E-Bbc M 454 (Cancionero musical de Barcelona)

Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya/Biblioteca Central, Barcelona, Spain

manuscript of polyphony: 1500–1535

Archive	Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya/Biblioteca Central, Barcelona, Spain (E-Bbc)
Shelfmark	M 454 (Cancionero musical de Barcelona)
Image Availability	DIAMM does not have images of this source. Please refer to the external links for image availability.
Surface	Paper
Numbering System	Foliation
Measurements	307 x 224 mm (covers)
Other Identifiers	CCM: BarcBC 454 olim (Former shelfmark): Pedrell 961
Notations	black void mensural
Copyists	Moreta, Johan Anthoni Text and Music
Relationships	Carreras y Dagas, Joan (owner) Moreta, Johan Anthoni (compiler)
External Links	Images Images Books of Hispanic Polyphony PRoMS
Provenance	Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Contents	Contains 165 compositions, 92 from 38 composers, 73 are anonymous.

General Description

A choirbook, mostly or entirely copied in Spain by many scribes. FabregasMBC rejects the proposed Valencian orgin of the manuscript (KnightonMM, LeeSPS) and affirms a Catalan origin.

The manuscript is in three distinct sections, re-ordered when bound together, with some later additions at the end. The oldest section ('A') comprises folios 73-137 & 179-181, and was apparently compiled from sections copied by some 18 scribes independently. 5 scribes did most of the copying and copied only Franco-Flemish (not Spanish) music; it is possible that some of this music was copied outside Spain. The second ('B') section completes a mass begun in 'A', so was clearly conceived as extending the prior collection. It consists of folios 21-59 as well as most of 60-72 & 138-154, and was mostly copied by 2 Spanish scribes (one of whom copies the music by Ockeghem & Busnoys); 5 other Spanish scribes made small additions. The third ('C') section (the only section indexed) was copied by a single Catalan scribe, who oversaw the compilation of the whole manuscript and supplied additional music for it. An inscription in Catalan on the last folio (dated December 1520) identifies him as "jo, Anthoni Johan". 'C' comprises folios 3-20, most of 60-72, and much of 138-188.

Folios 145-148 & 182-191 mostly contain later additions, although two bifolios (179-181 including 180bis) form part of the earliest 'A' section. The two scribes who added this music, all secular, also added a piece on f. 20v on previously-empty staves.

The manuscript was acquired by the (then) Biblioteca Central in 1892 from the private library of Joan Carreras y Dagas, at one time maestro di capilla at the Cathedral of Gerona.

DIAMM, 2020

Physical Description

190 folios in 23 gatherings. The top edges have been cropped, resulting in the loss of some ascriptions. Pages in 'A' are 296 x 195 mm; in 'B' 291 x 213 mm.

Some fragments were found inside the binding when the manuscript was restored in 1958; one contains part of another index.

Cristina Urchueguía; DIAMM, 2020

Binding

Original covers of black leather over boards, with metal clasps (one missing). Leatherwork is in Catalan mudejar style.

Cristina Urchueguía; DIAMM, 2020

Watermark

'A' has two watermarks: one, appearing on all but one gathering, is a helmet(? - HardieP) or an M or N (cf. Briquet 8437); the other appears on the last folio of the first gathering (f.82), and resembles a sword (HardieP) or a crosier (FabregasMBC). 'B' and 'C' have a watermark in the shape of a serpent similar to (but different from) Briquet 13758.

DIAMM, 2020

Notation

black void mensural

Cristina Urchueguía

Date

the dates 1525, 1530, 1532, 1534, and 1535 are found in various places.

FabregasMBC proposes that the manuscript was compiled between 1520-1525 - the first date in 'scribe C's hand on a note on the last folio, the second in his hand on one of the Penalosa motets. He suggests that the others were added later, along with the Spanish secular pieces at the end. Section 'A', the oldest, may have been copied over the period 1500-1510; sections 'B' and 'C' most likely during c.1520-1525.

Cristina Urchueguía; DIAMM, 2020

Ruling

Most pages in 'A' contain 10 or 11 staves

DIAMM, 2020

Foliation

Original foliation. (Sections 'A' and 'B' have evidence of earlier, separate foliations, now impossible to reconstruct.)

Cristina Urchueguía

Decoration

Black calligraphic initials only. 'A' contains most of the decorated initials in the ms. 'B' and 'C' have spaces left for initials which were never added.

DIAMM, 2020

Index

Incomplete index on fol. 2r

Cristina Urchueguía

Surface

paper

Cristina Urchueguía

DIAMM Note

Correction to shelfmark kindly notified by Paul L. Ranzini.

