F-DOU Ms 1105/3, fragment 74.4/1

Bibliothèque Marceline Desbordes-Valmore [former Bibliothèque Municipale], Douai, France

fragment: after 1373

Archive Bibliothèque Marceline Desbordes-Valmore [former Bibliothèque Municipale], Douai, France (F-DOU)
Shelfmark Ms 1105/3, fragment 74.4/1
Surface Parchment
Numbering System None / Unknown
Format portrait
Measurements 301 x 245mm
Notations
  • black full mensural
  • red mensural
External Links
Provenance
  • Flanders? Belgium?
  • Normandy? Northern France?
  • Liège? Belgium?
Contents Contains 5 compositions, 1 from 1 composer, 4 are anonymous.
General Description

These four folios preserved in the Douai library contains fragments from a fourteenth-century music manuscript: one Gloria, two incomplete motets and two complete motets, all of them unica, with the exception of Multipliciter amando preserved in F-CH MS 564. Music, notated in black full mensural notation (with red coloration), is laid out in choirbook format. No information is known about the host volume(s) in which they were used as binding material.

Folio 1r: most likely the motetus of an incomplete Latin motet in praise of St John the Baptist. The melody is divided into two rhythmic patterns repeated three times each; the different mensurations of the two rhythmic patterns can be understood as a 2:1 diminution.

1v-2r: 3vv Latin motet with isorhythmic tenor on “Letificat iuventutem meam” with periodic upper-voice structure. Motetus on folio 2r is barely legible. Concordance in F-CH MS 564 (Chantilly codex).

2v-3r: 3vv, troped, Et in terra pax (Gloria) with a long melismatic “Amen” (47 perfect breves). The three voices are texted.

3v-4r: 4vv Latin motet with a solus tenor, with tenor “Ave Maria” (CAO 1539). Lower voices are homographic and alternate black and red notation; their mensuration and proportions are given in a Latin canon on folio 4r. The name of the composer, Frater Johannes Vavassoris, is encoded as an acrostic in the triplum text. The motetus text encodes the date of composition as an acrostic: 1373. The motetus text also encodes the “Ave Maria” prayer of the tenor as a telestic.

4v: most likely the triplum of an incomplete Latin motet in praise of St Lambert of Maastricht; ‘Sanctus Lambertus’ is quoted by an acrostic in the text.

Manon Louviot, 2020
Decoration

Simple penwork initials on ff. 2v-3; otherwise modestly or non decorated initials

Manon Louviot, 2020

3v

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denotes primary source study

Louviot, Manon. Forthcoming 2021. Uncovering the Douai Fragment: Composing Polyphony and Encoding a Composer in the Late Fourteenth Century. Early Music History, . Notes: physical description; contents list; texts (with English translations by Leofranc Holford-Strevens); facsimile (partial); mention of MS; discussion.

Meyer, Christian. 2016. Catalogue des manuscrits notés du Moyen Age conservés dans les bibliothèques publiques de France. Collections du Nord – Pas-de-Calais et de Picardie. Volume II: Chantilly, Douai, Laon, Lille, Saint-Omer, Saint-Quentin, Soissons, Valenciennes.  Turnhout: Brepols. Pages: 119. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial).

Bouckaert, Bruno. 2007. Mémoires du chant. Le livre de musique d'Isidore de Séville à Edmond de Coussemaker.  Neerpelt/Lille: Alamire & Ad Fugam. Pages: 81 (n° 54, B. Haggh). Notes: physical description (partial); content lists (partial).

Dehaisnes, Chrétien. 1878. Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques des départements. Tome VI, Douai. Notes: mention of the collection in which the fragment is currently preserved.

Coussemaker, Charles Edmond Henri de. 1852. Histoire de l'harmonie au moyen-âge. Pages: 210-11. Notes: mention of MS.

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Manon Louviot

Monday, 9 November, 2020

Full description, inventory and bibliography.

Dominque Gatte, 2011

Monday, 23 January, 2017

NB: Migrated from old site. Credit for notes may not be completely accurate. General Description; DIAMM Note