GB-Ob MS. Bodl. 384

Bodleian Library, Oxford, England

Non-music MS with interpolated music: 14th century

Archive Bodleian Library, Oxford, England (GB-Ob)
Shelfmark MS. Bodl. 384
Surface Parchment
Numbering System Foliation
Format portrait
Measurements 275 x 182 mm
Other Identifiers
  • RISM: GB-Ob 384
Notations
  • Ars Nova
Relationships
External Links
Provenance
  • Windsor, England
Contents 5 pieces from 1 composers
General Description

A collection of sermons for the time and for the saints, mainly by Bishop Haymo of Halberstadt, but also by Bede, Gregory and Augustine. Fol. i-iii are or were musical pages. F. ii verso-iii verso were later erased and covered in 15th century writing. The front board contains a reverse image offset from i recto. On the (vertical) half of the leaf where the white leather is still in place the leather contains a double image of both the reverse offset of i recto and apparently some 'forwards' music as well which is still unclear. i - iii is a bifolium, conjugate of i is just a stub, ii verso overwritten, iii recto overwritten, iii verso partly overwritten. Bruce Barker-Benfield pointed out that there is also music on the rear board. The rear flyleaf is 358 verso - apparently a lifted pastedown: Margaret Bent thinks that the only music on it (very faint) is offset from the back board; where what is offset on the white leather is still visible in reverse, the rest very thoroughly scraped. There are deep gutters between the board and the book, and some notes may be lost. Looking at the front board the clefs for f. i are visible, as they are not on f. i itself (this is quite common). It is possible that what is visible in the gutter of the front board offset is visible on the image of f. i. All the music consists of Glorias, mainly with the Tro 'Spiritus et alme', except for no. 2, which is also exceptional in being written in separate parts in isorhythmic motet style. Presented to the Bodleian by the dean and canons of Windsor in 1612.

Margaret Bent, 2010
Physical Description

Fol. i-ii are also somewhat worm-eaten and damaged by glue, but generally legible

Margaret Bent, 2010
Binding

White leather over wooden boards with a parchment cover; English; 15th century

Margaret Bent, 2010
Notation

Late 14th c Ars Nova, including special note-forms as the dragma and the semibreve shape with a short tail descending diagonally on the right

Margaret Bent, 2010
Ruling

2 brown five-line staves per page; height 13.5 mm

Margaret Bent, 2010
Foliation

i-iii verso, rear flyleaf verso, front and back board offsets

Margaret Bent, 2010
Foliation

foliated in brown ink by Gerard Langbaine at t.r.r.; the parchment flyleaves f. i-vii and 358 are numbered, also at t.r.r., in modern pencil.

Margaret Bent, 2010
Surface

Parchment

Margaret Bent, 2010
RISM Description

B/IV 2: A 13th century parchment manuscript meas. 275 x 182 mm. and containing vii + 358 folios. The corpus is a collection of sermons for the time and for the saints, mainly by Bishop Haymo of Halberstadt, but also by Bede, Gregory and Augustine. These pages are foliated in brown ink by Gerard Langbaine at t.r.r., while the parchment flyleaves f. i-vii and 358 are numbered, also at t.r.r., in modern pencil. The codex was presented to the Bodleian by the dean and canons of Windsor in 1612. The binding is 15th century English work: white leather over wooden boards with a parchment cover. Fol. i-iii are or were musical pages in late 14th century Ars Nova notation on 12 brown five-line staves per page (including such special note-forms as the dragma and the semibreve shape with a short tail descending diagonally on the right). However, f. ii verso-iii verso were later erased and covered in 15th century writing. Fol. i-ii are also somewhat worm-eaten and damaged by glue, but generally legible. F. i verso was originally pasted on the back cover, though the mirror image on the inside of the front cover suggests that f. i recto was originally glued there. This latter mirror image must however be of more recent origin; it must date from the period after this folio was removed from the back cover. All the music consists of Glorias, mainly with the Tro "Spiritus et alme", except for no. 2, which is also exceptional in being written in separate parts in isorhythmic motet style.

