Add MS 29987 is a

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Tuscan musical

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

dating from the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, held in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

in London. It contains a number of

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

Italian

Trecento The Trecento (, also , ; short for , "1300") refers to the 14th century in Italian cultural history. Period Art Commonly, the Trecento is considered to be the beginning of the Renaissance in art history. Painters of the Trecento included Giotto ...

madrigals A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number ...

ballate The ''ballata'' (plural: ''ballate'') is an Italian poetic and musical form in use from the late 13th to the 15th century. It has the musicapenim AbbaA, with the first and last stanzas having the same texts. It is thus most similar to the Fre ...

, sacred

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

movements, and

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s, and 15 untexted monophonic instrumental dances, which are among the earliest purely instrumental pieces in the Western musical tradition. The manuscript apparently belonged to the

de' Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

family in the fifteenth century, and by 1670 was in the possession of Carlo di Tommaso Strozzi; it was in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

from 1876, where it was catalogued as item 29987 of the

Additional manuscripts The Additional manuscripts are a collection of manuscripts stored at the British Library. The collection was started at the British Museum in 1756, and passed to the British Library on its establishment in 1973. They form by far the largest collecti ...

series. It is now in the British Library.

The manuscript

The manuscript appears to have belonged to the

family of the

Republic of Florence The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic ( it, Repubblica Fiorentina, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flo ...

in the fifteenth century – the first folio has the de' Medici

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

in red, gold, blue and green; these are in the "augmented" form granted by

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...

in 1465, with the arms of France in the upper central ball. By 1670 it was in the possession of Carlo di Tommaso Strozzi. On 8 April 1876 it was acquired by the

from the

antiquarian bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

Bernard Quaritch Bernard Alexander Christian Quaritch ( ; April 23, 1819 – December 17, 1899) was a German-born British bookseller and collector. The company established by Bernard Quaritch in 1847 lives on in London as Bernard Quaritch Ltd, dealing in rare ...

; it was catalogued as item 29987 of the

series. It is now in the British Library. The manuscript measures approximately , and consists of 88

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

leaves in 11 quaternio gatherings. There are six flyleaves at the front, one from 1957, three from 1876 and two from the seventeenth century, of which the first has a list in the hand of Carlo di Tommaso Strozzi of the composers represented; two flyleaves at the back date from 1876 and 1957. The binding in half leather is from 1957, over older thick wooden boards. Add 29987 is a part of a larger manuscript of at least 185 pages, as the surviving leaves were originally numbered 98–185. The pages are ruled with eight five-line staves in red, and the music is written in full (black)

mensural notation Mensural notation is the musical notation system used for European vocal polyphonic music from the later part of the 13th century until about 1600. The term "mensural" refers to the ability of this system to describe precisely measured rhythm ...

, with only occasional use of void ("white") notes and red colouration. It is carelessly written in one principal and several other scribal hands; the musical text is corrupted in many places by a later hand, which altered the rhythms and added inappropriate rests. The exact date of the manuscript remains uncertain; estimates range from the late fourteenth century to about 1425. The music dates from 1340–1400; one piece, number 118, is clearly of later date, and numbers 115–117 may also be somewhat later than most of the others. The geographical origin of the manuscript is equally uncertain; it is thought to be either Tuscany or

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

. The titles of two of the instrumental pieces, "Isabella" and "Principio di virtù", may suggest a connection to

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

, which was ruled between 1400 and 1402 by

Gian Galeazzo Visconti Gian Galeazzo Visconti (16 October 1351 – 3 September 1402), was the first duke of Milan (1395) and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò. He was the foundi ...

; Visconti was, through his marriage to

Isabella, Countess of Vertus Isabella of France (1 October 1348 – 11 September 1372) was a French princess and member of the House of Valois, as well as the wife of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who after her death became Duke of Milan. Life Born in Bois de Vincennes, Isabella ...

, the comte de

Vertus Vertus () is a former commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2018, it was merged into the new commune of Blancs-Coteaux. The Encyclopédiste Antoine-Claude-Pierre Masson de La Motte-Conflans (1727–1801) was born ...

, or, in Italian, the Conte di Virtù. However Visconti was also Duke of Milan, and the manuscript may thus be connected with that city.

