Cape Town, South Africa, National Library of South Africa, MS Grey 3.b.12, All folios
Physical description
Material: parchment
Number of leaves: i + 124
Format: upright
Page dimensions: 171 x 121
Quire structure: Text version
Title page / Frontispiece: f. 1r: 'Creditat atque studet scriptor, largitur et orat | Affligitur, sal. dat. fontem lucemque futuram | Ec[c]l[esi]am ditat, armat, custodit, honorat.'
Index / Table of Contents: Original index ("Tabula de hijs que continentur in hoc libro quadragesimali") on ff. 2r-1v [inverted order of pages] listing 39 pieces.
Other devices: 1. Modern foliation pencil top right, 1-124.
2. Original foliation red ink top middle, 1-2, 4-45 (= 3-46), continued in later pencil, 46-84, 86-101, 111-127, 136-144 (= 47-124).
Page details (zoom):
Preparation and Copying
All foliosPreparation
Disposition of Voice Parts Key
Pricking | none visible |
Ruled grid |
always,
double vertical line to the left and single vertical line to the right, single text line throughout (even where no text is present). |
Ruling pattern | highly regular |
Staves omitted from grid | never |
Incomplete staves | never |
Medium and colour of grid | Frequency | Folios | Note |
---|---|---|---|
very light ink | always | for vertical bounding lines | |
hard point or lead point | always | for text lines | |
Colour of staves | Frequency | Folios | Note |
red | always | ||
Ruling medium | Frequency | Folios | Note |
single rastrum | always | ||
Indentation for initials | Frequency | Folios | Note |
none | always | music and text often indented over ruled stave to accommodate initial | |
Extra space between voice parts | Frequency | Folios | Note |
empty ruled staves on grid | sometimes | ||
Space provided for separate text | Frequency | Folios | Note |
not in dedicated space | often | on (partially or wholly) empty staves, in margins. | |
Adhoc adaptation | Frequency | Folios | Note |
notation and staves extended into margin | occasionally |
Copying of text and music
Language(s) | 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 one text | discantus | sometimes | ||
provided with single incipit | all except discantus | sometimes | ||
fully texted with one text | discantus and tenor | rarely | ||
provided with single incipit | all except discantus and tenor | rarely | ||
provided with single incipit | all voice parts | occasionally | ||
partially texted with one text | discantus | rarely | ||
untexted | all except tenor | rarely | ||
fully texted with one text | tenor | rarely |
Music
Colour(s) of notation | brown |
Type(s) of notation | void mensural |
Type of notation note | rhomboid shaped notation, very slender |
Monophonic notation | absent |
Level of calligraphy | fair |
Non verbal performance instructions | Folios | Note |
---|---|---|
pointers | frequent | |
Line fillers | Folios | Note |
few | 87v-88r, 94v-95r | repeated final barlines |
Later changes | Folios | |
addition of brief chant passage on f. 48r |
Text
Types of script | textura |
Level of calligraphy | high |
Colour(s) of text | black red blue |
Multiple texts | no |
Text repetitions | few |
Abbreviations | fairly few |
Non underlaid vocal text |
additional
20r, 60v-83r, 103r, added text strophes. On 20r Italian poem with no obvious relation to the music. |
Liminary text | Voice designations as initials in margin, always |
Decoration
Level of Decoration | fair |
Decoration initial type | Frequency | Folios | Initial type(s) | Size position | Description | Discrepancies |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
penned initials | normally | calligraphic with decoration, flourished | one stave high, sometimes in indentation over ruled staves, sometimes in left margin or below stave with rest of text | Alternating red and blue solid initials with penflourishing in contrasting blue and red at beginning of every composition. From f. 107v monochrome | ||
Other decoration frequency | Folios | Other decoration type(s) | Size position | Description | Discrepancies | |
always | decorated letters | voice-designation initials in margin | highly decorative and often flourished red (and more rarely black or blue) capitals | |||
often | littera notabilior | at beginning of subsections, below stave with rest of text | large, somewhat decorated black capitals |