PRoMs - The Production and Reading of Music Sources

Mise-en-page in manuscripts and printed books containing polyphonic music, 1480—1530

Manuscript: Jena, Germany, Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, MS 8

Manuscript type: choirbook

RISM siglum: D-Ju 8

DIAMM Source Key: 1224

Image repositories: UrMEL

Folio(s): All folios

Date: c. 1515-20

Probably between 1515 and 1520, before the death of Frederick the Wise in 1525. Based on Warmington's chronology of scribes between 1516 and 1518 (Warmington 1999, 43).

Location of origin: Brussels, Belgium ; Mechelen, Belgium

Provenance

1) Prepared for Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony (1486-1525), probably at All Saints Church in Wittenberg (heraldic arms and motto 'Tant que je puis', f. 7r). 2) When a later Elector, Johann Friedrich I, was deposed in 1547, he retired to Weimar, taking with him the court library. The collection was transferred to Jena in the following year to become the foundation of the library of the Hochschule (later Jena University).

Artists/Scribes

Person: Scribe D, (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Scribe D (and a variant of D) copied part of the music and text (<a href="/bibliography/#entry640" data-tooltip="" class="has-tip tip-top reference" data-placement="top" rel="tooltip" data-original-title="" title="Kiel, Jacobijn and Flynn Warmington, ‘Overview of the Scribes’, in Kellman 1999, 47–52 "><i class="fa fa-book"></i>Kiel/Warmington 1999</a>, 52).

Person: Scribe X, (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Scribe X copied part of the text (<a href="/bibliography/#entry640" data-tooltip="" class="has-tip tip-top reference" data-placement="top" rel="tooltip" data-original-title="" title="Kiel, Jacobijn and Flynn Warmington, ‘Overview of the Scribes’, in Kellman 1999, 47–52 "><i class="fa fa-book"></i>Kiel/Warmington 1999</a>, 52).

Person: Anonymous, Anonymous
Person type: artist
Note: Anonymous (f. 7r).

Person: Alamire, Petrus (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Alamire? copied part of the music (<a href="/bibliography/#entry640" data-tooltip="" class="has-tip tip-top reference" data-placement="top" rel="tooltip" data-original-title="" title="Kiel, Jacobijn and Flynn Warmington, ‘Overview of the Scribes’, in Kellman 1999, 47–52 "><i class="fa fa-book"></i>Kiel/Warmington 1999</a>, 52).

Bibliography

Roediger 1935, I, 48, II, 18-22; Census-Catalogue I, 291-2, IV, 414; Kellman 1999, no. 16.

Basis for description: original

Jena, Germany, Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, MS 8, All folios

Physical description

Material: parchment

Number of leaves: 130

Format: upright

Page dimensions: 485 x 345

Quire structure: Text version

Other devices: 1. Tabs pasted onto outer margin at beginning of each mass.
2. Modern Arabic foliation in ink in upper right corner: 1-130.

Page details (zoom):

Preparation and Copying

All folios

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking always,
in outer margin, corresponding to standard 10-stave ruling, but imperfectly aligned with actual ruled staves; top and bottom for vertical bounding lines
Ruled grid always,
single line to left and right, sometimes single line added for text
Ruling pattern fairly regular
staves ruled roughly on pricked grid, sometimes slightly varying in distance. Non-standard openings (especially display openings) occasionally not conforming to grid.
Staves omitted from grid often
Incomplete staves occasionally,
3r, 3v, 16v, 19v, 38v, 63v, 74v, 77r, 79r, 85v, 91r, 112r
Medium and colour of grid Frequency Folios Note
lead point always
Colour of staves Frequency Folios Note
black always
Ruling medium Frequency Folios Note
single rastrum always
Indentation for initials Frequency Folios Note
quadruple rarely 6v, 26v, 45v, 66v, 85v, 105v at the beginning of Masses (first stave not ruled)
triple rarely 28v, 87v at the beginning of the Kyrie of the first and fifth Mass (ff. 28v, 87v)
double often
single often
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
staves not ruled on grid often
empty ruled staves on grid sometimes
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
no separate text always
Adhoc adaptation Frequency Folios Note
notation and staves extended into margin often