The works

Trotto from Add MS 29987, transcribed in reduced note values

Add MS 29987 contains 119 pieces of music; however, three of them are copied twice, so there are 116 different pieces. Of these, 45 are ballate, 35 or 36 (if a fragment is counted) are madrigals, 15 are instrumental pieces under the general title of "istampitta" or

estampie The estampie (french: estampie, Occitan and ca, estampida, it, istanpitta) is a medieval dance and musical form which was a popular instrumental and vocal form in the 13th and 14th centuries. The name was also applied to poetry. Musical form T ...

, 8 are cacce and 3 are

virelai A ''virelai'' is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. It is one of the three ''formes fixes'' (the others were the ballade and the rondeau) and was one of the most common verse forms set to music in Europe from the lat ...

s. There are also a

and a "Chançonete tedesce" or ''canzonetta tedesca'', and 7 liturgical works,

kyrie Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of (''Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison ( ; ). In the Bible The prayer, "Kyrie, eleison," "Lord, have mercy" derives fr ...

gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins) ...

credo In Christian liturgy, the credo (; Latin for "I believe") is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed – or its shorter version, the Apostles' Creed – in the Mass, either as a prayer, a spoken text, or sung as Gregorian chant or other musical setti ...

antiphon An antiphon (Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominently ...

, two

sequences In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called t ...

and a

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

; the last piece is untexted, but may be a madrigal. Forty-three of the pieces, including all the instrumental works, are ''unica''. Eighty-two of the pieces, all but one of them polyphonic, can be attributed to their composers, either because the composer's name is given in the manuscript or by comparison with other sources. Half of these are by either

Francesco Landini Francesco Landini ( or 1335 – 2 September 1397; also known by many names) was an Italian composer, poet, organist, singer and instrument maker who was a central figure of the Trecento style in late Medieval music. One of the most revered c ...

(29) or

Niccolò da Perugia Niccolò da Perugia (Niccolò del Proposto also spelled as Nicolò. Latin, Magister Sere Nicholaus Prepositi de Perugia) (fl. second half of the 14th century) was an Italian composer of the Trecento, the musical period also known as the "Italian ...

(12 and a fragment). There are seven works by

Jacopo da Bologna Jacopo da Bologna ( fl. 1340 – c. 1386) was an Italian composer of the Trecento, the period sometimes known as the '' Italian ars nova''. He was one of the first composers of this group, making him a contemporary of Gherardello da Firenze ...

, five by each of

Bartolino da Padova Bartolino da Padova (also "Magister Frater Bartolinus de Padua") (fl. c. 1365 – c. 1405) was an Italian composer of the late 14th century. He is a representative of the stylistic period known as the ''Trecento'', sometimes known as the "Italian ...

Giovanni da Cascia Giovanni da Cascia, also Jovannes de Cascia, Johannes de Florentia, Maestro Giovanni da Firenze, was an Italian composer of the medieval era, active in the middle of the fourteenth century. Life and career Virtually nothing is known about Giovann ...

and

Lorenzo da Firenze Lorenzo may refer to: People * Lorenzo (name) Places Peru * San Lorenzo Island (Peru), sometimes referred to as the island of Lorenzo United States * Lorenzo, Illinois * Lorenzo, Texas * San Lorenzo, California, formerly Lorenzo * Lorenzo ...

, and three by each of Bonaiuto Corsini,

Donato da Cascia Donato da Cascia (also da Firenze or da Florentia) (fl. c. 1350 – 1370) was an Italian composer of the Trecento. All of his surviving music is secular, and the largest single source is the Squarcialupi Codex. He was probably also a priest, and t ...

Gherardello da Firenze Gherardello da Firenze (also Niccolò di Francesco or Ghirardellus de Florentia) ( 1320–1325 – 1362 or 1363) was an Italian composer of the ''Trecento''. He was one of the first composers of the period sometimes known as the '' Italian ars nov ...

and

Vincenzo da Rimini Vincenzo da Rimini, also Magister Dominus Abbas de Arimino, L’abate Vincençio da Imola, Frate Vincenço, was an Italian composer of the medieval era, active in the middle of the 14th century. Life and career All of the biographical details conc ...

Andrea da Firenze Andreas de Florentia (also known as Andrea da Firenze, Andrea de' Servi, Andrea degli Organi and Andrea di Giovanni; died 1415) was a Florentine composer and organist of the late medieval era. Along with Francesco Landini and Paolo da Firenze ...

, Jacopo Pianelaio da Firenze,

Paolo da Firenze Paolo da Firenze (Paolo Tenorista, "Magister Dominus Paulas Abbas de Florentia") (c. 1355 – after September 20, 1436) was an Italian composer and music theorist of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the transition from the musical Medie ...

