PRoMs - The Production and Reading of Music Sources

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

Manuscript: Segovia, Spain, Archivo Capitular de la Catedral, MS s.s.

Manuscript type: choirbook

RISM siglum: E-SE s.s.

DIAMM Source Key: 2020

Image repositories: IMSLP

Folio(s): All folios

Date: c. 1498-1515

Location of origin: Segovia, Spain ; Toledo, Spain

Provenance

1) Made either in Segovia itself or in Toledo (where it may have originated close to the Chapel of the Catholic kings). The entry on fol. 227v 'Don Rodrigo' could be linked to Don Rodrigo de Tordesillas, the executor of Queen Isabel; however, there is no final proof for this assumption. 2) The manuscript was transferred to the Cathedral archive of Segovia in around 1525 by the Alcázar.

Artists/Scribes

Person: Anonymous, Anonymous
Person type: scribe
Location of origin: Segovia, Spain; Spain; Toledo, Spain
Note: DIAMM: One main scribe and one other scribe for the music, at least 3 scribes wrote the texts: one main and two supplementary (ff. 207r-226r and ff. 226v-228v, respectively). The main music scribe copied the franco-flemish secular pieces and also the Spanish pieces. The text of the Spanish pieces, however, was entered by a different scribe.

Bibliography

Anglès 1936b; Anglès 1941, 29 Facs. 18; Anglès 1941–71, I, 95-102, 106-12, passim, II, 25-32, X, 32-3, XIV, 26-30; Atkinson 1975–, I, xiii, xvi, xviii, 3-4, 38-40, IX/X, xxv, XIV, xxi; Perales 1977; Baker 1978; Census-Catalogue 1979-88, III, 137f, IV, 475 (under SegC s.s.); Hardie 1983, 6-7, 115, 143-4, 149, 167-8, 283-5; Lama de la Cruz 1994; Urchuegúia 2003, 90–97, 98f., 172–182, 208–216, 222–227, 234–246, 253–255, 313–340.

Basis for description: original

Segovia, Spain, Archivo Capitular de la Catedral, MS s.s., All folios

Physical description

Material: paper

Number of leaves: iii + 207 + iii

Format: upright

Page dimensions: 289 x 209

Quire structure: Text version

Title page / Frontispiece: 'Canto de organo' on front cover, no longer visible.

Other devices: 1. Original ink foliation recto top centre, v–ccxxviii (Missing folios: i–iii, vi–viii, ciiii–cxi, cxcix, ccvi, ccxviii–ccxxi, ccxxiii)
2. Original quire signatures, ink recto top right.
3. Modern foliation 1-207 added between 1994 edition and 2004 restoration; as not visible in the printed facsimile, original foliation is used here: 5, 9-103, 110, 112-198, 200-205, 207-217, 220, 222, 224-228.
4. Unidentified watermark: hand with double-banded cuff and six-petalled flower (generally resembles Briquet #11154; facsimile in [[Baker 1978]]). First recto (f. 5r) has a mark in the upper margin, from the time when the manuscript was examined during the inquisition and deemed to be appropriate; the same mark is found on other books in the cathedral archive.

Page details (zoom):

Preparation and Copying

All folios

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking none visible
Ruled grid sometimes,
Justification lines only. Often invisible.
Ruling pattern fairly irregular
Staves often unevenly spaced, not parallel to one another.
Staves omitted from grid never
Incomplete staves never
Medium and colour of grid Frequency Folios Note
very light ink or hard point always
Colour of staves Frequency Folios Note
brown always
Ruling medium Frequency Folios Note
single rastrum always Additional staves drawn freehand, after initial preparation of manuscript.
Indentation for initials Frequency Folios Note
single always Single stave indented, on: first and sixth lines of page: ff. 5r-v, 9-12v, 13v-50r, 52v-112v, 113v-134v, 136r-202v; first and fifth lines: f. 135r; first and seventh lines: ff. 9r, 13r, 51v-52r, 113r, 203r. Second indent is often filled in free-hand if it falls in an inconvenient place.
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
empty ruled staves on grid normally
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
not in dedicated space always
Adhoc adaptation Frequency Folios Note
notation extended into margin rarely
notation and staves extended into margin occasionally
partial additional staves rarely 34r, 35r, 66r, 67r, 69r, 110v, 119r, 122r, 136r, 171r, 178v, 214v
staveline added sometimes
made for complete additional staves rarely 21r, 39r, 51r
Indentation for initials filled in often

