I-MOe MS {alpha}.X.1.11 (Modena B; ModB)

Biblioteca Estense, Modena, Italy

manuscript of polyphony: 15th century

Archive Biblioteca Estense, Modena, Italy (I-MOe)
Shelfmark MS {alpha}.X.1.11 (Modena B; ModB)
Image Availability DIAMM does not have images of this source.
Surface Mixed Paper and Parchment
Numbering System Foliation
Measurements 412 x 285 mm
Other Identifiers
  • RISM: ModB
  • RISM: 1-MOe X.1.11
  • CCM: ModE X.1.11
  • olim (Former shelfmark): Lat. 471; VI.H.15
Notations
  • black void mensural
Copyists
Relationships
Provenance
Contents Contains 133 compositions, 123 from 15 composers, 10 are anonymous.
General Description

Copied by one main scribe, with later additions by four other scribes, one of whom also copied RomeC 2856 (HamMB). Five repertorial sections: (1) hymns; (2) miscellaneous liturgical works; (3) Magnificats; (4) motets by continental composers; (5) motets by English composers. Copied in Ferrara, for use at the court chapel of Leonello d'Este (Marquis of Ferrara 1441-50); later additions during reigns of Borso d'Este (Duke of Ferrara 1450-71) and Ercole I d'Este (Duke of Ferrara 1471-1505). Este family library transferred from Ferrara to Modena in 1598; joined to Modena university library in 1892.

Phelps, and HaarNadas2008, argue that the main scribe is likely to have been 'Benoit', i.e. Benoit Sirede, who has 3 pieces in ModB and who probably knew Du Fay. Reflecting on the largely error-free copies of Du Fay's music in the ms, Phelps has latterly ('Dufay the Scribe?' unpublished) argued that the scribe may have been Du Fay himself; PlanchartD continues to attribute the ms to Benoit, suggesting that his acquaintance with the composer enabled him to obtain the music direct from Du Fay. Phelps, and HaarNadas2008, further speculate that one of the other scribes, who added in French notation a hymn at ff.23v-24 and 6 antiphons at ff51v-53v.- 2 of them by Johannes Fede - could have been Fede himself during the brief time he spent at the Ferrarese court (1445-1446).

DIAMM, 2013
Physical Description

Originally 15 gatherings, each of 10 folios; 11 folios now lost.

DIAMM, 2013
Binding

Covers of brown leather over boards, with inscription 'Choralis Liber' stamped in gold on spine; may date from 19th century, or may be 19th-century restorations of original covers. (Similar covers also found on ModE M.I.2, ModE M.I.11-2, and ModE M.I.13).

DIAMM, 2013
Watermark

One watermark is Briquet #6306; second watermark (three-peaked crown) not in Briquet.

DIAMM, 2013
Notation

black void mensural

DIAMM, 2013
Foliation

1-139, covers and boards

DIAMM, 2013
Foliation

Original ink foliation, i-cxxxvi, begins with second gathering (f. 70 missing; f. 83 mostly torn away, leaving stub; number 100 applied to two consecutive folios; half of f. 136 torn away; ff. 136-139 missing). Modern pencil foliation, 1-139, by Angelo Catelani, librarian of Biblioteca Estense from 1860 to 1866.

DIAMM, 2013
Decoration

Block primary initials in red, blue, and lavender ink, with filigree work; plain secondary initials in black ink, with single red line in each letter; red rubrics

DIAMM, 2013
Index

Original index once occupied 10 unnumbered folios at beginning; seven folios now lost, remaining folios bound in incorrect sequence. Pieces listed in order of appearance, with superius incipit, foliation, and attribution. Modern index (by Catelani) on first flyleaf includes all pieces not listed in extant portion of original index.

DIAMM, 2013
Surface

i paper + 139 parchment + i paper

DIAMM, 2013
RISM Description

RISM

XVe s.; 3 ff. limin n.ch., 136 [= 137] ff. Papier, 412x295 mm. Foliotation ancienne à l'encre en ch. romains ne tenant pas compte des ff. limin, et foliotation moderne au crayon en ch. arabes comprenant tous les ff., toutes les deux au coin supérieur des ff. Dans la foliotation ancienne, mq. f. 70, le f. 100 chiffré 2 fois, les ff. 83 et 136 en grande partie déchirés. Les ff. 30v, 47 r-v, 48, 54v, 80v sont blancs. Notation mesurée blanche. 10 portées par p. Initiales ornées à l'encre rouge et bleue. Aux 3ff. limin. table incompl. contemporaine du ms. et index ajouté au XIXe s. par Angelo Catelani.

