Fragments from a Gradual
May 18, 2009
Fragments from a gradual
Burgundy, France, ca. 1475
Script: Gothic bookhand
Parchment with ink and paint
Notation: Square
This book is a compilation of eighteen leaves taken from the same medieval gradual. It has been suggested that the pages are from the same Carthusian house in Dijon as the Morgan Library’s M. 115: the calligraphic decoration is quite possibly by the same hand.
The opening shown here is to a page of music with a facing page of a liturgical calendar. The music is from Psalm 78: “Attendite popule meus legem meam: inclinate aurem vestram in verba oris mei…” (Hear my law, O my people: incline your ears unto the words of my mouth). This text is used for the Masses for the Nineteenth through the Twenty-first Sundays after Pentecost. Two inhabited initials adorn the page: one is a caricature of a bishop wearing tinted glasses.
The facing page is an excellent example of a medieval liturgical calendar. It is graded: more important days or feast days are written in red ink; the rest are written in black. The red days are so-called “red-letter days,” and the term survives to our modern day. The KL at the upper left-hand side of the page is for the kalends of the month. Kalends was the term used by the ancient Romans for the beginning of the month, and the word calendar is derived from it. The columns on the left-hand side of the page contain the Golden Numbers, the Dominical Letters, and a countdown to the next month. Golden Numbers and Dominical Letters enable the medieval calendar user to calculate the date of Easter each year.
There is an added bonus in the post in that images have been added of the penwork on a page prior to the opening exhibited. The penwork includes a man in the moon.
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E 8
Link to larger image of gradual side of opening (verso).
Link to larger size of calendar side of page (recto).
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Two leaves from an Italian antiphonary
Italy, 12th century
Script: Rotunda
Notation: Similar to Beneventan
Parchment with ink and paint
The initial M on the top fragment begins the antiphon benediction for Lauds on the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, “Magister, scimus quia verax es et viam dei in veritate doces” (Master, we know that You speak the truth and teach the way of God in all sincerity).
There are two staff lines used in this chant: the obvious one is red, the yellow one is barely visible. The red line is the F line and the yellow line is the A line. These two leaves are not sequential: the top leaf has several selections from the Book of Matthew that are usually used during the 21st to 24th Sunday after Pentecost; the bottom leaf quotes Jeremiah 31:12 and Psalm 4.
The notation is very similar to Beneventan chant; however, Beneventan chant is accompanied by an entirely different script from the one seen in these leaves. Extant examples of Beneventan chant are also extremely rare, hence it is unlikely that these leaves are from a Beneventan monastery.
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis Text Leaves 2:41
Corpus Christi
May 5, 2009
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Single leaf from a gradual:
Historiated initial E with Jesus seated at one end of a long table and the Apostles gathered before him, Corpus Christi
Italy — Perugia, 1300-1350
Script: Late Gothic/Renaissance; Rotunda script
Parchment with ink, paint, gold, and silver
Notation: Square
This historiated initial E begins the Introit for Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi, “Ego sum panis …;” reverse (true recto) contains the Gradual for the first Sunday after Pentecost. Ego sum panis, translated as “I am bread,” is exceptional in its use for communion: the vast majority of liturgical manuscripts from the middle ages use the alternative wording of “Cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti, alleluia,” (Full ears of wheat are the nourishment he gives them).
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 72:12
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Single leaf from the Buckland Missal:
Inhabited initial B, Feast of the Trinity
England, 1360-1380
Script: Gothic bookhand
Parchment with ink, paint, and gold
Notation: Square
This initial begins the Introit for the Feast of the Trinity, “Benedicta sit sancta trinitas …” (Blessed be the Holy Trinity).
This manuscript can be dated to ca. 1360-80.
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 66:1B
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Single leaf from the Buckland Missal:
Inhabited initial S, Pentecost
England, 1360-1380
Script: Gothic bookhand
Parchment with ink, paint, and gold
Notation: Square
This initial begins the Introit for Pentecost, “Spiritus domini repleuit orbem terrarum …” (The spirit of the Lord fills the whole world). This leaf and Lewis E M 66:1b were cut from a manuscript that is now housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and is known as the Buckland Missal. Another leaf from the missal has been found in Toledo, Ohio, at the Toledo Museum of Art. Another six leaves cut from the book have been lost.
The Buckland Missal is a noted missal. A missal is a complete book for the Mass: it unites in a single book the contents of earlier, separate books used for the Mass. A noted missal includes the musical notation for the chants used in the Mass.
This manuscript can be dated to ca. 1360-80.
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 66:1A
Pentecost (Flanders, c. 1325)
May 5, 2009
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Leaf from a gradual:
Initial S with Pentecost
Flanders, ca. 1325
Script: Gothic
Parchment with ink, paint, and gold
Notation: Square
This initial begins the Introit for the feast of Pentecost, “Spiritus domini replevit orbem terrarum …” (The spirit of the Lord fills the whole world).
Pentecost is the feast that celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus’ apostles. The Virgin Mary appears in the center of the group: this was standard iconography from the twelfth century on. Prior to the twelfth century, the apostles were depicted without her.
