Florence, Italy, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Banco Rari 337 (olim Palatino 1178), All folios
Physical description
Material: paper
Number of leaves: ii + 138 + ii
Format: oblong
Page dimensions: 86 x 205
Quire structure: Text version
Title page / Frontispiece: f. [ii]r: Full-page title 'Bassus', probably part of the original parchment wrapper integrated into modern parchment endleaf
f. 1r: title 'BASSUS. ALTUS' which may indicate that the facing recto pages which are mostly left blank were not meant for added verbal text, but for a copy of the altus voice.
Non-musical texts: Before 1r: Paper leaf mounted on a guard including a description of the manuscript by Johannes Wolf.
f. 21r: Inscription (written 5 times): 'dare [crossed out] questa sara per darvi aviso come noi sciamo ... el simile spero'.
Other devices: 1. Old ink foliation, verso top left: 14-150, with 3 folios missing (ff. 52, 53, 98).
2. Modern pencil foliation, recto bottom left: 1-138
Page details (zoom):
Preparation and Copying
All foliosPreparation
Disposition of Voice Parts Key
Signe de renvoi
| Pricking | none visible |
| Ruled grid |
normally,
Justification lines only. |
| Ruling pattern |
fairly regular
Only verso sides of pages were ruled during the original preparation and recto sides were left blank, except for ff. 132r, 133r, 134r, 135r. Some other rectos include added staves. ff. 40v, 88v have no pre-ruled staves. |
| Staves omitted from grid | never |
| Incomplete staves | never |
| Medium and colour of grid | Frequency | Folios | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| brown ink | always | ||
| Colour of staves | Frequency | Folios | Note |
| brown | always | Shades of ink varies suggesting that staves may have been added over a period of time but using the same rastra. | |
| Ruling medium | Frequency | Folios | Note |
| triple rastrum | sometimes | 1v-39v | Triple rastrum with a repetitive pattern of staves heights of 12.5 mm and intervals of 11 and 9 mm. |
| freehand | occasionally | 6r, 32r, 33r, 36r, 40v-41r, 57r, 67r, 68r, 69r, 70r, 71r, 74r, 89r | |
| triple rastrum | often | 41v-131v | Triple rastrum with a repetitive pattern of staves heights of 12.5, 12.5 and 13 mm and intervals of 10 and 9.5 mm. |
| double rastrum | rarely | 132r-135v | Two double rastra with a repetitive pattern of staves heights of 10 and 9 mm and 10 mm and intervals of 7 mm. |
| Indentation for initials | Frequency | Folios | Note |
| single | normally | 1v-61r, 66v-68r, 78v-83r, 86v-92r, 98v-105r | Text and music are indented on staves at start of each piece, for first letter of vocal text. |
| none | occasionally | 61v-66r, 83v-86r, 92v-98r | No indentation, initial placed before stave, outside grid (if text has been provided). |
| none | rarely | 68v-78r | No initial, first letter is underlaid (if text has been provided). |
| Space provided for separate text | Frequency | Folios | Note |
| provided, in dedicated space | normally | Texts written on rectos which were left empty, possibly to accommodate the additional stanzas. | |
| Adhoc adaptation | Frequency | Folios | Note |
| staveline added | rarely | 1v, 35v, 53v, 62v | |
| notation and staves extended into margin | rarely | 32v, 34r, 35v, 36r, 62v, 70v | |
| staves extended into margin | rarely | 34r | |
| notation extended into margin | rarely | 3v, 6v, 25v, 31v, 101v, 102v | |
| partial additional staves | rarely | 6r, 32r, 33r, 40v, 71r, 74r, 89r | Drawn freehand on facing recto for overspill notation. |
| made for complete additional staves | rarely | 33r, 34r, 36r, 40v, 41r, 57r, 67r, 68r, 69r, 70r, 89r, | Drawn freehand, for overspill notation or for new songs. f. 34r: first two staves drawn freehand, third stave drawn freehand until two thirds of the way along (where one song ends), and then by rastrum (or straight edge?) until the edge of the folio (for overspill notation). |
Copying of text and music
| Language(s) | Italian |
|---|---|
| Order of Copying |
music first
always |
