GB-CO BA/E/F/37/1/2

City Archives, Coventry, England

fragment: 15th century: 1450-60

Archive City Archives, Coventry, England (GB-CO)
Shelfmark BA/E/F/37/1/2
Surface Parchment
Format portrait
Measurements c. 394 x 300mm (originally much larger); written space 350 x 260 mm
Other Identifiers
  • CCM: CovC A.3
  • olim (Former shelfmark): MS A.3
  • olim (Former shelfmark): GB-CO BA/E/F/37/1 (part)
Notations
  • black full mensural
  • red mensural
Provenance
  • England
Contents Contains 3 compositions, 1 from 1 composer, 2 are anonymous.
General Description

The two folios were used as flyleaves at the end of the Coventry Leet Book (a collection of legal records written in Coventry from 25 Jan 1421 to 14 May 1555). These folios are the remnants of a collection of cyclic Masses; the Gloria and Credo are from the same Mass, although the two folios are not consecutive, and the Agnus is from the Missa Caput that was previously ascribed to Du Fay.

DIAMM, 2017 (rev. 2020)
Physical Description

Leaves trimmed for use as flyleaves, with loss of some music and possibly foliation and composer attributions.

DIAMM, 2017
Binding

Now kept separately and loose in an envelope

DIAMM, 2017
Notation

Full black mensural notation with red coloration. Written by a single scribe, using unusually widely and evenly spaced notation. The text is also in a single hand, employing a textura semi-quadrata script.

DIAMM, 2017 (rev. 2020)
Ruling

Twelve black ruled staves (of 14-18 mm)

DIAMM, 2020
Foliation

No original foliation or pagination: [i]-[ii verso]

DIAMM, 2017
Decoration

Red ink has been used for large initials and elaborated finals.

DIAMM, 2020
Surface

Parchment

DIAMM, 2017
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 Gloria, 1 Credo, 1 Agnus = 3 (all incomplete)

(Dufay)-1, anon-2

2 parchment folios, 387 x 267, serving as flyleaves at the end of the Coventry Leet Book, a collection of legal records written in Coventry in the 15th and 16th centuries. No foliation or pagination remaining; the folios were originally larger but were trimmed for use as flyleaves, with loss of some music and possibly foliation and composer attributions. These folios are the remnants of a collection of cyclic Masses; the Gloria and Credo are from the same Mass, although the two folios are not consecutive, and the Agnus is from Dufay's Missa Caput. Black/red mensural notation.

Probably ca. 1450-60 (PlanFC); 1460-70 (BukCR). Copied in England

Vol 4

Date: Probably ca. 1450-60 (PlanFC).

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

[ii] verso

Click an entry to see more information about that item.

Folio / Pages Composition / Item title Number of voices Source attribution Composers (? Uncertain)
[i] recto–[i] verso Missa Caput: Agnus Dei - -
Anonymous (previously ascr. to Du Fay)

Missa Caput: Agnus Dei

Anonymous (previously ascr. to Du Fay)
Appears on: [i] recto–[i] verso
Genres: Agnus Dei, Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: Agnus (Mass Caput)
General Note

M7
[ii] recto–[ii] verso Gloria Puer natus? / Tu es Petrus? - - Anonymous

Gloria Puer natus? / Tu es Petrus?

Anonymous
Appears on: [ii] recto–[ii] verso
Genres: Gloria (et in terra pax), Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: Gloria [Puer natus?/Tu es Petrus?]
General Note

GC1
[-] Credo Puer natus? / Tu es Petrus? - - Anonymous

Credo Puer natus? / Tu es Petrus?

Anonymous
Appears on: [-]
Genres: Credo (patrem omnipotentem), Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: Credo [Puer natus?/Tu es Petrus?]
General Note

GC1
Composer Compositions
Anonymous
Anonymous (previously ascr. to Du Fay)
Composition Composers (? Uncertain) Folios / Pages
Credo Puer natus? / Tu es Petrus? Anonymous [-]
Gloria Puer natus? / Tu es Petrus? Anonymous [ii] recto–[ii] verso
Missa Caput: Agnus Dei
Anonymous (previously ascr. to Du Fay)
[i] recto–[i] verso

Images © Coventry City Archives

‡ denotes primary source study

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.

Planchart, Alejandro Enrique. 1981. Fifteenth-Century Masses: Notes on Performance and Chronology. Studi Musicali, 10: 3-29. Pages: 20-5,29. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

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 vols. Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology, Hänssler Verlag.

Bent, Margaret, and Ian D Bent. 1969. Dufay, Dunstable, Plummer-A New Source. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 22: 394-424.

Walker, Thomas. 1969. ‘A Severed Head: Notes on a Lost English Caput Mass’. Abstracts of Papers Read at the Thirty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Saint Louis, 1969,  American Musicological Society. Notes: Argues (compellingly) for English origin of the Missa Caput, overturning the attributions in Tr88 and Tr89 of the whole mass to ‘Duffay'.

Bukofzer, Manfred F. 1951. Caput Redivivum: A New Source for Dufay's Missa Caput. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 4: 97-110. Notes: physical description; contents list; transcription (partial); facsimile.

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: II,ii, passim. Notes: mention of MS; facsimile (partial).

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Margaret Bent

Tuesday, 3 November, 2020

Notified of the fact that the 'Missa Caput' is no longer ascribed to Du Fay but now accepted as an anonymous English work (as argued in Walker 1969).

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; Notation Note; Ruling Note; Foliation Note; Foliation Note; Surface 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