St Gall, Switzerland, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 461, All folios
Physical description
Material: parchment
Number of leaves: 47
Format: upright
Page dimensions: 175 x 140
Quire structure: Text version
Title page / Frontispiece: owner's note and librarian's note on front pastedown (see [[Scarpatetti 2008]])
Other devices: 1. Library pagination, black ink top corners, by Ildefons von Arx (1755-1833).
Page details (zoom):
Preparation and Copying
All foliosPreparation
Disposition of Voice Parts Key
Pricking |
always,
top line of every stave pricked |
Ruled grid |
always,
no bounding lines, but pricks at the top lines of every stave which were obviously applied along a ruler, serving as horizontal as well as vertical guides for staves |
Ruling pattern |
highly regular
10 pentagrams, lines ruled with pen and straightedge based on pricked grid, very even |
Staves omitted from grid | never |
Incomplete staves | never |
Medium and colour of grid | Frequency | Folios | Note |
---|---|---|---|
n/a | always | ||
Colour of staves | Frequency | Folios | Note |
brown | always | ||
Ruling medium | Frequency | Folios | Note |
straightedge | always | ||
Indentation for initials | Frequency | Folios | Note |
single | normally | stave 1 and 6 normally indented, c. 10 mm. Where a voice begins where no indented stave, music and text indented by the same amount to accommodate initial; superfluous indent in those cases normally filled in | |
Extra space between voice parts | Frequency | Folios | Note |
empty ruled staves on grid | often | ||
Space provided for separate text | Frequency | Folios | Note |
no separate text | always | ||
Adhoc adaptation | Frequency | Folios | Note |
Indentation for initials filled in | sometimes |
Copying of text and music
Language(s) | Latin |
---|---|
Order of Copying |
music first
always |
Presence/absence of text | Voice part | Frequency | Folios | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|
untexted | all voice parts | often | ||
provided with single incipit | discantus | often | ||
untexted | all except discantus | often |
Music
Colour(s) of notation | black |
Type(s) of notation | void mensural |
Type of notation note | teardrop shape with stem out of notehead for upstem notes |
Monophonic notation | absent |
Level of calligraphy | fair |
Non verbal performance instructions | Folios | Note |
---|---|---|
signes-de-renvoi | occasionally | |
signa congruentiae | occasionally |
Text
Types of script | cursive (German) |
Level of calligraphy | fair |
Colour(s) of text | black brown |
Multiple texts | no |
Text repetitions | n/a |
Abbreviations | some |
Non underlaid vocal text | none |
Liminary text | Voice designations either as initials or first letter of text, normally; Composer ascriptions above D, sometimes |
Decoration
Level of Decoration | fair |
Decoration initial type | Frequency | Folios | Initial type(s) | Size position | Description | Discrepancies |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
penned initials | always | calligraphic , calligraphic with grotesque heads, flourished | large cadel-type initials, some Lombards towards the beginning. Alternating in red and blue, on indentation at the beginning of every voice part, some with elaborate penflourishing (pp. 2, 10, 12, 14, 16, 24, 68). Occasional grotesque heads integrated into penflourishing | |||
Other decoration frequency | Folios | Other decoration type(s) | Size position | Description | Discrepancies | |
occasionally | ornament | ornamental birds drawn in blue and red ink in blank spaces (same type of ink and apparently same artist as initials, according to [[Scarpatetti 2008]] Sicher himself), pp. 61, 65, 68, 72, 82-84 |