PRoMs - The Production and Reading of Music Sources

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

Manuscript: Florence, Italy, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Magliabechi XIX.164-167

Manuscript type: partbooks (complete set)

RISM siglum: I-Fn 164-7

DIAMM Source Key: 1407

Folio(s): MS Magliabechi XIX.165 (Bassus), All folios

Date: c. 1515-c. 1540

1530-1540 (Becher); 1520-1525 (Panne); c. 1515-c.1522 (Rifkin); made c. 1518-c. 1521 in Florence (Cummings 2006).

Watermark as in Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Magliabechi 111-112 dating from after 1528 and MS Magliabechi 122-125 dating from 1532-1537 (see Drake 2005).

Location of origin: Florence, Italy

Provenance

1. A member of the Buonaparte family of San Miniato and Florence, perhaps Jacopo Buonaparte (b. c. 1478, d. 1541), canon of the Florence cathedral (1498) and subsequently canon of St Peter, Rome (1510), an intimate of Pope Clement VII (Giulio de' Medici): added Buonaparte coats of arms on an oval cartouche with cords (ff. [I]r and [II]r); 2. inscription: 'Giovan[n]i d[i] Franco Angiolo / di Simone d'Agostino da / Et Agostino d[i] simone da Crespi... / Tomaso fi Franco da rezzano' (MS Magliabechi XIX. 164, f. III'v); 3. The Biblioteca Medicea Palatina Lotaringia, the library of Francis I (Francis Stephen), Grand Duke of Tuscany and Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1708, d. 1765) amalgamated with the former Medici collections: its stamp with a legend 'Bibl. Caes. Med. Palat' (in all four part-books), in 1771 transferred by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo to the Biblioteca Magliabechiana; 4. Biblioteca Magliabechiana, the future Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale: its label (inside the front cover) with a note 'Provenienza Med. Palat no. 278'.

Bibliography

Adler 1894–1970, XXXII, 238; Wolf 1913–19, I, 450, II, 8 and passim; Einstein 1939, 507-9; Hewitt 1942, 107; Becherini 1953, 79-96; Becherini 1959, 69-71; Picker 1960, 355; Gallico 1961, 79ff; Bragard 1966, 68 n. 5; Osthoff 1969, I, 41, II, 14, 38; Atlas 1971, I, 479-81; Rifkin 1973, 305-26, 312f; Atkinson 1975–, XIV, xviii-xix, xxi, 89-91; Atlas 1976, 246; Census-Catalogue 1979-1988, I, 228f; Jonas 1983, II, 8 and passim; Boorman 1983, 78, 90, 109; Brown 1987; Drake 2005; Cummings 2006.

Basis for description: original

Florence, Italy, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Magliabechi XIX.164-167, MS Magliabechi XIX.165 (Bassus), All folios

Physical description

Material: paper

Number of leaves: ii + 121 + ii

Format: oblong

Page dimensions: 108 x 170

Quire structure: Text version

Other devices: 1. Roman numerals in the upper margin indicating consecutive pieces.
2. Quire marks: '10' (f. 91r) and '11' (101r).
3. Modern foliation recto bottom left, 1-121
Watermarks: an anvil and a hammer enclosed in a circle, similar to Briquet no. 5963 (Florence 1514-1529; Fabriano 1520 and Pistoia 1535); an anchor enclosed within a circle and surmounted by a star (bifolia 42--49, 63--68, [ii]-[iii]).

Page details (zoom):

Preparation and Copying

All folios

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking none visible
Ruled grid always
Ruling pattern highly regular
Staves omitted from grid never
Incomplete staves never
Medium and colour of grid Frequency Folios Note
brown ink and hard point always Justification lines only.
Colour of staves Frequency Folios Note
dark brown always
Ruling medium Frequency Folios Note
triple rastrum always Measures 12.5-12.5-12 mm from top to bottom, with interspaces of 10 mm
Indentation for initials Frequency Folios Note
none always Text and music indented on staves.
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
none always
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
not in dedicated space rarely f. 121r Later addition.
Adhoc adaptation Frequency Folios Note
notation and staves extended into margin occasionally 14r, 43r, 46v, 50r, 65r, 74r, 83r, 95r
staveline added sometimes 36r, 43v, 44r, 45v, 54v, 64r

Copying of text and music

Language(s) French, Italian, Latin
Order of Copying music first
always
Presence/absence of text Voice part Frequency Folios Note
fully texted with one or two texts bassus normally
provided with single incipit bassus rarely 59v, 86r-87r
Music
Colour(s) of notation brown
Type(s) of notation void mensural
Type of notation note rhomboid-shaped
Monophonic notation absent
Level of calligraphy fair
Non verbal performance instructions Folios Note
repeat signs 33v, 71r, 120v
Line fillers Folios Note
often Placed at the end of pieces.
Later changes Folios
Added pieces and gamut with mensuration (ff. 116v-117r). 58v, 59v, 98v, 116v-117r, 119v, 120v
Text
Types of script cursive (italic)
Level of calligraphy fair
Colour(s) of text brown
Multiple texts yes
33v, 71r, 76v-77r
Text repetitions very many
Abbreviations very few
Non underlaid vocal text additional
58v, 121r,
In added pieces only. Second stanza on f. 58v crossed out.
Liminary text 'Bassus' (f. 91r); 'Sequitur secunda pars' (f. 105r); 'Te deum laudamus Bassus a 4' (f. 119v); 'Bassus a 3' (f. 120v).
Later changes Added pieces (underlay: ff. 58, 59v, 98v, 119v, 120v; and additional text: ff. 58v, 121r); and gamut with annotations: 'Viole' and 'Alla bassa' and 'alla alta' (ff. 116v-117r)

Decoration

Level of Decoration fair
Decoration initial type Frequency Folios Initial type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
penned initials normally plain initials Initials in brown ink.