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 66:9
Ascension
May 5, 2009
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Leaf from an Antiphonary:
Initial P with the Ascension
Flanders, 1325
Script: Gothic bookhand
Parchment with ink, paint, and gold
Notation: Square
This initial begins the first response of the first nocturn of Matins for Ascension week, “Post passionem suam per dies quadraginta apparens eis …” (After his Passion, during forty days he appeared to them). In this scene of the Ascension, only Christ’s feet are visible as his body “disappears” into heaven. One often finds the marginal spaces of medieval manuscripts filled with fanciful creatures or humorous scenes that often mocked or parodied everyday life. Here, a man holds a leash attached to three dogs dressed in elegant costume dancing to the music of a pipe and tabor.
The Disappearing Christ originated in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts around the 11th century and quickly spread to the Continent: previous depictions of the Ascension displayed Christ with his body entirely visible. The idea behind the Disappearing Christ is that Christ ascended into heaven without any help: in contrast, the Hebrew prophets Elijah and Enoch required assistance, as did the Virgin Mary (who was assumed by the power of God into heaven).
This leaf is from a Flemish antiphonary that belonged to John Ruskin (1819-1900).
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 42:15
Easter Sunday (Flanders, late 15th century)
April 24, 2009
Single leaf from a gradual: Initial R with the Resurrection
Flanders, late 15th century
Script: Gothic bookhand
Parchment with ink, paint, and gold
Notation: Square
This initial begins the Introit for Easter Sunday, “Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum …” (I have risen and am still with thee). The figures in the borders relate to the Resurrection. On the left, the Old Testament prophet Sophonias holds a scroll inscribed in part, “In die resurrectionis me[a]e congregabo gentes …” (On the day of my Resurrection I will assemble the Gentiles.) The figure in the bottom right-hand corner of the leaf depicts Samson carrying the Gates of Gaza: in the Old Testament, he stays at a harlot’s house in Gaza, while his enemies lay in wait for him at the gates of the city. Samson tears off the gates and “carries them up to the top of an hill that is before Hé-bron” (Judges 16:3). Jonah and the Whale can be seen in the bottom border of the page. Samson and Jonah are typological references to the Resurrection: these are scenes from the Old Testament that prefigure the Resurrection.
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 66:12
First Sunday in Lent (Ottonian kingdom, 900-1000 AD)
April 24, 2009
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Single leaf from a missal: First Sunday in Lent
Ottonian kingdom, 900-1000 AD
Script: Caroline minuscule
Notation: St. Gall
The ancient Greeks had developed a system of musical notation that differentiated between instrumental and sung music, and even indicated rhythmic value. The practice of writing music, as well as the practice of many arts, vanished after the fall of Rome.
Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman emperor (742–814) restored learning and education to the Western world and the empire over which he reigned. He implemented a standardization of written text and music throughout his empire, which extended through much of modern-day Western and Central Europe. The emperor employed Alcuin, a scholar from England, to run a school and scriptorium in Aix-la-Chapelle, Charlemagne’s favored residence. The resulting, highly legible script was Caroline minuscule. A musical notation was developed, too, in the form of the so-called St. Gall notation, named after the abbey in St. Gall, modern-day Switzerland.
This leaf is written in Caroline minuscule, with unheightened or nondiastematic neumes. Neumes are the earliest notes used in plainchant, which is the monophonic unison chant of the Christian liturgies. Early on, they were squiggles and dots, like the ones displayed here. These neumes do not show the relative pitch between notes, and there is no indicated base pitch. None of these were necessary to the singer, however; the notation served as a reminder of the relative pitches to singers who would already have been familiar with the melody.
The text is 2 Corinthians 6:1-10, “Exhortamur (vos) ne in vacuum gratiam Dei recipiatis. . .” (We exhort you that you receive not the grace of God in vain), which is the Epistle of the Mass for the First Sunday in Lent. It is followed by Psalm 90, which is sung as the Gradual of the Mass: “Angelis suis mandavit de te ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis. . .” (God has given His Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways).
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis Text Leaf 3:85
Vespers in Advent Season
April 24, 2009
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Single leaf from a choir psalter and hymnal:
Initial C with God the Father, Vespers in Advent Season
Venice, Italy, 1490-1500
Script: Rotunda
Parchment with ink, paint, and gold
Notation: Square
This initial begins the introit for Vespers in Advent: “Conditor alme syderum…” (Creator of the stars of night). The melody for this chant is a standard one, and Conditor is one of the most beloved chants from the Middle Ages. It is even today regularly performed and recorded for Advent services. The chant dates to the seventh century and can be found in many current hymnals.
The painting has been attributed to Giuglielmo Giraldi, who was active from 1445-1490. Giraldi was the son of a tailor who became one of the premier illuminators of the Renaissance period among the most prominent ruling families of Italy. He illuminated a copy of The Divine Comedy for Duke Federigo da Montefeltro, and was one of the artists involved with the Bible of Borso d’Este, perhaps the most costly and lavish book in the history of Ferrarese art.
Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 70:5
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