|
Dublin Virginal Manuscript
The Dublin Virginal Manuscript is an important anthology of keyboard music kept in the library of Trinity College Dublin, where it has been since the 17th century under the present shelf-list TCD Ms D.3.29. History The Manuscript was probably purchased by Archbishop James Ussher, who from 1603 was sent to England on frequent voyages to buy books "to furnish the Library of the University of Dublin". The name "Dublin Virginal Manuscript" is modern, and there is no mention of any specific instrument for which the music was intended. Description The manuscript, consisting of 72 pages, is contained in a small oblong volume 5.5 x 7.4 inches. At some time it was bound together with the '' Dallis Lute Book'' (of perhaps 1583), but the two volumes are in different hands and the collection of keyboard pieces forms a separate and independent manuscript. The manuscript is undated and its 30 pieces are without titles apart from one, ascribed to a "Mastyre Taylere". All but four of the pieces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keyboard Music
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital pianos. Other keyboard instruments include celestas, which are struck idiophones operated by a keyboard, and carillons, which are usually housed in bell towers or belfries of churches or municipal buildings. Today, the term ''keyboard'' often refers to keyboard-style synthesizers. Under the fingers of a sensitive performer, the keyboard may also be used to control dynamics, phrasing, shading, articulation, and other elements of expression—depending on the design and inherent capabilities of the instrument. Another important use of the word ''keyboard'' is in historical musicology, where it means an instrument whose identity cannot be firmly established. Particularly in the 18th century, the harpsichord, the clavichord, and the early ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradition, strongly developing during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period, especially in the Baroque period. The term originates from the Latin ''punctus contra punctum'' meaning "point against point", i.e. "note against note". In Western pedagogy, counterpoint is taught through a system of species (see below). There are several different forms of counterpoint, including imitative counterpoint and free counterpoint. Imitative counterpoint involves the repetition of a main melodic idea across different vocal parts, with or without variation. Compositions written in free counterpoint often incorporate non-traditional harmonies and chords, chromaticism and dissonance. General principles The term "counterpoint" has been us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Cromwell's Virginal Book
Anne Cromwell's Virginal Book is a manuscript keyboard compilation dated 1638. Whilst the importance of the music it contains is not high, it reveals the sort of keyboard music that was being played in the home at this time. The manuscript The upright quarto book originally contained 51 pages, five of which have been torn out. It retains its original calf binding with gold tooling, and the initials ''A.C.'' are stamped on both back and front covers. The verso of the title page bears a table of note values and four lines of verse: ' ' ' ' Each of the following 33 pages bears eight sets of six-line ruled staves on which are fifty short pieces of music, written in at least two hands. The remaining pages are blank apart from the last, on the verso of which is written: ''This Book was my Grandmothers Ann Daughter and Coheiresse of Henry Cromwell Esqr. of Upwood in Count. Huntingdon & was dated 1638 But somebody has torn out þe heLeaf.'' The book is currently in Museum of Lond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Rogers' Virginal Book
''Elizabeth Rogers' Virginal Book'' is a musical commonplace book compiled in the mid-seventeenth century by a person or persons so far unidentified. Of all the so-called English "virginal books" this is the only one to mention the name of the instrument (the virginal) in the title, the others being so-called at a far later date. The manuscript The manuscript is a folio volume of sixty pre-lined pages of six staves containing 94 pieces for keyboard and 18 ''Voycall'' ocal''Lessons''. It was rebound using part of the original covers, in 1949. The first page bears the inscription ''Elizabeth Rogers hir virginall booke. February ye 27 1656''. However, on the same page the name ''Elizabeth Fayre'' is written, and it has been suggested that these two Elizabeths are the same person, before and after marriage. There are various other writings, including the name "John Tillett", who may have been a subsequent owner of the manuscript, some poetic fragments, and a note concerning the tuni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Priscilla Bunbury's Virginal Book
Priscilla Bunbury's Virginal Book is a musical commonplace book compiled in the late 1630s by two young women from an affluent Cheshire family. It is important more for its fingering indications than for the quality of the music it contains. The manuscript The manuscript is an upright volume measuring 11.5 inches by 8 inches in a tooled leather binding. The front cover bears the words ''PRISCILLA BVNBURY'' in tooled lettering, and the back cover the initials ''PB''. It contains thirty two-pages pre-ruled with six-line staves. There are thirty-five neatly written pieces of music, but the first and last pages, together with the pieces they bore, are missing. Apart from the music, there is a medicinal recipe and other scribblings. At least two different hands can be discerned. As of 2001, the manuscript was in a private collection in England. The authors The first owner of the book was Priscilla Bunbury (1615–1682), daughter of Sir Henry Bunbury of Little Stanney in Cheshir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parthenia (music)
''Parthenia or the Maydenhead of the first musicke that ever was printed for the Virginalls'' was, as the title states, the first printed collection of music for keyboard in England. 'Virginals' was a generic word at the time that covered all plucked keyboard instruments – the harpsichord, muselaar and virginals, but most of the pieces are also suited for the clavichord and chamber organ. Though the date is uncertain, it was probably published around 1612. The 21 pieces included are ascribed to William Byrd, John Bull, and Orlando Gibbons, in three sections. The title ''Parthenia'' comes from the Greek ''parthenos'' meaning "maiden" or "virgin." The music is written for the Virginals, the etymology of which is unknown, but may either refer to the young girls who are often shown playing it, or from the Latin ''virga'', which means "stick" or "wand", possibly referring to part of the mechanism that plucks a string in the harpsichord family of instruments. The "Maydenhead" refer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
The ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'' is a primary source of keyboard music from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods in England, i.e., the late Renaissance and very early Baroque. It takes its name from Viscount Fitzwilliam who bequeathed this manuscript collection to Cambridge University in 1816. It is now housed in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. The word virginals does not necessarily denote any specific instrument and might refer to anything with a keyboard. History It was given no title by its copyist and the ownership of the manuscript before the eighteenth century is unclear. At the time ''The'' ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'' was put together most collections of keyboard music were compiled by performers and teachers: other examples include ''Will Forster's Virginal Book'', ''Clement Matchett's Virginal Book'', and ''Anne Cromwell's Virginal Book''. It is possible that the complexities of typesetting music precluded the printing of much keyboard music durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clement Matchett's Virginal Book
Clement Matchett's Virginal Book is a musical manuscript from the late renaissance compiled by a young Norfolk man in 1612. Although a small anthology, it is notable not only for the quality of its music but also for the precise fingering indications that reveal the contemporary treatment of phrasing and articulation. Moreover, the manuscript is unusual in that each piece bears the exact date of its copying. The manuscript The manuscript consists of a small oblong quarto measuring some 15 by 19 centimetres. It is in excellent condition and retains its original binding formed from several sheets of rough paper folded, pasted and stitched to a strip of vellum to form the spine. The manuscript contains 32 leaves bearing two pairs of hand-ruled six-line staves on which are twelve short pieces written in a neat hand. On the first of the two front flyleaves is the inscription: ''Clement Matchett 1613'', with a table of contents on the verso. The second flyleaf bears a Guidonian ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susanne Van Soldt Manuscript
The Susanne van Soldt Manuscript is a keyboard anthology dated 1599 consisting of 33 pieces copied by or for a young Flemish or Dutch girl living in London. Its importance lies mostly in the fact that it is the only known source of early Dutch keyboard music prior to Sweelinck. The author According to the conventional account, by Alan Curtis and others, Susanne van Soldt was the daughter of Hans van Soldt (born circa 1555), a wealthy Protestant merchant from Antwerp. Hans probably took refuge in London after the sack of Antwerp by the Spanish in 1576, and Susanne was born there and baptized at the Dutch Church at Austin Friars on 20 May 1586. Sometime after 1605 Hans and his family left London for Amsterdam, where he appears as a shareholder of the Dutch East India Company in 1609. No trace of Susanne has been found, but a sister or cousin of hers, baptized in London in 1588, was living in Amsterdam in the early 17th century. This has been criticised for ignoring relevant documents ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mulliner Book
The Mulliner Book (British Library Add MS 30513) is a historically important musical commonplace book compiled probably between about 1545 and 1570, by Thomas Mulliner, about whom practically nothing is known, except that he figures in 1563 as ''modulator organorum'' (organist) of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He is believed to have previously resided in London, where John Heywood inscribed the title page of the manuscript ''Sum liber thomas mullineri / iohanne heywoode teste.'' ('I am Thomas Mulliner's book, with John Heywood as witness.') A later annotation on the same page states that: ''T. Mulliner was Master of St Pauls school'', but this has so far proved unsupportable. The provenance of the MS is unknown before it appears in the library of John Stafford Smith in 1776. After passing through the hands of Edward Francis Rimbault the MS was given to the British Museum in 1877 by William Hayman Cummings. Contents Of the 121 keyboard pieces over half are based on Catholic litur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L'homme Armé
"L'homme armé" (French for "the armed man") is a secular song from the Late Middle Ages, of the Burgundian School. According to Allan W. Atlas, "the tune circulated in both the Mixolydian mode and Dorian mode (transposed to G)." It was the most popular tune used for musical settings of the Ordinary of the Mass: over 40 separate compositions entitled ''Missa L'homme armé'' survive from the period. Music Origin The origins of the popularity of the song and the importance of the armed man are the subject of various theories. Some have suggested that the 'armed man' represents St Michael the Archangel. The composer Johannes Regis ( – ) seems to have intended that allusion in his ''Dum sacrum mysterium/Missa l'homme armé'' based upon the melody, which incorporates various additional trope texts and cantus firmus plainchants in honour of St Michael the Archangel. Others have suggested it merely represents the name of a popular tavern (Maison L'Homme Arme) near Du Fay's rooms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Division (music)
In music, division (also called diminution or coloration) refers to a type of ornamentation or variation common in 16th- and 17th-century music in which each note of a melodic line is "divided" into several shorter, faster-moving notes, often by a rhythmic repetition of a simple musical device such as the trill, turn or cambiata on each note in turn, or by the introduction of nonchord tones or arpeggio figures. The word was used in this sense to describe improvised coloratura ornamentation as used by opera singers of the day, but it made a ready way of devising variations upon a theme, and was particularly cultivated in the form of the "division on a ground" – the building of successively higher and faster parts onto a repeating bass-line. Examples of "divisions on a ground" were written by, among others, John Jenkins and Christopher Simpson. Simpson gives a lengthy explanation of the art of free improvisation over an ostinato bass-line in his book ''The Division Viol'' (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_Tenor.jpg "Click for more on -> L'homme Armé")
