PRoMs - The Production and Reading of Music Sources

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

Manuscript: Montserrat, Spain, Monasterio de S Maria, MS 773

Manuscript type: choirbook

RISM siglum: E-MO 773

DIAMM Source Key: 2059

Folio(s): All folios

Date: c. 1510-15

According to Warmington's chronology of scribes completed before March 1516 (Warmington cited in Kellman 1999, 115).

Location of origin: Mechelen, Belgium

Provenance

1) Perhaps intended for Margaret of Austria. 2) Mary of Hungary, 1558. 3) Philip II, Spain (inventory of 1602, no. 16, Van der Straeten VII, 473, 480, 488, VIII, 359, 375). 4) Real Convento de la Señoras de la Encarnaçión, 1620, Madrid. 5) Benedictine Monastery, 1920s, Montserrat.

Artists/Scribes

Person: Scribe C2, (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Scribe C2 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).

Person: Scribe C4 (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Scribe C4 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: Scribe X, (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Scribe X copied part of the music and 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: Scribe X1, (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Scribe X1 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

Van der Straeten 1867–88 VII, 473-88; VIII, 359-375; Pujol 1952; Lenaerts 1957; Kellman 1976, 190-2, 209; Olivar 1977; Census-Catalogue II, 182, IV, 442; Kellman 1999, no. 25.

Basis for description: original

Montserrat, Spain, Monasterio de S Maria, MS 773, All folios

Physical description

Material: parchment

Number of leaves: 131

Format: upright

Page dimensions: 555 x 390

Quire structure: Text version

Other devices: 1. Modern pencil foliation: 1-131.
2. Alphanumeric quire signatures sometimes visible in lower recto, but often cropped.
3. Two parchment tabs, covered with a crocheted (?) material to form a small ball: red on f. 45v (Mass by Pierre de la Rue), green on f. 115v (Missa de feria, Pierre de la Rue). Others may have been present on now excised folios.

Page details (zoom):

Preparation and Copying

All folios

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking always,
Pricking for justification lines usually visible in upper and lower margins; pricking for staves often visible in outer and inner margins.
Ruled grid always
Ruling pattern fairly regular
Normally: justification lines and two horizontal lines ruled for each line of underlaid text. Only one text line ruled ff. 47v-59r (the upper line, corresponding with the top of the minim height), and ff. 80v-83r (the lower line). The latter case coincides with a change in text hand. [height reduced when lowest stave omitted from grid, c. 400mm; 79v-83v: 338-408 x 276-280]
Staves omitted from grid often
Incomplete staves rarely,
51v, 89r
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
triple occasionally at beginning of Masses and Kyrie sections
double often
single often
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
empty ruled staves on grid often
staves not ruled on grid often
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
no separate text never
Adhoc adaptation Frequency Folios Note
made for complete additional staves rarely 72r eleventh stave added to lower margin
partial additional staves rarely 51v, 89r
notation extended into margin often Edge of note protrudes beyond boundary line or barline just beyond stave end, but not extending further into margin.
notation and staves extended into margin occasionally 16v, 39v, 47r, 53v, 70r, 72r, 76r, 85v, 88r, 90r, 93r, 100v, 119r, 124r ff. 39v, 47r, 53v, 70r, 72r, 76r, 88r, 90r, 93r, 119r: only one or two stave lines extended
staveline added sometimes

Copying of text and music

Language(s) Latin
Higlighting none visible
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 one or two texts all voice parts rarely 80v, 81r, 81v, 82r canon
fully texted with one or two texts tenor rarely 87v, 88v, 89v, 90v, 91v, 92v, 96v, 97v
fully texted with one text all except tenor rarely 87v, 88v, 89v, 90v, 91v, 92v, 96v, 97v
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 cross with four dots around its centre; trio of balls with descending loop; fire-steels in the shape of 'B' for Burgundy; clover shaped; draped cord
signa congruentiae in form of three pyramidal dots ending in a stroke or loop; in red ink in form of repeat mark with initial for voice name, ff. 79v-83v
Line fillers Folios Note
occasionally
Text 1
Types of script display script
Types of script size position for voice-names, 'residuum' rubrics and short instructions
Level of calligraphy very high
Colour(s) of text black
Text 2
Types of script cursive (bastarda)
Level of calligraphy very high
Colour(s) of text black red
Red ink sometimes used for liminary text, chant incipits, ff. 34v-115v (and perhaps also other folios beyond this range, now excised).
Multiple texts yes
Text repetitions few
Abbreviations few
Non underlaid vocal text none
Liminary text tacet inscriptions (Blackburn 2007), 'tacet', 'residuum', 'verte', 'verte folium', 'verte cito', 'duo', 'canon', composer attribution

Decoration

Level of Decoration high
Decoration miniature frequency Folios Size position Description Discrepancies
rarely at beginning of all Masses (all excised)
Decoration border frequency Border type Folios Size Position Description Discrepancies
rarely None None all excised
Decoration initial type Frequency Folios Initial type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
penned initials normally calligraphic , decorated with grotesque heads remaining initials decorated with grotesque heads (ff. 15r, 46r, 62r, 86r) (coloured: brown, red, blue, green, yellow orange...) calligraphic initials in black ink
painted initials rarely all excised