I-Nn VI E 40

Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, Napoli (Naples), Italy

manuscript of polyphony: last third of the 15th century, c. 1477-78?

Archive Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, Napoli (Naples), Italy (I-Nn)
Shelfmark VI E 40
Image Availability DIAMM does not have images of this source. Please refer to the external links for image availability.
Surface Mixed Paper and Parchment
Numbering System Foliation
Measurements 430-445 x 315-320 mm
Other Identifiers
  • RISM: I-Nn 40
  • CCM: NapBN 40
Copyists
Relationships
External Links
Provenance
  • France
Contents 6 pieces from 1 composers
General Description

Copied by two scribes: one (A) copied the music for the discantus and the two contratenors on 1r-31v, 33v, and 45v-63v (this scribe also worked on BrusBR 5557); the second (B), copied the tenor in the entire ms., and other voices in 1r (only the 'Christe'), 1v-2r, 10r-11r, 22r-23r, 32r-33r, 35r (only the 'Domine Deus' in the second contra), and 44r-45r. Overall, FerrariNF considers B more musically accomplished and the likely compiler of the ms., copying the beginning of the central masses, and setting out the overall structure of the manuscript, which A then completed.

All Masses use the 'L'homme armé' melody as cantus firmus; passages with tenor copied in black ink, tenorless passages in red ink. CohSA's suggested linking of Busnois to the composition of these Masses was disputed by GillerN, who proposed Caron as possible composer. However, TarusAB offers additional evidence and arguments supporting Busnois' probable authorship.

DIAMM, 2017
Physical Description

Ten original folios now missing at various places (probably removed for illuminated initials)

DIAMM, 2017
Binding

Covers of brown leather, formerly believed not original (17th-century?) but FerrariNF finds no evidence of re-binding and therefore concludes that they are original.

DIAMM, 2023
Notation

not indicated

DIAMM, 2017
Dedication

dedicatory poem for Beatrice of Aragon, Queen of Hungary, above coat of arms on f. 64'

DIAMM, 2017
Foliation

Modern pencil foliation, 1-64

DIAMM, 2017
Decoration

Inked Gothic initials (alternating blue and red), except in tenor, which has inked calligraphic initials in alternating yellow and black, some decorated with faces. Coat of arms on f. 64', with motto 'De par Dieu soit', identified as a member of de Janly family, courtiers of the Dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Good and Charles the Bold (FerrariNF, AhernNC).

DIAMM, 2023
Surface

i paper + 64 parchment + i paper

DIAMM, 2017
RISM Description

RISM

XVe s. 64 ff. + 1 f.limin et 1 f. à la fin, papier. Parchemin, 445 x 315 mm. Foliotation moderne: I-64-I. 10 ff. du ms. original mq. actuellement: 1 f. entre chaque messe qui portait au r. les Ct. de l'Agnus et au v. les Sup. et T. du Kyrie; Ier f. de la Missa 1, dernier f. de la Missa 6, 1 f. entre les ff. 27 et 28, entre les ff. 29 et 30, entre les ff. 45 et 46. Notation mesurée blanche, musique notée à l'encre r. et n. alternée. 12 portées par p. Capitales en couleurs, quelques-unes ornées.

Ce ms. contient 6 messes sur le thème de L'homme armé, dont le style révèle indiscutablement une origine franco-flamande, bien établie aussi par l'écriture du scribe et le blason (f. 64) portant une devise en français. Au f. 64, un poème dédicatoire adressé à Béatrice d'Aragon («Ad serenissimam Ungarie reginam») précise que les compositions du ms. ont été auparavant appréciées d'un certain prince Charles («Charolus hoc prínceps quondam gaudere solebat») qu'on identifie avec le duc de Bourgogne Charles le Téméraire. On peut donc penser que le ms. aurait été écrit en Bourgogne à la cour de Charles et apporté ensuite à Naples comme un don à Béatrice après son mariage avec le roi de Hongrie Mathias Corvin en 1475. D'autre part, l'épigramme désignant Mathias comme encore en vie («Rex hostes fidei vincit») n'a pu être écrit après 1490, date de la mort du roi. Quant aux messes elles-mêmes (qui ne semblent pas toutes du même auteur), leur style un peu archaïque inciterait à en placer la composition vers 1470. Ces 6 messes constituent un cycle dont l'unité est ménagée par le fait que chacune des 5 premières (à 4vx.) a comme cantus firmus l'une des 5 sections successives de la mélodie de la chanson, une formule de canon en latin donnant la clef de la notation du T. La 6e messe qui clôt le cycle emploie la mélodie complète de la chanson et ajoute une 5e v. en imitation avec le T. La complexité typiquement franco-flamande de ce style évoque évidemment, si l'on admet l'allusion du poète à Charles le Téméraire, le compositeur le plus célèbre de la cour de Bourgogne, Antoine Busnois, sans qu'il soit possible de prouver avec certitude qu'il soit l'auteur de l'une de ces messes ni même qu'il ait fourni le plan général du cycle (Cohen). Même s'il s'agit d'hypothèses, elles frisent la vraisemblance.