Copying of text and music

Language(s) Flemish, French, Latin
Order of Copying music first
always
Presence/absence of text Voice part Frequency Folios Note
fully texted with one text all voice parts normally
fully texted with two or more texts tenor occasionally 45v-58v, 60v, 62v, 63v, 66v-77v, 80v, 82v, 83v
Music
Colour(s) of notation black
Type(s) of notation void mensural
Type of notation note rhomboid-shaped notation
Monophonic notation absent
Level of calligraphy very high
Non verbal performance instructions Folios Note
signes-de-renvoi Trefoil-shaped (ff. 50v-51r, 54v-55r, 57v-58r), cross with four red dots around its centre (ff. 53v-54r, 60v-61r, 61v-62r, 62v-63r, 68v-69r, 73v-74r, 76v-77r, 78v-79r, 81v-82r, 83v-84r), diamond-shaped (ff. 58v, 63v), a trio of red balls with a descending stroke (ff. 103v-104r), in red ink.
signa congruentiae in form of three pyramidal dots ending in a stroke
Line fillers Folios Note
few 31r, 100v series of tapering lines, extending the double-bar at the end of music
Text 1
Types of script display script
Types of script size position for voice-names introduced by large initials after the discantus at the beginning of each voice-part, 'residuum' rubrics and instructions
Level of calligraphy very high
Colour(s) of text black red
Text 2
Types of script cursive (bastarda)
Types of script size position The script changes between a large and a small bastarda. Large bastarda used for incipits on first page (discantus and tenor) of first Credo (ff. 1v-4r) and first page (discantus) of the second Credo (ff. 125v-130r). Large bastarda used for first portion (ff. 5v-14r) of first Mass (ff. 5v-25r) and for the first opening of the second (ff. 26v-44r), third (ff. 45v-65r), fourth (ff. 66v-84r), fifth (ff. 85v-104r) and sixth Mass (ff. 105v-124r).
Level of calligraphy very high
Colour(s) of text black red
red for headers, double-texting, partly for initials, voice-names, 'residuum' rubrics, instructions, important words such as 'ihesu criste', etc and tacet inscriptions
Multiple texts yes
Text repetitions few
Abbreviations few
Non underlaid vocal text none
Liminary text Headers with titles and composers' names at beginning of works (ff. 1v, 6v, 27r, 45v, 66v, 67r, 105v. Tacet inscriptions (ff. 20v, 21r, 39v, 59v, 79v, 81v, 95v, 99v, 110v, 115v, 120v, 122v)
Later changes Partly over erasures on the first page of the first Credo (f. 1v) by a later hand

Decoration

Level of Decoration very high
Decoration miniature frequency Folios Size position Description Discrepancies
rarely 7r One miniature, three staves hight, at the beginning of the contratenor of the first Mass. Heraldic arms of Frederick the Wise, accompanied by a scroll which bears his motto 'Tant que je puis'.
Decoration border frequency Border type Folios Size Position Description Discrepancies
rarely None 6v partial borders: one-sided upper margin Partial border in upper margin consists of a painted scroll including the motto of Frederick the Wise 'Tant que je puis'.
Decoration initial type Frequency Folios Initial type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
painted initials rarely 6v Decorated initial with grotesque heads, four staves high, at the beginning of the discantus for the first Mass.
initials planned never
penned initials occasionally At the beginning of each voice-part. Large calligraphic initials with white borders, at the beginning of major divisions. Some initials decorated with grotesque heads in brown ink.
penned initials occasionally 6v-7r, 26v-27r, 45v-46r, 66v-67r At the beginning of each voice-part. Elaborate calligraphic initials developing grotesque heads, highlighted with coloured washes, for the first opening of the first four Masses (ff. 6v-7r, 26v-27r, 45v-46r, 66v-67r).
penned initials rarely 85v-86r, 105v At the beginning of each voice-part. Large calligraphic initials in red ink with white borders, at the beginning of the last two Masses (ff. 85v-86r, 105v).
Other decoration frequency Folios Other decoration type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
never