Ce ms. a été vraisemblablement copié pour la cour de Ferrare d'où il aurait suivi à Modène la bibliothèque des Este lorsque ceux-ci changèrent de capitale. Outre la pièce de Brebis en l'honneur d'Ercole (no 78), les initiales dans le style des enluminures des mss. liturgiques copiés pour les ducs d'Esté au milieu du XVe s., confirment cette hypothèse. La première mention qu'on ait de ce ms. (sous la cote VI.H. 15) figure dans l'ancien catalogue du fonds musical de la Biblioteca Estense, très probablement rédigé par Angelo Catelani qui y fut bibliothécaire de 1860 à 1866. Le corps principal du ms. qui constituait le ms. primitif, est l'oeuvre d'un seul scribe qui a aussi établi la table (maintenant mutilée par la disparition de 7 ff.). D'autres pièces ont été ensuite intercalées par 4 copistes différents aux ff. laissés vides, la copie entière du ms. s'étalant ainsi entre ca. 1430 et ca. 1460. La majorité des 132 compositions concernent la liturgie des vêpres et le premier copiste les a ordonnées systématiquement (ordre un peu obscurci par les intercalations postérieures) en 5 groupes: 1. Hymnes (f. 1); 2. Pièces liturgiques diverses (f.21); 3. Magnificat (f.31); 4. Motets de compositeurs du Continent (f. 51); 5. Motets de compositeurs anglais (f. 81). La datation proposée ici est confirmée par les deux filigranes apparte-nant à des papiers employés entre 1438 et 1457, et aussi par le choix des compositeurs où dominent Dufay avec 48 pièces (dont 11 unica), Dunstable avec 31 (dont 11 unica), et Binchois avec 13 (dont 8 unica). D'autre part les quelques pièces dont la date est sûre se situent aussi dans la même période: no 66 pour le traité signé entre Berne et Fribourg en 1438; no 67 pour le second séjour de Dufay à Florence, 1435-36; no 69 pour le traité signé le 8 avril 1433 entre l'empereur Sigismund et le pape Eugène IV; no 70 pour la consécration de la coupole de S. Maria del Fiore à Florence le 25 mars 1436; le no 73 pour la naissance d'Antoine de Bourgogne en 1430; le no 78 pour l'accession d'Ercole I d'Esté en 1471 au titre de duc de Ferrare. Enfin la présence de Jean Fédé (dont on trouve ici 2 motets nos 42 et 43), est attestée à Ferrare de juillet 1445 à avril 1446. - 30 motets en majorité de Dunstable, transcrits par W. Barclay Squire en 1892, sont en ms. à Londres, British Library, sous la cote Add. 36490.

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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.

9 Magnificats, 1 Te Deum, 1 psalm, 29 hymns (several with same music but different texts), 91 motets = 131

Benet-2, Benoit-3, Binchois-13, Brebis-1, Dufay-47, Dufay/(Binchois)-1, Dufay/(Dunstable)-1, Dunstable-25, Dunstable/(Binchois)-2, Dunstable/(Forest)-1, Dunstable/(Power)-3, Fedé-2, Forest-4, Grossin-1, Plummer [Polumier]-3, Plummer/(Forest)-1, Power [Leonel]-7, Power/(Dunstable)-1, Pyamour-1, Sandley/(Binchois)-1, J.? Stone [Stove]-2, anon-9

i paper + 139 parchment + i paper folios, 412 x 285. Originally 15 gatherings, each of 10 folios; 11 folios now lost. Original ink foliation, i-cxxxvi, begins with second gathering (f. 70 missing; f. 83 mostly torn away, leaving stub; number 100 applied to two consecutive folios; half of f. 136 torn away; ff. 136-139 missing). Modern pencil foliation, 1-139, by Angelo Catelani, librarian of Biblioteca Estense from 1860 to 1866. Covers of brown leather over boards, with inscription "Choralis Liber" stamped in gold on spine, may date from 19th century, or may be 19th-century restorations of original covers. (Similar covers also found on ModE M.I.2, ModE M.I.11-2, and ModE M.I.13). Original index once occupied 10 unnumbered folios at beginning; seven folios now lost, remaining folios bound in incorrect sequence. Pieces listed in order of appearance, with superius incipit, foliation, and attribution. Modern index (by Catelani) on first flyleaf includes all pieces not listed in extant portion of original index.

