these institutions in
visions for music that were reported or stipulated in the 14th century to be sure of their potential for any
its early documents.34 Whether the VR fragments polyphonic singing.
were copied in Oxford or brought to the city some Whatever the precise provenance of the frag-
time afterwards is impossible to determine: almost ments, the sewing guards of the VR clearly once
two centuries may lie between the copying of the belonged to a large and handsome volume of motets
first layer of notation (first half of the 14th century) that was in Oxford by the late 15th century. While
in the original polyphonic source and the eventual conclusions as to the fragments’ provenance can
excision and sewing of the fragments into their cur- only remain tentative, they may lend weight to Bent’s
rent binding (before 1520), a substantial period of hypothesis of the presence of polyphonic motets in
time during which the original book of music could 14th-century Oxford. Either way, this new discovery
have been brought to Oxford. of another large and handsome book of complex
Little is known about the composition or per- polyphony—however badly dismembered now—is
formance of polyphony in Oxford before 1400. an important addition to our knowledge of polyph-
Katarzyna Grochowska has argued that the 13th- ony in medieval Britain. As yet, only three known
century motet and conductus source, Stary Sącz motets have been identified from the fragments, but
(Poland), Biblioteka Klasztoru SS. Klarysek, Mus 9 more may be discernible in the snippets of notation
(PL-STk Mus 9), was likely copied at the Franciscan that the fragments transmit. The remainder of the
priory in Oxford.35 The music theorist John of original manuscript may be irretrievably lost or,
Tewkesbury, who had written his Quatuor princi- with luck, other fragments may surface in the future.
palia by 1351, left his treatise to the same priory in The binder of the VR probably had many fragments
1388.36 Johannes Boen (d.1367), Dutch theorist of the from the motet manuscript on their pile of parch-
Ars Nova, studied in Oxford and Paris before set- ment scraps, which may have been bound into other
tling as a priest in Rijnsburg in the Netherlands.37 volumes. Thus there remains the tantalizing pros-
These pieces of circumstantial evidence may speak pect that further fragments might be waiting to be
in favour of the hypothesis that polyphony was discovered, preserved within the covers of other
sung in Oxford. Of the institutions in 14th-century books that were bound in late 15th-century Oxford.
Early Music May 2021 255Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
Appendix 1 reconstruction of the reverse of the duplum for Tu civium
256 Early Music May 2021Appendix 2 unidentified text on the vr fragments
Fragment Text
3o rex fert et celi conditor
3i pro … honor …
4o laus mater … virgo pro…
9o rex fert et celi conditor
11o …at in flore tercium quietis refrigerium ad anime
13o Sit laus deo patri summon Christo decus spiritui (unidentified Ave maris stella)
13i vota semper operanti …
17o spes …
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
17i tota …
18i vero (?) convallium (?) candoris est sola enim decoris (?)
20o … rium quedam firmant connubium que nesciunt divorcium in
22o cum localis regnum (?) occupatis circa iam vineam licet tardi
22i celi porta (unidentified Ave maris stella)
24i vita purgavit fluxum et sanguinis mitigat panibus saturat
25i qui sunt consortes tractent ut pocula fonte de profundo cordis
26o …lium ad israel remedium intus mater fert prelium sic
29i virginum (?) pa…
Joseph W. Mason is an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at University College Dublin. He
gained his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 2018 and has previously taught at the University of
Bristol and the University of Oxford. joseph.mason@ucd.ie
This research has been made possible gmo/9781561592630.article.50158 forthcoming). Facsimiles of English
by the financial support of the Irish (accessed 29 April 2020). polyphonic fragments may be found
Research Council (grant number in F. Ll. Harrison (ed.), Manuscripts
GOIPD/2019/601). I extend my sincere
2
For a record of sources of of fourteenth century English
thanks to Lindsay McCormack for English polyphony and their polyphony, EECM 26 (London,
generously giving her time to facilitate discovery, compare G. Reaney (ed.), c.1981); W. Summers and P. Lefferts
my research, and to her and Jane Manuscripts of polyphonic music, (eds.), English thirteenth-century
RISM B/IV1–2 (Munich, 1966/1969) polyphony, EECM 57 (London, 2016);
Eagan for all of their advice and help
and the supplement to this volume and Bent and Wathey, Fragments of
on the history and construction of the
in A. Wathey (ed.), Manuscripts of English polyphonic music c.1390–1475.
