Sources

General Descriptions

ModE M.1.13

Modena, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria, MS a. M.1.13 (Lat. 456; olim V.H.10)

  • parchment manuscript consisting of 249 folios
  • folios measuring approximately 558mm x 385mm
  • no foliation
  • index at beginning of source
  • containing 18 numbered items
  • consisting only of missarum music
  • mainly moderate decoration but with illuminated initials and others with filigree
  • copied in Ferrara for the court of the d'Este duke Ercole I
  • probably during the very early 1480s
  • one principal scribe possibly under the direction of Johannes Martini.

Selected Studies: Lockwood, L. Music in Renaissance Ferrara 1440-1505, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1984.

Medium used for this web site: microfilm (positive).

TrentC 89

Trento, Museo Provinciale d'Arte, Castello del Buon Consiglio, MS 89

  • paper manuscript consisting of 427 folios; now collectively as a single codex made up of separate gatherings
  • folios measuring approximately 315mm x 211mm
  • two foliations: one hand drawn per folio, the other stamped per page
  • no index
  • containing 193 items
  • consisting of both sacred and secular music (but mainly sacred)
  • no decoration as such but voice names (drawn with a thicker nib) and some lettering more ornate than the main script
  • copied probably in Trent
  • probably during the mid 1460s
  • several scribes including Johannes Wiser.

Selected Studies

Adler, G. and Koller, O. (eds.) Sechs Trienter Codices: Geistliche und weltliche Compositionen des XV. Jahrhunderts, erste Auswahl, Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, Jg. vii, 14-15, Vienna 1900, pp. xii–xxxiv.

Saunders, S. E. The Dating of the Trent Codices from Their Watermarks, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London, 1989.

Wright, P. "Watermarks and musicology: the genesis of Johannes Wiser's collection", Early Music History, ed. I. Fenlon, Cambridge University Press, 2003, vol. 22, pp. 247–332: primarily about Trent 93 and 90 and repositions their provenance as perhaps Munich.

Medium used for this web site: facsimile edition: Codex Tridentinus 89, Roma, 1969.

VatS 14

Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Cappella Sistina 14

  • paper manuscript consisting of 170 folios + 3 others
  • folios measuring approximately 575mm x 422mm
  • modern stamped foliation
  • no index
  • containing 19 items
  • consisting only of missarum music
  • highly decorated with illuminations, calligraphic initials on all pages often with adornments
  • copied probably in either Naples or Rome (but not Città del Vaticano), other possibilities being Florence, Venice or other centres in the Veneto.
  • probably during the mid 1470s
  • two principal scribes a and A in several phases.

Selected Studies

Roth, A. Studien zum frühen Repertoire der päpstlichen Kapelle unter dem Pontifikat Sixtus' IV. (1471–1484): Die Chorbücher 14 und 51 des fondo Cappella Sistina der Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, 1991.

Warmington, F. "The Winds of Fortune: A New View of the Provenance and Date of the Cappella Sistina Manuscripts 14 and 51." Paper presented at the Conference of the American Musicological Society 1991.

Warmington, F. "Abeo semper Fortuna regressum: Evidence for the Venetian Origin of the Manuscripts Cappella Sistina 14 and 51." Paper presented at the 22nd Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Music, Glasgow, 10 July 1994.

VatS 51

Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Cappella Sistina 51

  • paper manuscript consisting of 214 folios + 3 others
  • folios measuring approximately 554mm x 414mm
  • modern stamped foliation
  • no index
  • containing 24 items as the source is now bound
  • consisting only of missarum music
  • highly decorated with illuminations, calligraphic initials on all pages often with adornments in 1st layer; 2nd layer: no decoration although spaces made available for this; and 3rd layer: calligraphic initials with adornments but no illuminations other than one on the opening folio of the gathering (f. 196v which includes coat of arms of Innocent VIII)
  • 1st layer copied probably in either Naples or Rome, other possibilities being Florence, Venice or other centres in the Veneto; 2nd and 3rd layers most likely in Città del Vaticano
  • 1st layer probably copied during the mid 1470s, 2nd and 3rd layers during mid 1480s
  • two principal scribes a and A in several stages for layer 1; layer 2 by one scribe; layer 3 by principal scribe of what is now VatS 35.

Selected Studies

Roth, A. Studien zum frühen Repertoire der päpstlichen Kapelle unter dem Pontifikat Sixtus' IV. (1471-1484): Die Chorbücher 14 und 51 des fondo Cappella Sistina der Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, 1991.

Warmington, F. "The Winds of Fortune: A New View of the Provenance and Date of the Cappella Sistina Manuscripts 14 and 51." Paper presented at the Conference of the American Musicological Society 1991.

Warmington, F. "Abeo semper Fortuna regressum: Evidence for the Venetian Origin of the Manuscripts Cappella Sistina 14 and 51." Paper presented at the 22nd Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Music, Glasgow, 10 July 1994.

Medium used for this web site: b/w photocopy, 2 manuscript pages per 1 A4 size photocopy page.

VatSP B 80

Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Archivio del Capitolo di San Pietro, MS B 80

  • parchment manuscript consisting of 249 folios
  • folios measuring approximately 352mm x 251mm
  • two foliations both modern, one in pencil one stamped
  • no index
  • modest decoration
  • as it is now preserved contains 88 items
  • consisting primarily of mass cycles, hymns, motets, antiphons and Magnificats
  • copied in Roma for the choir of St Peter's basilica, Città del Vaticano
  • probably during the mid 1470s
  • one principal scribe Nicholas Ausquier + five others.

Selected Studies

Hamm, C., "The Manuscript San Pietro B 80", Revue Belge de Musicologie, vol. 14, 1960, pp. 40–55.

Reynolds, C., "The Origins of San Pietro B 80 and the Development of a Roman Sacred Repertory", Early Music History, vol. I, 1981, pp. 257–304; "Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, San Pietro B 80", (ed. C. Reynolds), Renaissance  Music in Facsimile, vol. 23, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London, 1986; and Papal Patronage and the Music of St. Peter's, 1380-1513, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1995.

Medium used for this web site: facsimile edition: ed. Brown, H. M., et al., "Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, San Pietro B 80", Introduction by C. A. Reynolds, Renaissance Music in Facsimile, vol. 23, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London, 1986.

VerBC 755

Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare, MS DCCLV

  • paper manuscript consisting of 130 folios + 2 others
  • folios measuring approximately 337mm x 241mm
  • what is probably original foliation in ink mainly eradicated, but has a later pencil numbering
  • no index
  • modest decoration where a few calligraphic initials have been included in the earlier part of the source
  • as it is now preserved contains 17 items in two parts: ff. 1–110; 111–130 — (old foliation of second part as a separate gathering still visible) consisting of mass cycles or parts thereof and motets
  • 1st part probably copied in Naples; 2nd part in Verona
  • copied probably during the mid 1470s
  • each part of the manuscript, as it is now preserved, copied by one principal scribe.

Selected Studies

Preston, A.H., Sacred Polyphony in Renaissance Verona: A Liturgical and Stylistic Study, Ph.D diss., University of Illinois, 1969.