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, 2 Mass sections, 11 Magnificats, 3 psalms, 9 hymns, 1 Lamentation, 1 Passion, 53 motets, 26 Spanish pieces, 10 textless pieces = 122

(A. Agricola)-1, (Aldomar)-1, Anchieta-3, Brumel-2, (Busnois)-1, (Compère)-4, Cubells-1, Cuvenor-1, (Encina)-1, Escobar-1, A. Févin-1, A. Fevin/(Craen/C. Festa/Josquin/Morales)-1, Flecha-5, Grauiel-1, Illario-1 + 1?, (Janequin)-1, Josquin-2, Josquin/(Penalosa)-1, Mondejar-4, Petrus de Monte-1, Morales-1, Mouton-1, Mouton/(A. Févin/C. Festa)-1, (Ockeghem)-1, Pastrana-2, Penalosa-7, Penalosa/(Anchieta/Compère)-1, Prederiaca-1, Quesada-1, Ribaflecha-1, Vaena-2, Venalt-2, Weerbecke-2, (Wreede)-1, anon-63

190 paper folios, 307 x 224. The manuscript was trimmed at the top when bound, with loss of many composer attributions. Original foliation. Original covers of black leather over boards, with metal clasps. Original index, incomplete, on f. 2'. Copied by at least 15 scribes over a considerable period of time.

Late 15th-early 16th century, with later additions; the dates 1525, 1530, 1532, 1534, and 1535 are found in various places. Of Spanish origin; acquired in 1892 from the private library of a certain Carreras y Dagas of Gerona.

Vol 4

Composers: Change "Cuvenor-1" to "Cuvenor/(A. Agricola/Aulenus)-1 "; change ' ' Quesada-1 " to " Quixada-1. "

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

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‡ denotes primary source study

‡ Ros-Fábregas, Emilio. 1992. The Manuscript, Biblioteca Catalunya, m. 454: Study and Edition in the Context of the Iberian and Continental Manuscript Tradition. New York, 2 vols, Ph. D. diss. Notes: description (including gathering structure), inventory, transcription (partial).

Preciado, Dionisio. 1989. Francisco de Penalosa versus Josquin Despres. Revista de Musicologia, 12/2: 423-430. Notes: authorship of 'Sancta mater istud agas'.

Hardie, Jane Morlet. 1983. The Motets of Francisco de Pehalosa and Their Manuscript Sources. University of Michigan, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: 85-99. Notes: inventory (partial), description (including gathering structure).

Knighton, Tess. 1983. Music and Musicians at the Court of Fernando of Aragon, 1474-1516. University of Cambridge, Ph.D. Pages: 175-188. Notes: inventory (incomplete), description.

Lee, Carolyn. 1980. Spanish Polyphonic Song c.1460 to 1535. University of London, Ph.D. Pages: 79-92. Notes: inventory (partial), description; transcription (partial).

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: I, 17; IV, 229.

Stevenson, Robert. 1976. Josquin in the Music of Spain and Portugal. Josquin des Prez: Proceedings of the International Josquin Festival-Conference ... 21-25 June 1971, 217-46. London, New York, and Toronto. Pages: 219-20.

Drake, George Warren James. 1972. The first printed book of motets, Petrucci's Motteti A numero trentatre (Venice 1502) and Motetti de Passione De cruce De sacramento De beata virgine et huius modi B (Venice 1503): A critical study and complete edition. University of Illinois, Ph.D. Dissertation. Pages: 186.

Sparks, Edgar H. 1972. The music of Noel Bauldeweyn. American Musicological Society. Pages: 112.

Smijers, Albert, Myroslaw Antonowycz, and Willem Elders (editors). 1969. Werken van Josquin des Prés: Supplement. Amsterdam. Pages: 41-4.

Finscher, Ludwig. 1964. Loyset Compere: Life and Works. Musicological Studies and Documents, vol. 12. American Institute of Musicology. Pages: 33-4.

Anglès, Higinio. 1955. Mateo Flecha: Las Ensaiadas. Barcelona. Pages: 34.

Gerber, Rudolf. 1953. Spanische Hymnensätze um 1500. Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 10: 165-84. Pages: 167.

Anglès, Higinio (editor). 1941-1971. Monumentos de la Mùsica Espanola. Madrid (later Barcelona, later Rome). Pages: 1,112-5.

Anglès, Higinio. 1941. La Música Espanola desde la Edad Media hasta Nuestros Dias. Catálogo de la Exposición Histórica, Barcelona. Pages: 28.

Pedrell, Filip. 1908-9. Catàlech de la Biblioteca Musical de la Diputació de Barcelona. Barcelona. Pages: II, 155-64.

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William Kempster

Thursday, 2 April, 2026

Improved Library of Congress image link

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