, Rosso de Collegrana and Thomas de Celano are each represented by a single piece. There is one ballata by Guglielmus and Egidius de Francia, and a madrigal by Guglielmus alone.

List of contents of the manuscript

The 119 pieces in the manuscript are:

Recordings

The following discs contain some of the instrumental dances found in this manuscript: * ''Landini e la musica fiorentina – Secolo XIV'',

Ensemble Micrologus Ensemble Micrologus is an Italian group that performs vocal and instrumental medieval music, including both religious and secular pieces from the 12th to the 16th century in their repertoire. Through research into manuscripts, organology, and icon ...

, dir. Patrizia Bovi (

Opus 111 ''Opus'' (pl. ''opera'') is a Latin word meaning "work". Italian equivalents are ''opera'' (singular) and ''opere'' (pl.). Opus or OPUS may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Opus number, (abbr. Op.) specifying order of (usually) publicatio ...

, OP 30 112) * ''Istampitta – Musiques de fête à la cour des Visconti en Italie à la fin du XIVe siècle'',

Alla Francesca Alla may refer to: * Ara Gaya, also called Alla (안라), a city-state kingdom in the part of Gaya confederacy, in modern-day Haman County of Korea Music * "Alla" (song) a song by Swedish singer Sofia * Allá, a rock band from Chicago * '' At.L ...

, dir.

Pierre Hamon Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

Carlo Rizzo Carlo Rizzo (April 30, 1907 – July 26, 1979) was an Italian stage and film actor.Chiti & Poppi p.333 He was the brother of the actor Alfredo Rizzo. A regular in post-war Italian cinema he also featured in several American films produced in It ...

(

, OP 30 325)
Contains three ''salterelli'', the ''Lamento di Tristano'' and the ''istampitte'': ''Isabella'', ''Tre Fontane'', ''Principio di virtù'' and ''In Pro''. * ''Landini and Italian Ars Nova'', Alla Francesca, dir. Pierre Hamon (Opus 111, 60-9206).
Contains the ''istampitta'' ''Belicha''. * ''Tristan et Yseut'', Alla Francesca, dir. Pierre Hamon and Brigitte Lesne (Zig-Zag Territoires, ZZT 051002), 2005.
Contains the ''Lamento di Tristano''. * ''Troubadours – Trouvères – Minstrels'',

Studio der frühen Musik A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

, dir.

Thomas Binkley Thomas Binkley (Cleveland, Ohio, December 26, 1931 – Bloomington, Indiana, April 28, 1995) was an American lutenist and early music scholar. Thomas Eden Binkley studied at the University of Illinois (BM. 1956, PhD. 1959) and the University of Mun ...

(

Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...

)
Contains a ''salterello'' and the ''Chançonete tedesche'' Nbs 1 and 3. * ''Llibre Vermell – Robin et Marion'', Studio der Frühen Musik, dir. Thomas Binkley (Teldec)
Contains the ''trotto'' * ''Estampie: Instrumentalmusik des Mittelalters'', Studio der Frühen Musik, participants in the

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, that focuses on early music and historically informed performance. Faculty at the school have organized performing ensembles that have ...

, dir. Thomas Binkley (

EMI Electrola Electrola is a German record label and subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Based in Munich, its roster has included Chumbawamba, Matthias Reim, Helene Fischer, Brings, Höhner and Santiano. History On 8 May 1925 the British Gramophone Company ...

LP 1C 063-30 122), 1974; (reissued on CD 8 26491 2), 2000. Contains the Istanpitte ''Ghaetta'', ''Parlamento'', ''Belicha'', ''Isabella'', and ''Principio di Virtu'', together with the ''Lamento di Tristano/Rotta'', ''La Manfredina/Rotta'', and one ''Salterello'' * ''The Art of Courtly Love'',

Early Music Consort of London The Early Music Consort of London was a British music ensemble in the late 1960s and 1970s which specialised in historically informed performance of Medieval and Renaissance music. It was founded in 1967 by music academics Christopher Hogwood and ...

, dir.

David Munrow David John Munrow (12 August 194215 May 1976) was a British musician and early music historian. Early life and education Munrow was born in Birmingham where both his parents taught at the University of Birmingham. His mother, Hilda Ivy (né ...

(

Virgin Veritas Virgin Veritas is an imprint of French classical music record label Virgin Classics dedicated to early music and historically informed performance. The parent was formerly owned by Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by U ...

