GB-Ob MS. Mus. e. 3 [Contratenor] (Sadler Partbooks)

Bodleian Library, Oxford, England

partbook: c. 1580-85

Archive Bodleian Library, Oxford, England (GB-Ob)
Shelfmark MS. Mus. e. 3 [Contratenor] (Sadler Partbooks)
Surface Paper
Numbering System Foliation
Format landscape
Measurements 205 x 280 mm
Other Identifiers
  • CCM: OxfBM e.1-5
Notations
  • black void mensural
  • coloration in black full
Copyists
Relationships
External Links
Provenance
  • Norwich, England
Contents Contains 47 compositions, 46 from 17 composers, 1 is anonymous.
General Description

A Contratenor partbook from a set of 5 volumes owned by John Sadler, a Norwich Grocer, who also had a connection with GB-Ob MS. Tenbury 1486 (the Braikenridge Manuscript), and its partner volume GB-Ob MS. Mus. c. 784 (the Willmott Manuscript). Later owned by the collector Richard Heber (1773-1833); purchased by Bodleian Library from bookseller J. E. Cornish in 1885.

See also the digital reconstruction of this book.

DIAMM, 2022
Physical Description

All books in this set in highly fragile condition; folios damaged by ink corrosion, but most music still legible.

DIAMM, 2017
Binding

Original limp vellum covers incorporated in 18th-century Russia leather bindings until 1918. Now bound separately as GB-Ob MS. Mus. e. 21.

DIAMM, 2017
Watermark

Heawood #2168

DIAMM, 2017
Notation

black void mensural notation with coloration in black full.

DIAMM, 2017
Ruling

usually five staves per page, some of which are skewed

DIAMM, 2017
Foliation

Other numberings: original ink numbering of pieces, i-xxxv, excludes several pieces at beginning and end of each book

DIAMM, 2017
Foliation

New pencil foliation in each book; probably the work of two hands

DIAMM, 2017
Decoration

Initials and borders decorated with floral designs, animals, and grotesque heads, in red, blue, green, and gold; first and last folios in each book usually decorated with geometric patterns and Latin inscriptions.

DIAMM, 2017
Index

Modern index at beginning of first partbook

DIAMM, 2017
Surface

paper

DIAMM, 2017
DIAMM Note

Digitized with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) for the Tudor Partbooks project at the Universities of Oxford and Newcastle.

DIAMM, 2023
Census Catalogue of Music Description

This information is reproduced here by kind permission of the publishers. It is COPYRIGHT and copying/reproduction of this content without permission may result in legal action.

1 Mass, 1 Te Deum, 1 hymn, 3 Lamentations, 32 motets, 1 Latin secular piece, 2 English secular pieces, 1 In nomine = 42

Aston-1, Aston/(Ashwell)-1, Byrd-5, Crecquillon-1, Fayrfax-2, A. Ferrabosco I [Alfonso]-1, R. Johnson I-2, Merbecke-1, Morley-2, Parsley-2, W. Parsons-1, Sadler-1, Shepherd-1, Tallis-7, Taverner-4, Taverner/(Tye)-1, Tye-1, R. White-6, Wilder [Master phillups]-1, anon-1

5 paper partbooks (D-78 folios, A-78, Tl-78, T2-69 + i, B-72), 205 x 280. All books in highly fragile condition; some folios damaged by ink corrosion, but most music still legible. New pencil foliation in each book; original ink numbering of pieces, i-xxxv, excludes several pieces at beginning and end of each book. Original parchment covers now incorporated in 18th-century brown leather bindings. Modern index at beginning. Copied by John Sadler, who also wrote OxfBT 1486 and SpetchB s.s. (FelAP). Initials and borders decorated with floral designs, animals, and grotesque heads, in red, blue, green, and gold; first and last folios in each book usually decorated with geometric patterns and Latin inscriptions (possible symbolic significance of decoration discussed by MateerS). Watermark is Heawood #2168, also found in OxfBT 1486 and SpetchB s.s.

Ca. 1565-85 (MateerS); dates from 1568 to 1585 in manuscript. Copied at Oundle and Sudborough, Northampton. The compiler, scribe, and original owner was John Sadler, a schoolmaster and Anglican priest. Later owned by the collector Richard Heber (1773-1833); purchased by Bodleian Library from bookseller J. E. Cornish in 1885.

Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550

71r

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Sets

Select a set to see its sources.

‡ denotes primary source study

Range, Matthias, and Julia Craig-McFeely. 2020. Forty Years in the Wilderness: John Sadler of the Sadler Partbooks. Music and Letters, 101, no. 4: (online advance publication at https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/gcaa016). https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/gcaa016.