Copied by one main scribe, with later additions by four other scribes, one of whom also copied RomeC 2856 (HamMB). Block primary initials in red, blue, and lavender ink, with filigree work; plain secondary initials in black ink, with single red line in each letter; red rubrics. One watermark is Briquet #6306; second watermark (three-peaked crown) not in Briquet. Five repertorial sections: (1) hymns; (2) miscellaneous liturgical works; (3) Magnificats; (4) motets by continental composers; (5) motets by English composers.

Ca. 1448, with additions ca. 1450-60 and ca. 1471-80 (HamMB). Copied in Ferrara, for use at the court chapel of Leonello d'Este (Marquis of Ferrara 1441-50); later additions during reigns of Borso d'Este (Duke of Ferrara 1450-71) and Ercole I d'Este (Duke of Ferrara 1471-1505). Este family library transferred from Ferrara to Modena in 1598; joined to Modena university library in 1892.

Vol 4

Physical: i + 139 + i paper folios.

Date: Ca. 1440-8 (main layer), with additions ca. 1450-60 and ca. 1471-80 (HamMB, LockRF).

Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550
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‡ denotes primary source study

Phelps, Michael. 2008, September. A Repertory in Exile: Pope Eugene IV and the MS Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, α. X.1.11. Department of Music New York University, PhD.

Haar, James, and John Nadas. 2008. The Medici, the Signoria, the Pope: Sacred Polyphony in Florence, 1432–1448. Recercare, 20: 25-93.

Curtis, Gareth R K, and Andrew B Wathey. 1994. Fifteenth-Century English Liturgical Music: A List of the Surviving Repertory. Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, 27: 1-69.

Lockwood, Lewis Henry. 1984. Music in Renaissance Ferrara 1400-1505: The Creation of a Musical Center in the Fifteenth Century.  Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pages: 51-63,160,231-2. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Trowell, Brian, and Andrew B Wathey. 1982. John Benet's Lux fulget ex Anglia- O Pater pietatis- Salve Thoma. St Thomas Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford: Essays in his Honour, edited by Brian Trowell and Andrew B Wathey, 159-180.

Sadie, Stanley (editor). 1980. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.  London. Pages: VIII,842; XVII,599,670.

Hamm, Charles E, and Herbert Kellman (editors). 1979-1988. Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550. Renaissance Manuscript Studies, vol. 1-5. 5 vols. Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology, Hänssler Verlag. Pages: II, 172-173.

Ward, Tom Robert. 1979. The Polyphonic Office Hymn from 1400 to 1520: A Descriptive Inventory. RMS, vol. 3.  American Institute of Musicology.

Trowell, Brian. 1978-79. Proportion in the Music of Dunstable. Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 105: 100-41. Notes: contents list (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Cobin, Marian W. 1978. The Aosta Manuscript: A Central Source of Early Fifteenth-Century Sacred Polyphony. New York University, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: I,102ff,178-80,335-54, passim. Notes: physical description; contents list (partial); concordances (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Cox, Bobby Wayne. 1977. The Motets of MS Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, Q 15. North Texas State University, Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: I, 34-9, 166-70, 286-9, 295-6. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Lockwood, Lewis Henry. 1976. Dufay and Ferrara. Papers read at the Dufay Quincentenary Conference, Brooklyn College, December 6-7, 1974, 1-25. Brooklyn. Notes: physical description; mention of MS; discussion.

Burstyn, Shai. 1972. Fifteenth-Century Polyphonic Settings of Verses from the Song of Songs. Columbia University, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: 273,276-84,296-309,403-5, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Hamm, Charles E, and Ann Besser Scott. 1972. A Study and Inventory of the Manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense, a.X.I.11 (ModB). Musica Disciplina, 26: 101-43. Notes: physical description; contents list; concordances; mention of MS; discussion.

Scott, Ann Besser. 1972. English Music in Modena, Biblioteca Estense, a. X. 1.11 and Other Italian Manuscripts. Musica Disciplina, 26: 145-60. Notes: physical description; mention of MS; discussion.

Bent, Margaret, Ian D Bent, and Brian Trowell (editors). 1970. John Dunstable complete works. Musica Britannica, vol. VIII.  London. Pages: VIII [rev. ed.], xxiii,189ff, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); facsimile (partial).

Hamm, Charles E (editor). 1969-. Leonel Power: Complete Works. Corpus mensurabilis musicae, vol. 50.  Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology. Pages: I,xxi-xxv,19-21, 23-5,28-33,36-8,43-61. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).

