Nicholas Sandon, The Henrican Partbooks Belonging to Peterhouse, Cambridge (Cambridge, University Library, Peterhouse Manuscripts 471-474): A Study, with Restorations of the Incomplete Compositions Contained In Them (PhD, University of Exeter, 1983)

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Chapters 1 and 2 (26.5 MB) | Chapters 3 through 7 and musical appendix (23 MB)

These 8 chapters represent Volume 1 of the original thesis. Volume 2 contained musical editions which have now been published by Antico Edition and therefore are not included.

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Abstract

This first volume of this dissertation examines Cambridge, University Library, Peterhouse mss 471–474, four partbooks from a set of five copied late in the reign of Henry VIII, which contain seventy-two pieces of Latin church music. The first chapter discusses the presence at Peterhouse of this set, investigates its relationship to the Caroline partbooks belonging to the college and suggests means by which this collection of manuscripts could have come to Peterhouse. The second chapter is a palaeographical study of mss 471–474 and seeks to discover the processes by which they were copied; they are found to have been the work of a single scribe. The third chapter brings together biographical information from published and unpublished sources on the composers represented in the books. After referring to conflicting ways in which scholars have interpreted the existence of these books, the fourth chapter provides a new interpretation by relating the palaeographical and biographical evidence to the circumstances of English religious history in the last decade of Henry’s reign: it is suggested that most of the repertory in the books was copied from manuscripts belonging to Magdalen College, Oxford, probably in 1540–41, and that the books were intended for use at the New Foundation cathedral at Canterbury; an identity is suggested for the scribe. If the general thrust of the argument is accepted, the conservatism of much of the music in Ph must be considered typical of church music in England at this time. The fifth chapter justifies the practice of restoring voices missing from compositions of this period and describes some of the problems and solutions involved; working notes including analysis and stylistic comment are provided for the fifty restored compositions originally presented in the second volume. The sixth chapter introduces and presents the Latin texts with English translations. The seventh and last chapter consists of a critical commentary. The two original appendices contained short essays on more peripheral topics that arose during the research; these appendices are not included in the present revision because articles based on them have appeared elsewhere. A musical appendix presents the cantus firmi and other material associated with the incomplete compositions.

Table of Contents

  • Title Pagei
  • Dedicationii
  • Table of Contentsiii
  • Editions, originally included in the dissertation, now published by Antico Editioniv
  • Introduction to the original versionv
  • Introduction to the revised versionv
  • Summaryvii
  • Abbreviationsix
  • Bibliograhpyxi
  • Supplementary Bibliographyxix
  • Chapter One: The musical manuscripts at Peterhouse
    • 1: Introduction1
    • 2: A summary of previous content2
    • 3: The Henrican and Caroline sets and their presence at Peterhouse5
    • 4. A preliminary description and inventory of the Henrican set (Ph)8
    • 5. Inventory15
  • Chapter Two: A palaeographical study of Ph
    • 1: Collation25
    • 2: Interpolations and foliation30
    • 3: The indexes33
    • 4: At what stage were the books first bound?35
    • 5: Layout and staves36
    • 6: The music hand and notation41
    • 7: The text hands48
    • 8: The scribe's method of working52
    • 9: Mistakes and their correction62
    • 10: The scribe's attitude to his exemplars67
    • 11: The watermarks69
    • 12: Groupings in Ph75
    • 13: The relationship of Ph to other English sources79
  • Chapter Three: The composers represented in Ph83
  • Chapter Four: The provenance, destination and interpretation of Ph
    • 1: The problem of interpretation115
    • 2: The provenance of the music121
    • 3: The destination of the partbooks125
    • 4: The implications of the collection138
  • Chapter Five: Restoring the incomplete compositions
    • 1: Introduction147
    • 2: Notes on the restoration of individual compositions150
  • Chapter Six: Latin texts and English translations
    • 1: Introduction197
    • 2: Texts and translations203
  • Chapter Seven: Critical Commentary
    • 1: Introduction239
    • 2: List of concordant sources240
    • 3: Commentary244
  • Musical Appendix: Cantus firmus and other material used in the incomplete compositions271

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