Burke, James. 2017. John Sadler & The Sadler Partbooks (Oxford, Bodleian Library MSS Mus. e. 1–5). DPhil dissertation, University of Oxford.

Gaskin, Hilary Lorna. 1985. Music copyists in late sixteenth-century England, with particular reference to the manuscripts of John Baldwin. University of Cambridge Faculty of Music, PhD.

Mateer, David G. 1979. John Sadler and Oxford, Bodleian MSS Mus. e. 1-5. Music and Letters, 40: 281-95. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list; concordances (partial); mention of MS; discussion; identity of John Sadler erroneous.

Hofman, May. 1977. The Survival of Latin Sacred Music by English Composers 1485–1610. University of Oxford Faculty of Music, DPhil.

Bray, Roger W. 1970-71. The Interpretation of Musica Ficta in English Music C.1490-C.1580. Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 97: 29-45. Pages: 41-2. Notes: transcription (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Benham, Hugh Raymond. 1969. The Music of John Taverner - A Study and Assessment. University of Southampton, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: 41. Notes: physical description (partial).

Bray, Roger W. 1969. The Interpretation of Musica Ficta in English Music, C. 1490-C. 1580 [dissertation]. Oxford University, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: I, 141-55, 169-84, passim; II, 24-7, 60-8, 79-81, 85. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Kirsch, Winfried. 1966. Die Quellen der mehrstimmigen Magnificat- und Te Deum-Vertonungen bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts.  Tutzing. Pages: 153. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); incipits (partial).

Harrison, Frank Llewellyn (editor). 1963-. Early English Church Music.  London: Stainer & Bell. Pages: XXV, 1-91, 168ff; XXVIII, 124,128,130, 133-4,137; XXIX,128,138. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Lamont, Herbert Harry. 1963. John Shepherd: His Life and Music. University of Southern California, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: I, 107-8, 224. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial); concordances (partial).

Warrem, Edwin B (editor). 1959-66. Robert Fayrfax (ca. 1464-1521): Collected Works. Corpus mensurabilis musicae, vol. 17.  Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology. Pages: II, 59-71, 95-6, 102. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).

Fellowes, Edmund H. 1948. William Byrd.  London, New York, and Toronto.

Fellowes, Edmund H. 1948. Tudor Church Music: Appendix with Supplementary Notes.  London. Pages: 5. Notes: mention of MS.

Meyer, Ernst Hermann. 1934. Die mehrstimmige Spielmusik des 17. Jahrhunderts in Nord-und Mitteleuropa.  Kassel.

Flood, William H Grattan. 1925. Early Tudor Composers.  London.

Fellowes, Edmund H (editor). 1923-48. Tudor Church Music.  London, Oxford et al. Pages: I, xxx, lix, lxi; III, xviii-xix; V, xx-xxiii; VI, xxvii, xxix-xxxi; X, xviii, 162, 200-12, 235, 247-55. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).

Davey, Henry. 1921. History of English Music.  London. Pages: 91, 97, 100, 124, 137. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial).

Arkwright, G E P. 1898. [Untitled]. Old English Edition, vol. 21. 

Madan, Falconer (editor). 1895-1953. A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.  Oxford. Pages: V, 649-50; cat reference 29584. Notes: physical description.

Arkwright, G E P. 1893. [untitled]. Old English Edition, vol. 10. 

[No Author] 1887-1890. Proceedings of the Musical Association.

Public Comments

This form is used to make comments on a source. If you wish to notify us of a correction to the record, you should use the "Contribute a change" form instead.

Julia Craig-McFeely

Wednesday, 7 July, 2021

Access to the reconstructed images of the Sadler partbooks can be found in the 'DIAMM Virtual Library'.

Contributions to this record are recorded here. If you wish to contribute information or a correction to this record, use the "Contribute a Change" link. This will then be reviewed by DIAMM staff and, if accepted, your contribution will be acknowledged here.

Edward Tambling

Wednesday, 25 March, 2026

Pointed out that the inventory here had the two Tallis Lamentation sets (fols. 36v–37v and 37v–40r) listed the wrong way round: now corrected.

DIAMM, 2016

Monday, 23 January, 2017

NB: Migrated from old site. Credit for notes may not be completely accurate. General Description; Physical Description Note; Binding Note; Watermark Note; Notation Note; Ruling Note; Foliation Note; Foliation Note; Decoration Note; Contents Note; Surface Note; DIAMM Note

Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550

Monday, 23 January, 2017

NB: Migrated from old site. Credit for notes may not be completely accurate. Census Catalogue of Music Description