GB-Lbl Harley 3019

British Library, London, England

non-music MS with added polyphony: early 10th century

Archive British Library, London, England (GB-Lbl)
Shelfmark Harley 3019
Notations
  • Paleofrankish neumes
  • cithara
Provenance
  • North-Western Germany, Germany
Contents Contains 2 compositions, 2 are anonymous.
General Description

A composite volume containing various treatises and a life of Bishop Maternien of Reims. On the verso of the last folio is a two-voice organum written in north-western Germany. This is the earliest written source of polyphonic music outside musical treatises. The organum is on an antiphon for St Boniface: Sancte Bonifati martyr. A second notated antiphon's melody, Rex caelestium terrestrium, is based on the melody of the sequence Rex caeli Domine, one of the examples of two-voice organum in the Musica enchiriadis, and a second 'hidden' organum may thus be reconstructed.

Giovanni Varelli, 2013
Notation

Paleofrankish neumatic notation. The Organa are in 'cithara' notation (the notation is similar to that found in Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis)

Giovanni Varelli, 2013

56v

Click an entry to see more information about that item.

Folio / Pages Composition / Item title Number of voices Source attribution Composers (? Uncertain)
56v Sancte Bonifati martyr - - Anonymous

Sancte Bonifati martyr

Anonymous
Appears on: 56v
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: Sancte Bonifati martyr
56v Rex caelestium terrestrium - - Anonymous

Rex caelestium terrestrium

Anonymous
Appears on: 56v
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: Rex caelestium terrestrium
General Note

see description for reconstruction information
Composer Compositions
Anonymous
Composition Composers (? Uncertain) Folios / Pages
Rex caelestium terrestrium Anonymous 56v
Sancte Bonifati martyr Anonymous 56v

Images © The British Library

‡ denotes primary source study

Varelli, Giovanni. 2013. Two Newly-Discovered Tenth-Century Organa. Early Music History, 32: .

Varelli, Giovanni. 2012. Rhythm, Pitch and Text Setting in Palaeofrankish Notation: The Case of London, British Library, Harley MS 3019. Cantus Planus: Papers Read at the 16th Meeting of the IMS Study Group, Vienna, Austria, Aug. 21 - 27 2011, edited by Giovanni Varelli, 409-414. Vienna: Schneider Tutzing.

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Giovanni Varelli, 2013

Monday, 23 January, 2017

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