Editions

Le ms. entier a été publié dans CMM 85.

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

Répertoire International des Sources Musicales
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.

6 Masses (Caron?*)-6

*See GillerN, who disputes CohSA's suggested linking of Busnois with the composition of these Masses.

i paper + 64 parchment + i paper folios, 443 x 313. Ten original folios now missing at various places (probably removed for illuminated initials). Modern pencil foliation, 1-64. Covers of brown leather, not original (17th-century?). No index. Copied by a single scribe. All Masses use "L'homme armé" melody as cantus firmus; passages with tenor copied in black ink, tenorless passages in red ink. Inked Gothic initials (alternating blue and red), except in tenor, which has inked calligraphic initials in alternating yellow and black, some decorated with faces. Unidentified coat of arms on f. 64', with motto "Que par Dieu soit"; above this is dedicatory poem for Beatrice of Aragon, Queen of Hungary.

Last third of 15th century, perhaps ca. 1477-8. Probably copied in Burgundy; sent as gift to Beatrice of Aragon (1457-1508), who moved from Aragonese court at Naples to Hungarian court at Buda in 1476, following her marriage to Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. Manuscript probably brought back to Naples by Beatrice in 1501.

Vol 4

Composers: (Busnois?*)-6

'CohSA's suggested linking of Busnois to the composition of these Masses was disputed by GillerN, who proposed Caron as possible composer. However, TarusAB offers additional evidence and arguments supporting Busnois' probable authorship.

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

Click an entry to see more information about that item.

Folio / Pages Composition / Item title Source attribution Composers (? Uncertain)
1–9v Missa L'homme armé [I] (Kyrie plasmator hominis) - Anonymous
Appears on: 1–9v
Genres: Kyrie eleison, Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin, Greek
Voice Text: [Missa L'homme armé] Kyrie plasmator hominis
General Note

T: L'homme l'homme. Mq. Sup. et T du 1er Kyrie et les 2 Ct des 2e et 3e Agnus.

Item Bibliography

Feininger, Laurence K (editor). 1947-48. Series I: Ordinarium missae (1948) & Series II: Poprium missae (1947). Monumenta Polyphoniae Liturgicae Sanctae Ecclesiae Romanae.  Rome. Pages: 1,3 (1).

10v–21v Missa L'homme armé [II] (Kyrie virtutis auctor) - Anonymous
Appears on: 10v–21v
Genres: Kyrie eleison, Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin, Greek
Voice Text: [Missa L'homme armé] Kyrie virtutis auctor
General Note

T: L'ome armé L'ome armé l'ome armé. Mq.Sup. et T du 1er Kyrie et les 2 Ct des 2e et 3e Agnus

Item Bibliography

Feininger, Laurence K (editor). 1947-48. Series I: Ordinarium missae (1948) & Series II: Poprium missae (1947). Monumenta Polyphoniae Liturgicae Sanctae Ecclesiae Romanae.  Rome. Pages: 1,3 (2.

22–31v Missa L'homme armé [III] (Kyrie summe pater timuit) - Anonymous
Appears on: 22–31v
Genres: Kyrie eleison, Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin, Greek
Voice Text: [Missa L'homme armé] Kyrie summe pater timuit
General Note

T: Doibt on doubter doibt on douter. Gloria, Credo et Sanctus incompl. Mq. Sup. et T du 1er Kyrie et les 2 Ct des 2e et 3e Agnus

Item Bibliography

Feininger, Laurence K (editor). 1947-48. Series I: Ordinarium missae (1948) & Series II: Poprium missae (1947). Monumenta Polyphoniae Liturgicae Sanctae Ecclesiae Romanae.  Rome. Pages: 1,3 (3).

32v–43v Missa L'homme armé [IV] - Anonymous
Appears on: 32v–43v
Genres: Kyrie eleison, Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin, Greek
Voice Text: [Missa L'homme armé] [Kyrie]
General Note

Altitonans genitor Deus orbisT: On a fait sur tout crier que chascun se viengne armer.Mq. Sup. et T du 1er Kyrie et les 2 Ct des 2e et 3e Agnus.

Item Bibliography

Feininger, Laurence K (editor). 1947-48. Series I: Ordinarium missae (1948) & Series II: Poprium missae (1947). Monumenta Polyphoniae Liturgicae Sanctae Ecclesiae Romanae.  Rome. Pages: 1,3 (4).

44–52v Missa L'homme armé [V] (Kyrie O Deus excelse) - Anonymous
Appears on: 44–52v
Genres: Kyrie eleison, Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin, Greek
Voice Text: [Missa L'homme armé] [Kyrie] O Deus excelse
General Note

T: D'un haubregon de fer. Mq. Sup. et Tdu 1er Kyrie et les 2 Ct du début du Gloriaet du 3e Agnus.

Item Bibliography

Feininger, Laurence K (editor). 1947-48. Series I: Ordinarium missae (1948) & Series II: Poprium missae (1947). Monumenta Polyphoniae Liturgicae Sanctae Ecclesiae Romanae.  Rome. Pages: 1,3 (5).