Bent, Margaret, and Andrew Hughes (editors). 1969. The Old Hall Manuscript. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, vol. 46. 3 vols. Pages: II, 77-9; III, 26-8. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).

Scott, Ann Besser. 1969. Coherence and Calculated Chaos: A Study of the English Composers of Modena, Biblioteca Estense, a.X. 1,11 (lat. 471). University of Chicago, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Notes: physical description; contents list; concordances; transcription (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Ward, Tom Robert. 1969. The Polyphonic Office Hymn from the Late Fourteenth Century Until the Early Sixteenth Century. University of Pittsburgh, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: 15-20,25-9,40-1,213ff,540,passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); incipits (partial); transcription (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Kanazawa, Masakata. 1966. Polyphonic music for Vespers in the fifteenth century. Harvard University, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2 vols. Pages: 159-78, passim. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list; concordances; transcription (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: 148-9. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial); concordances (partial); incipits (partial).

Parris, Arthur. 1965. The sacred works of Gilles Binchois. Bryn Mawr College, Ph.D. Dissertation. Pages: I,ii-iii,82-7,93; II,23ff, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).

Hamm, Charles E. 1964. A Chronology of the Works of Guillaume Dufay Based on a Study of Mensural Practice.  Princeton. Pages: 166ff, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Lerner, Edward R. 1964. The Polyphonic Magnificat in 15th-century Italy. The Musical Quarterly, 50: 44-58. Pages: 47-8. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).

Kulleseid, Eleanor Ransom. 1962. The Sacred Music of Gilles Binchois. Columbia University, Unpublished Master's thesis. Pages: 118ff, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Trumble, Ernest. 1959. Fauxbourdon: An Historical Survey. Musicological Studies, vol. 3.  Brooklyn. Pages: 39-40, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Reaney, Gilbert (editor). 1955-83. Early Fifteenth-Century Music. Corpus mensurabilis musicae, vol. 11, 1-6.  Rome: American Institute of Musicology. Pages: III,xvi,xxiii, xxvii.58-9,102-5. Notes: contents list (partial); transcription (partial).

Westrup, Jack A (editor). 1954-. New Oxford History of Music.  London, New York, and Toronto. Pages: III, 151,192ff. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Bukofzer, Manfred F. 1954. John Dunstable: A Quincentenary Report. The Musical Quarterly, 40: 29-49. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); facsimile (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Besseler, Heinrich. 1950; Reprinted: 1974. Bourdon und Fauxbourdon, Studien zum Ursprung der niederländischen Musik.  Leipzig. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial); concordances (partial); facsimile (partial).

Blume, Friedrich (editor). 1949-79. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik.  Kassel. Pages: II,1345; 111,907-8,1893-4; VI,1020-1. Notes: physical description (partial); facsimile (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

de Van, Guillaume, and Heinrich Besseler (editors). 1948-66. Guillaume Dufay: Opera Omnia. Corpus mensurabilis musicae, vol. 1.  Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology. Pages: I, V, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); texts (partial).

Apel, Willi. 1942. (4th ed., 1949). The Notation of Polyphonic Music 900-1600.  Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pages: 193-4. Notes: mention of MS; facsimile (partial).

Bukofzer, Manfred F. 1940. Popular Polyphony in the Middle Ages. The Musical Quarterly, 26: 31-49. Pages: 46-8.

Bukofzer, Manfred F. 1938-39. John Dunstable and the Music of His Time. Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 45: 19-43. Pages: 35-6, frontispiece.

Blume, Friedrich (editor). 1929-. Das Chorwerk.  Berlin/Wolfenbüttel. Pages: XIX,4; XLIX,3-4, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).

Besseler, Heinrich. 1925. Studien zur Musik des Mittelalters: I. Neue Quellen des 14. und beginnenden 15. Jahrhunderts. Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 7: 167-252. Pages: 172,236ff, passim. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial); concordances (partial).

Lodi, Pio. 1917. Catalogo delle Opere Musicali teoriche e pratiche ... Città di Modena R. Biblioteca Estense. Bollettino dell'Associazione dei Musicologi Italiani, vol. VIII.  Parma. Pages: 15-7.

Wolf, Johannes. 1913-9; Reprinted: Hildesheim, 1963. Handbuch der Notationskunde.  Leipzig. Pages: I, 454. Notes: physical description (partial).

Adler, Guido (editor). 1894-1970. Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich.  Graz and Vienna. Pages: XIV/XV, 29; LIII, LXXVI, passim. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).

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Clemens Goldberg

Monday, 20 July, 2026

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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