Copying of text and music

Language(s) Flemish, French, Latin, Spanish
Order of Copying text first
often
Presence/absence of text Voice part Frequency Folios Note
partially texted with one text discantus rarely 9v
provided with single incipit all voice parts sometimes
fully texted with one text all voice parts sometimes
fully texted with one or two texts all voice parts rarely 214v, 216r
untexted all voice parts rarely 216r
fully texted with one or two texts discantus occasionally 5r-v, 10r-11r, 31v-35r, 169r, 207r, 208v-211v, 212v-220v, 224r-226r
provided with single incipit all except discantus occasionally 5r-v, 9v, 10r-11r, 31v-35r, 169r, 207r, 208v-211v, 212v-220v, 224r-226r
provided with single incipit discantus rarely 15v-16v, 56v-57r, 176v, 179r-v, 205r
untexted all except discantus rarely 179r-v, 205r
fully texted with one text all except discantus rarely 15v-16v, 56v-57r, 176v
provided with single incipit tenor rarely 12v-13r, 19v-20r, 22v-23r, 46v-47r, 48v-51r, 55v-56r, 151r
fully texted with one text all except tenor rarely 12v-13r, 19v-20r, 22v-23r, 46v-47r, 48v-51r, 55v-56r, 151r
fully texted with one text tenor rarely 158v
provided with single incipit all except tenor rarely 158v
fully texted with one text discantus and tenor rarely 53v-54r
provided with single incipit all except discantus and tenor rarely 53v-54r
Music
Colour(s) of notation brown
Type(s) of notation void mensural
Monophonic notation present
200r
Level of calligraphy fair
Non verbal performance instructions Folios Note
repeat signs 15v, 30v, 32v, 33v, 34v, 35v, 36v, 37v, 78v, 79v, 127r, 189r, 217r
signa congruentiae more common from 140v onwards
space-filler 9v elongated final long
signes-de-renvoi Fairly common: used each time one voice part is spread across two pages, and each time to signal extra notation (omitted owing to eyeskip). Often takes form of a trefoil with a descending tail; Lama de la Cruz (1994) claims this is in fact the word 'ojo', Spanish for 'eye' or 'careful!'. If this is the case, it is a very stylised form of the letters, with a large circle as the 'dot' of the j.
end symbol triple barline, sometimes double barline
Later changes Folios
pentrials 228v
Text 1
Types of script cursive
Level of calligraphy poor,
207r-208r: calligraphy very poor
Colour(s) of text brown
Multiple texts yes
208v, 212v, 214r-v, 216r, 217r, 220r, 224r-226r
Text repetitions few
Abbreviations some
Non underlaid vocal text additional
15v, 207r, 209r, 210v-211r, 212v-213v, 214v, 216r, 217r-v,
in blank stave
Liminary text 'canon': 5v, 9v, 10v, 18r, 19v, 22v, 39v, 53r-v, 110v 'tacet': common throughout masses 'ad longum': 19v 'ut supra': 22v, 24v 'require': 52v, 54r 'verte folium': 78v-80r, 83v-84r, 195v-196r 'secunda pars': 94v 'duo' 153v-154r, 176v, 200r-205v composer's name normally provided, placed in centre of upper margin, on verso if piece spreads across opening. description of mensural relations ('dupla', 'tripla', 'sequiquarta' etc) 200v-201r,
5v, 9v, 10v, 18r, 19v, 22v, 24v, 39v, 52v-54r, 78v-80r, 83v-84r, 94v, 110v, 153v-154r, 176v, 195v-196r, 200r-205v
Text 2
Types of script hybrida
Types of script size position vertical descending voice names at start of lower voice parts (other liminary text written in neat cursiva) coincides with calligraphic, flourished initials
Types of script folios 5r-52r, 95v-96r, 110r
Types of script note formal hybrida
Level of calligraphy fair
Colour(s) of text brown
Multiple texts no
Text repetitions n/a
Abbreviations few
Non underlaid vocal text none

Decoration

Level of Decoration fair
Decoration miniature frequency Folios Size position Description Discrepancies
never
Decoration border frequency Border type Folios Size Position Description Discrepancies
never None None
Decoration initial type Frequency Folios Initial type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
penned initials rarely 227v plain initials one stave tall, start of each voice
initials planned normally 52v-94r, 96v-109v, 110v-134r, 135r-227r, 228r-v First stave of each voice indented (but lower indent often filled in with stave lines drawn freehand).
penned initials sometimes 5r-v, 9r-52r, 94v-96r, 110r, 134v calligraphic , calligraphic with decoration, flourished One stave high (stave indented), for each voice or for the first voice of each page. Same or similar ink to the text, but drawn with a thicker nib. Fine, ornate flourishing of the initial is found on most initials from f. 40v onwards
Other decoration frequency Folios Other decoration type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
never