53v–63v Missa L'homme armé [VI]: (Kyrie Alme pater summe) - Anonymous
Appears on: 53v–63v
Genres: Kyrie eleison, Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin, Greek
Voice Text: [Kyrie] Aime pater summe

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin, Greek
Voice Text: [Kyrie] Aime pater summe

Voice: Tenor
Languages: French
Voice Text: T: L'Home l'ome l'ome armé … [suivi de toute la chanson]

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin, Greek
Voice Text: [Kyrie] Aime pater summe
General Note

[Missa L'homme armé]T: L'Home l'ome l'ome armé … [suivi de toute la chanson].Mq. Sup. et T du 1er Kyrie et les 2 Ct du 3e Agnus

Item Bibliography

Cohen, Judith. 1968. The Six Anonymous L'Homme Armé Masses in Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS VI E 40. Musicological Studies and Documents.  American Institute of Musicology. Pages: Facs. des ff. 62v-63.

denotes primary source study

Ahern, John. 2022. The Naples L’homme armé Masses: A New Connection. Journal of the Alamire Foundation, 32-53.

Ferrari, Nicolò. 2021. New Findings on the Origin and Making of Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale, Ms VI E 40. Muzyka, 148-184. Notes: physical description; discussion.

Taruskin, Richard. 1986. Antoine Busnoys and the L'Homme armé Tradition. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 255-93. Notes: contents list; transcription (partial); facsimile (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Strohm, Reinhard. 1985. Music in Late Medieval Bruges.  Oxford. Pages: 121,129-30,137. Notes: physical description; mention of MS; discussion.

Giller, Don. 1981. The Naples L'Homme Armé Masses and Caron: A Study in Musical Relationships. Current Musicology, 7-28.

Hamm, Charles E, and Herbert Kellman (editors). 1979-1988. Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550. Renaissance Manuscript Studies. 5 vols. Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology, Hänssler Verlag. Pages: II, 247-248.

Fallows, David. 1978. Robert Morton's Songs: A Study in Styles in the Mid-Fifteenth Century. University of California at Berkeley, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: 209,215-8.

Todd, R. Larry. 1978. Retrograde, Inversion, Retrograde-Inversion, and Related Techniques in the Masses of Jacobus Obrecht. The Musical Quarterly, 50-78. Pages: 54-5, 73.

Lockwood, Lewis Henry. 1973-74. Aspects of the 'L'Homme armé' Tradition. Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 97-122.

Cohen, Judith. 1968. The Six Anonymous L'Homme Armé Masses in Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS VI E 40. Musicological Studies and Documents.  American Institute of Musicology.

Henze, Marianne. 1968. Studien zu den Messenkompositionen Johannes Ockeghems. Berliner Studien zur Musikwissenschaft.  Pages: 140ff.

Arnese, Raffaele. 1967. Codici Notati della Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli. Biblioteca di Bibliografia Italiana.  Florence. Pages: 53-6, 109-11, Tav. XXXII.

Arnese, Raffaele. 1960. Un Corale del secolo XV in notazione mensurale appartenente alla Biblioteca nazionale di Napoli. Asprenas: Rivista di teologia, .

Reese, Gustave. 1959. Music in the Renaissance.  New York. Pages: 73,149-50.

Blume, Friedrich (editor). 1949-79. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik.  Kassel. Pages: II, 1345-6.

Feininger, Laurence K (editor). 1947-48. Series I: Ordinarium missae (1948) & Series II: Poprium missae (1947). Monumenta Polyphoniae Liturgicae Sanctae Ecclesiae Romanae.  Rome. Pages: Series I, III/1-6.

Gombosi, Otto Johannes. 1929. Vita musicale alla corte di Re Mattia. Corvina, 110ff.

Plamenac, Dragan. 1928-9. Zur 'L'homme armé'-Frage. Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft, 376-83.

Smijers, Albert (editor). 1927-56. Werken van Josquin des Prez: Missen.  Amsterdam. Pages: V, vii.

Gombosi, Otto Johannes. 1927-8. Bemerkungen zur 'L'homme armé'Frage. Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft, 609-12.

Plamenac, Dragan. 1925. La chanson de l'homme armé et le ms. VI. E. 40 de la Bibliothèque nationale de Naples. Annales de la Fédération archéologique et historique de Belgique, Congrès jubilaire, Bruges 1925, 229ff.

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Kyrie Bouressa

Thursday, 25 January, 2024

Added link to images of the microfilm.

Nicolò Ferrari

Thursday, 20 April, 2023

Updated codicological description, in particular: revised measurements; new view on binding; detailed information on contributions of the two scribes (not one as stated in CCM) and on scribal concordance with Br5557; and new identification of the coat of arms at the end of the ms. (Details incorporated into DIAMM descriptive text.)

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

Répertoire Internationale des Sources Musicales

Monday, 23 January, 2017

NB: Migrated from old site. Credit for notes may not be completely accurate. RISM Description