Vetus Registrum. I am indebted to
polyphonic music: supplement to Readers are also directed to the
Margaret Bent and Peter M. Lefferts
RISM B IV1–2, The British Isles, 1100– relevant pages on DIAMM (www.
for their advice on many aspects
1400 (Munich, 1993). Recent work on diamm.ac.uk).
of these fragments, and I thank
fragment discoveries includes ongoing
and acknowledge Frank Lawrence, 3
For a catalogue entry and
work on the royal choirbook, outlined
Matthew P. Thomson and Margaret in M. Bent and A. Wathey (eds.), description of the source, see
Bent for suggestions they made on Fragments of English polyphonic L. McCormack and J. Eagan, ‘Vetus
early drafts of this work. I gratefully music c.1390–1475: a facsimile edition, Registrum, 1472–c.1640’: https://
acknowledge the assistance of Philippa Early English Church Music (EECM) lincoln.epexio.com/records/
Ovenden with the Latin transcriptions. 62 (forthcoming) and the Dorset LC/A/R/1 (accessed 29 April 2020).
1
P. M. Lefferts and E. H. Sanders, rotulus, treated in M. Bent, J. C. Hartt The music fragments are listed at
‘Sources, MS: VI. English Polyphony, and P. M. Lefferts, The Dorset rotulus: ‘GB-Olc lc/a/r/1 “Vetus Registrum”’,
1270–1400’, Oxford Music contextualising and reconstructing www.diamm.ac.uk/sources/4827/#
Online: https://doi.org/10.1093/ the early English motet (Woodbridge, (accessed 10 November 2020).
Early Music May 2021 2574
On the reconstruction of the Jesus transmission of Tu civium and Virgo Lefferts, ‘The motet in England’,
College fragments, see M. F. Bukofzer, Maria in both an informal source pp.306–8.
‘Changing aspects of medieval and like GB-Cgc 512/543 and more formal 25
On the use and later obsolescence
Renaissance music’, The Musical sources such as the VR fragments or of the signum rotundum, see M. Bent,
Quarterly, xliv (1958), p.4. GB-Cpc 228 is intriguing. ‘A preliminary assessment of the
5
In quire IX, a parchment sewing
16
Voice-exchange motets are independence of English trecento
guard was inserted in the middle of discussed at length in the forthcoming notations’, in L’ars nova italiana del
the gathering and a paper bifolium Bent et al., Dorset rotulus. The trecento IV: Atti del 3° Congresso
(fols.131 and 132) was then stitched authors suggest that ‘long-form’ internazionale sul tema ‘La musica al
inside the sewing guard, such that presentation of such motets was more tempo del Boccaccio e i suoi rapport
the sewing guard is no longer at the likely for rotuli, whereas ‘short- con la letteratura’ (Siena—Certaldo
centre of the gathering. form’ presentation was necessitated 19–22 luglio 1975), sotto il patrocinio
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
by copying into codex format. della Società Italiana di Musicologia
6
‘Vetus Registrum’: https://digital2. I thank the authors for sharing their (Certaldo, 1978), p.69.
bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/42c4a166- monograph with me prior to its
0083-408c-89da-8f0634577767/
26
Bent, ‘Notation’, suggests that
publication. minim stems seem to have been
(accessed 6 November 2020). 17
Lefferts, ‘The motet in copied more widely after 1350.
7
Tu civium and Virgo Maria are England’, p.79. Andrew Wathey speculates that
edited in English music for Mass 18
Lefferts, ‘The motet in minims may have been notated with
and Offices (part 1), Polyphonic
England’, p.79. upward stems in Paris, Bibliothèque
Music of the Fourteenth Century
19
On the use of such sigla ‘to mark off Nationale de France, français 571,
16, ed. E. H. Sanders, F. Ll.
sections to which repetition would be as early 1326 while the book was
Harrison and P. M. Lefferts
applied’, see M. Bent, ‘Rota versatilis: England: A. Wathey, ‘The marriage of
(Monaco, 1986), nos.97 and 98.
towards a reconstruction’, in Source Edward III and the transmission of
Veni creator spiritus is transcribed
materials and the interpretation of French motets to England’, Journal of
in P. M. Lefferts, ‘The motet in
music: a memorial volume to Thurston the American Musicological Society,
England in the fourteenth century’
Dart, ed. I. Bent (Southampton, xlv (1992), pp.21–2.
(PhD diss., Columbia University,
1983), pp.460–2. 1981), p.80. 27
F. Ll. Harrison, ‘Ars Nova in
20
Lefferts states that this motet is a4, England: a new source’, Musica
8
I thank Peter Lefferts for identifying
with only the triplum and first tenor Disciplina, xxi (1967), pp.68–70.