This information is reproduced here by kind permission of the publishers. It is COPYRIGHT and copying/reproduction of any of this content without permission may result in legal action.

Répertoire International des Sources Musicales

front board offset

Click an entry to see more information about that item.

Folio / Pages Composition / Item title Source attribution Composers (? Uncertain)
i ... gloriam. Qui sedes ad dexteram … Amen. - Anonymous
Appears on: i
Genres: Motet
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: none
Clef: c1

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: none
Clef: c3

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Clef: c5
Voice Text: ... gloriam. Qui sedes ad dexteram. . . Amen.
General Note

end of a ‘Gloria Tro Spiritus et alme; in score

Layout

score

i verso Et in terra pax [Gloria] - Anonymous
Appears on: i verso
Genres: Gloria (et in terra pax), Mass Ordinary
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Clef: c1
Voice Text: Et in terra pax hominibus bone voluntatis

Voice: Tenor
Languages: Latin
Clef: c5
Voice Text: Secundus

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Clef: c5
Voice Text: Exaudi, pie pater
General Note

opening of a Gloria; much of Cantus cut away at top of page; first 5 notes of Tenor Primus conjectural

Layout

parts

ii ... tu solus Dominus Mariam gubernans... Amen - Anonymous
Appears on: ii
Genres: Mass Ordinary, Troped Gloria
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: none
Clef: c1

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: none
Clef: c3

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Clef: c5
Voice Text: ... tu solus dominus Mariam gubernans... Amen
General Note

end of a ‘Gloria Tro Spiritus et alme’ in score

Layout

score

ii–ii verso Et in terra pax [Gloria] [Tro] Spiritus et alme - Anonymous
Appears on: ii–ii verso
Genres: Mass Ordinary, Troped Gloria
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: none
Clef: c1

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Clef: c5
Voice Text: Et in terra pax hominibus bone voluntatis

Voice: [no designation]
Languages: none
Clef: c3
General Note

opening of a ‘Gloria Tro Spiritus et alme’ in score

Layout

score

iii–iii verso erased - Anonymous

erased

Anonymous
Appears on: iii–iii verso
Genres: Mass Ordinary, Troped Gloria
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Clef: unclear
Voice Text: erased
General Note

erased, but shows remains of a 3-part Gloria Tro in score

Layout

score

Composition Composers (? Uncertain) Folios / Pages
... gloriam. Qui sedes ad dexteram … Amen. Anonymous i
... tu solus Dominus Mariam gubernans... Amen Anonymous ii
erased Anonymous iii–iii verso
Et in terra pax [Gloria] Anonymous i verso
Et in terra pax [Gloria] [Tro] Spiritus et alme Anonymous ii–ii verso

Images © Bodleian Library, Oxford

denotes primary source study

Wright, Peter (editor). 2013. Fifteenth-Century Liturgical Music, VIII: Settings of the Gloria and Credo. Early English Church Music.  London: Stainer and Bell for the British Academy. Notes: edition of gloria on ff. 1v and 3r.

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, 1-69.

Sanders, Ernest H, Frank Llewellyn Harrison, and Peter M Lefferts (editors). 1983. English Music for Mass and Offices (I). Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century.  Monaco: Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre. Notes: edition of some of the glorias.

Apfel, Ernst. 1959. Studien zur Satztechnik der mittelalterlichen englischen Musik. 2 vols. Pages: II, 90ff (diplomatic facsimiles of nos. 1, 3 and 4 with ligatures resolved into single notes); I, 54f, 58, 61, 80.

Harrison, Frank Llewellyn. 1954-1960. New Oxford History of Music. 89ff. Pages: 100 (transcription of bits of no. 1); 99ff.

Georgiades, T. 1937. Englische Diskanttraktate aus der ersten Halfte des 15. Jahrhunderts. Pages: 97f.

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Peter Wright

Wednesday, 17 January, 2018

bibliography updated

Répertoire Internationale des Sources Musicales

Monday, 23 January, 2017

NB: Migrated from old site. Credit for notes may not be completely accurate. RISM Description