| Presence/absence of text | Voice part | Frequency | Folios | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| provided with single incipit | bassus | often | 1v-24r, 25v-32r, 39v, 41v, 53v, 57r, 61v-64v, 76v, 85v, 87v, 89v, 104v | If notation and text are indented on stave, the first letter of the text was intended to be provided as an initial but was never entered; as a result the incipit begins with the second letter of word. |
| fully texted with one or two texts | bassus | rarely | 24v-25r | |
| fully texted with one text | bassus | rarely | 32v-36r, 40v-41r, 66v-70r, 102v | |
| untexted | bassus | often | 33r, 34r, 36r-39r, 42v-52r, 54v-56v, 57v-59r, 60v-61r, 65v, 70v-76r, 77v-85r, 86v, 89r, 90v-101r, 103v | |
| partially texted with one text | bassus | rarely | 52v, 59v, 101v |
Music
| Colour(s) of notation | brown |
| Colour of notation note | Music written in various shades of brown ink, mostly in dark brown (ff. 1v-16v, 36r, 37v-60v, 66v-75v, 78v-91v, 97v-105v), or brown (ff. 17v-31r, 61v-65v, 76v-77v, 92v-94v), with only some pages written in lighter brown (ff. 33v, 35v, 36v). |
| Type(s) of notation | void mensural |
| Type of notation note | teardrop-shaped |
| Monophonic notation | absent |
| Level of calligraphy | fair |
| Non verbal performance instructions | Folios | Note |
|---|---|---|
| coronae | 1v, 3v-10v, 12v, 16v, 18v-19v, 22v, 23v, 26v, 31v, 33r, 37v-39v, 44v-46v, 48v-56v, 57v, 62v-65v, 67r-67v, 69r, 70v-71v, 73v, 75v-76v, 78v-80v, 82v-83v, 86v-87v, 89r, 90v-94v, 98v, 100v-101v | |
| repeat signs | 1v-7v, 9v-31v, 34r-35v, 36v-39v, 41v, 43v, 46v-47v, 49v-50v, 53v-56v, 58v, 61v-65v, 72v-73v, 74v-75v, 77v-80v, 82v-86v, 90v, 97v, 100v-101v | |
| signes-de-renvoi | 34r, 36r | |
| signa congruentiae | 3v-6v, 19v-20v, 24v, 28v-29v, 36r, 38v-39v, 54v, 71v, 85v, 102v, 104v | |
| Line fillers | Folios | Note |
| none | ||
| Later changes | Folios | |
| Addition of notes to blank ruled folio at end of book; appears to be practising notating - notes mainly go up and down the stave on spaces or lines. | 105v | |
| Added pieces on staves ruled freehand | 33r, 34r, 36r, 40v, 41r, 57r, 70r, 89r |
Text
| Types of script | cursive (italic) |
| Level of calligraphy | fair |
| Colour(s) of text | brown Text written in various shades of brown ink: light brown (ff. 1v-34r, 35v-36r); dark brown (ff. 24v-25r, 32v-33r, 34v-35r, 37v-60v, 66v-70r, 87v-89v) and brown (ff. 61v-65v, 76v). |
| Multiple texts |
yes
24v-25r |
| Text repetitions | very few |
| Abbreviations | fairly many |
| Non underlaid vocal text |
additional
25r, 34v-35r, 103r, Extra verses placed on facing blank recto, and (f. 34v) on blank ruled stave. |
| Liminary text |
Composers named in upper margin:
1v, 7v: M. Alex[ande]r; 2v, 3v, 4v, 6v, 24v, 31v, 34v, 57v, 79v: S[erragli]; 8v, 9v, 70v: B[artolomeo]; 10v, 11v, 16v, 26v, 27v, 28v: P[hilippo] d[e] L[urano]; 12v: March[etto]; 15v: B[artolomeo] T[romboncini]; 29v: S. ALo.; 33v: Musicola; 40v: Josquin; 41r: Izac; 48v: Jo[seph] S[erragli]; 69v, 70r: Michael.,
1v, 2v, 3v, 4v, 6v, 7v, 8v, 9v, 10v, 11v, 12v, 16v, 15v, 24v, 26v, 27v, 28v, 29v, 31v, 33v, 34v, 40v-41r, 48v, 57v, 69v-70v, 79v |
| Later changes |
Titles of pieces written in later hand, (usually) on facing verso; some corrections to these have been made.,
2r, 3r, 4r, 5r, 6r, 7r, 9r, 10r, 11r, 12, , 13r, 14r, 15r, 16r, 17r, 18r, 19. 20r, 21r, 22r, 23r, 24r, 26r, 27r, 28r, 31r, 32v, 54r, 57r, 62r, 64r, 65r, 77r, 86r, 105r |
Decoration
| Level of Decoration | very poor |
| Decoration initial type | Frequency | Folios | Initial type(s) | Size position | Description | Discrepancies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| initials planned | normally | 1v-61r, 66v-68r, 78v-83r, 86v-92r, 98v-100r, 103v-104r | Start of song, one stave high. | |||
| Other decoration frequency | Folios | Other decoration type(s) | Size position | Description | Discrepancies | |
| rarely | 61v-66r | littera notabilior | before stave, slightly larger than normal script | |||
| rarely | 101v, 102v, 104v | littera notabilior | One stave high, at start of song, on stave. | Enlarged text script letter, with some minor decorative elements. | ||
| rarely | 73v | littera notabilior | large, thick-stroked letter, before stave. | |||