Veni creator spiritus.
surviving in GB-Ccc 65: Lefferts, ‘The 28
The passage corresponding to
9
Jane Eagan provides this date for the
motet in England’, p.44. the triplum does not survive. The
binding at McCormack and Eagan,
21
Lefferts, ‘The motet in England’, passages of Virgo Maria in which
‘Vetus Registrum’. She suggests the
pp.317–18. four semibreves are to be fitted to the
paper is probably late 15th century
duration of a breve also do not survive
and Italian based on the watermark 22
Measurements for GB-LWa 33327, on the fragments.
(as yet unidentified). GB-LWa 12185 and GB-Lbl add. 57950 29
Bent, ‘Notation’.
10
V. H. H. Green, The are taken from Bent et al., Dorset
Commonwealth of Lincoln College, rotulus, ch.8. Due to the closure
30
In RISM B/IV1–2 (ed. Reaney,
1427–1977 (Oxford, 1979), p.6. of archives during 2020, other 1966/1969) and its supplement (ed.
measurements in Table 4 were derived Wathey, 1993), no source is described
11
McCormack and Eagan, ‘Vetus
from images on DIAMM and are as being from Oxford, or being bound
Registrum’.
therefore approximate. into a host volume that was bound
12
McCormack and Eagan, ‘Vetus in Oxford. In both N. Ker, Fragments
Registrum’. 23
M. Bent, ‘Notation: history of of medieval manuscripts used as
13 The fragments do not always Western notation: polyphonic pastedowns in Oxford bindings, with a
appear to have been bound the same mensural notation, c.1260–1500’, survey of Oxford binding, c.1515–1620
way round. Oxford Music Online: https://doi. (Oxford, 1954) and D. Pearson,
14
I thank Jane Eagan for her advice org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630. Oxford bookbinding, 1500–1640:
on the chronology of the book’s article.20114 (accessed 29 April 2020). including a supplement to Neil Ker’s
history. 24
The scribe does not differentiate ‘Fragments of medieval manuscripts
15
See the description of the source between perfect and imperfect values used as pastedowns in Oxford bindings’
at www.diamm.ac.uk/sources/302/# of long, breve and semibreve rests, (Oxford, 2000), no instances of
(accessed 9 November 2020). The unlike the scribe of GB-Ccc 65: see medieval polyphony are listed.
258 Early Music May 202131
M. Bent, ‘The transmission of 35
K. Grochowska, ‘Tenor circles 38
The secular colleges were probably
English music, 1300–1500: some and motet cycles: a study of the too small and poor during the 14th
aspects of repertory and presentation’, Stary Sącz manuscript [PL-SS century to support polyphonic
in Studien zur Tradition in der Muz 9] and its implications for singing: see R. Bowers, ‘Choral
Musik: Kurt von Fischer zum 60. modes of repertory organization in institutions within the English church:
Geburtstag, ed. H. H. Eggebrecht 13th-century polyphonic collections’ their constitution and development,
and M. Lütolf (Munich, 1973), p.75; (PhD diss., University of Chicago, c. 1340–1500’ (PhD diss., University of
C. Hohler, ‘Reflections on some 2013), p.451. East Anglia, 1975), p.2056.
manuscripts containing 13th-century 36
L. F. Aulas, ‘The Quatuor 39
Lefferts, ‘The motet in England’,
polyphony’, Journal of the Plainsong principalia musicae: a critical edition p.29. See also Bent, ‘The transmission
and Mediaeval Music Society, i and translation, with introduction of English music’, pp.73–4.
(1978), p.28. and commentary’ (PhD diss., Indiana 40
Lefferts, ‘The motet in England’, p.29.
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/49/2/245/6363864 by guest on 22 December 2021
University, 1996), p.13. Reaney, Manuscripts of polyphonic
32
Summers and Lefferts, English
thirteenth-century polyphony, p.6.
37
G. Anderson and A. M. Busse music, p.208, notes that GB-Ccc 65
Berger, ‘Boen [Boon], Johannes’, originated in a good scriptorium,
33
Ker, Manuscripts used as Oxford Music Online (2001): https:// tentatively assigning it to Worcester
pastedowns, p.x. doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630. Cathedral, another Benedictine
34
Green, Commonwealth of Lincoln article.03379 (accessed 9 foundation; there is no strong evidence
College, p.29. September 2020). for this provenance, however.
Early Music May 2021 259You can also read