)
Contains the ''istampitta'' ''Tre Fontane'' * ''Early Music Festival'', Early Music Consort of London, dir. David Munrow (

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

, 2 CD), 1998.
Contains the ''istampitta'' ''Ghaetta'', the ''Lamento di Tristano'', ''La Manfredina'', the ''trotto'' and a ''salterello''. * ''Lamento di Tristano'',

Capella de Ministrers Capella de Ministrers is an early music group formed in 1987 in Valencia, Spain by Carles Magraner. Valencian music is prominent in its repertoire. Work Capella de Ministrers was formed in 1987 in Valencia by its director, the Valencian musicolog ...

, dir.

Carles Magraner Carles Magraner is a Spanish musician. He was born on November 16, 1962 in Almussafes (province of Valencia) and studied music at Carcaixent, the Conservatorio Superior de Valencia (cello and musicology), Conservatoire Toulouse and Amsterdam ( ...

(CDM), 2003.
Contains the ''istampitte'' ''Belicha'', ''Chominciamento di gioia'', ''Ghaetta'', ''In pro'', ''Isabella'' and ''Parlamento'', the ''Lamento di Tristano'', ''La Manfredina'' and three ''saltarelli''. * ''Narcisso speculando'',

Mala Punica Mala Punica is an early music ensemble led by Pedro Memelsdorff.Lute Society of America Quarterly - Volumes 33-34 - Page 61 1998 In addition he performs with other groups specializing in many other eras, such as Pedro Memmelsdorf s Mala Punica. I ...

, dir.

Pedro Memelsdorff Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

(

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''ha ...

), 2002.
Contains the ''istampitta'' ''Isabella'' * ''Danses, Danseryes'', Musica Antiqua, dir. Christian Mendoze (Disques

Pierre Verany Disques Pierre Verany is a French classical music record label named after its founder and producer. Verany, a producer and sound engineer, ran his own label "Disques Pierre Verany" for many years — concentrating on Italian and French baroque m ...

)
Contains the ''Lamento di Tristano'', ''La Manfredina'', the ''trotto'' and two ''saltarelli''. * ''La Lira d'Esperia'',

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of ...

and Pedro Estevan ( Auvidis Astrée).
Contains the ''istampitta'' ''In pro'', the ''Lamento di Tristano'', ''La Manfredina'', the ''trotto'' and two ''saltarelli''. * ''Music for a Medieval Banquet'', The Newberry Consort, dir. Mary Springfels (Harmonia Mundi)
Contains the ''istampitte'' ''Cominciamento di gioia'', ''Principio de virtù'' and the ''trotto'' * '' Futuro antico I'',

Angelo Branduardi Angelo Branduardi (born 12 February 1950) is an Italian folk/folk rock singer-songwriter and composer who scored relative success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Greece. Biography Branduardi wa ...

(

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

), 1996.
Contains a Salterello, the Lamento di Tristano and La Rotta * ''

The Lady and the Unicorn ''The Lady and the Unicorn'' (french: La Dame à la licorne) is the modern title given to a series of six tapestries created in the style of ("thousand flowers") and woven in Flanders from wool and silk, from designs (" cartoons") drawn in Par ...

'',

John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...

(

Transatlantic Records Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. The company was established in 1961, primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom ...

), 1970.
Contains adaptations of the ''Trotto'', ''Saltarrello'', ''Lamento Di Tristan'' and ''La Rotta''. * ''Chominciamento di gioia: Virtuoso Dance Music from the Time of Boccaccio's Decamerone'',

Ensemble Unicorn Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * Ensemble (album), ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the ...

(

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

), 1994.
Dedicated solely to this manuscript; contains adaptations of the ''Chominciamento di gioia'', ''Lamento di Tristano'', ''La Rotta'', ''Belicha'', ''Tre fontane'', ''Parlamento'', ''Principio di virtú'', three ''salterelli'', ''Trotto'', ''Isabella'', ''Ghaetta'', ''In pro'', and ''La Manfredina'' with its ''Rotta''. * ''A Dance in the Garden of Mirth: Medieval Instrumental Music'', The Dufay Collective (

Chandos Records Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester. It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.ew York W.W. Norton. .

External links

Facsimile

Grove Music Online
* Review a

* Review a
Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music

{{Medieval music manuscript sources 14th-century books 14th-century manuscripts Italian music British Library additional manuscripts Medieval music manuscript sources