Drexel 4175, also known by an inscription on its cover, "Ann Twice, Her Book" or by the inscription on its first leaf, "Songs unto the violl and lute," is a
music manuscript
Music manuscripts are handwritten sources of music. Generally speaking, they can be written on paper or parchment. If the manuscript contains the composer's handwriting it is called an autograph. Music manuscripts can contain musical notation a ...
commonplace book
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are simi ...
. It is a noted source of songs from
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642.
This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson ...
, considered to be "indispensable to the rounding-out of our picture of seventeenth-century English song." It is believed to contain the original music of the song "Come Away, Hecket" as heard in
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...
's play ''
The Witch
A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft.
Witch, WITCH, or variations thereof may also refer to:
Animals
* Witch (lefteye flounder) (''Arnoglossus scapha''), a Pacific flatfish
* Witch (righteye flounder) (''Glyptocephalus cynoglossus''), a Euro ...
'' which was used in
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
''. Belonging to the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
, the manuscript forms part of the Music Division's
Drexel Collection The Drexel Collection is a collection of over 6,000 volumes of books about music and musical scores owned by the Music Division of The New York Public Library. Donated by Joseph W. Drexel in 1888 to the Lenox Library (which later became The New Yo ...
, located at the
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
. Following traditional library practice, its name is derived from its
call number
A library classification is a system of organization of knowledge by which library resources are arranged and ordered systematically. Library classifications are a notational system that represents the order of topics in the classification and al ...
.
Dating
John Stafford Smith
John Stafford Smith (bapt. 30 March 175021 September 1836) was a British composer, church organist, and early musicologist. He was one of the first serious collectors of manuscripts of works by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Smith is best known for w ...
suggested a date "about the year 1620" for the two songs ("Ist for a grace" and "You herralds of Mrs hart") he printed in his compilation ''Musica Antiqua''. Duckles mistakenly took this date to refer to the entire manuscript, an assumption continued by Cutts. In the introduction to the facsimile edition, Jorgens emended this misinterpretation, stating that scholars date the manuscript between 1620 and 1630. She noted a problem posed by the song "Like to the damask rose": If the composer attribution of
Henry Lawes
Henry Lawes (1596 – 1662) was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes.
Life
Henry Lawes (baptised 5 January 1596 – 21 October 1662),Ian Spink, "Lawes, Henry," ''Grove Musi ...
is accepted, the appearance of this song in a manuscript from the 1620s pushes back the composer's reputation ten years before to most musicologists' understanding of his career. If the attribution is incorrect, then that casts doubt on the manuscript's many attributions.
Provenance
Issues of
provenance
Provenance (from the French ''provenir'', 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses i ...
for Drexel 4175 begin with its cover. Its inscription "Ann Twice, Her Book" would indicate that one of the previous owners was Ann Twice, although no information has surfaced on who she was. The first page has two inscriptions on it; the first is "Songs unto the violl and Lute." Beneath that is the note: "my Cosen Twice Leffte this Booke with me when shee went to Broisil which is to be returne to her AGhaine when she Come to Glost." Based on this note,
musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
Ian Spink concluded that Ann Twice lived in
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
around 1620 (the date based on John Stafford Smith's attributions). Assuming the songs were copied for her use, Spink surmised that Twice must have been a good singer whose music master (the copyist of the manuscript) was "a man of taste." At some point she traveled to
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
where she left the manuscript with her cousin, the writer of this inscription (whose name is unknown). The whereabouts of the manuscript are then unknown for nearly two centuries until Smith included selections in his collection ''Musica Antiqua''. In that publication Smith included a note referring to himself as the manuscript's owner. Smith actually marked the manuscript to indicate those songs to be included in ''Musica Antiqua''.
It is not known whether
Edward Francis Rimbault
Edward Francis Rimbault (13 June 1816 – 26 September 1876) was an English organist, musicologist, book collector and author.
Life
Rimbault was born in Soho, London, to a family of French Huguenot extraction that had emigrated to England in 1685 ...
purchased the volume directly from the sale of Smith's estate, but it eventually came into his possession. Rimbault apparently lent the manuscript to Thomas Oliphant, cataloger of the British Museum (today 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 ...
). Oliphant's letter was affixed to front of manuscript stating that Oliphant made several "memorandums" (pencil markings in the manuscript). This letter is mentioned in the catalog of the Rimbault library auction, where it is listed as lot no. 1389 (the lot number can be seen penciled in on the first leaf).
After Rimbault's death in 1876 followed by the auction of his estate in 1877, the manuscript was one of about 600 lots purchased by
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
-born financier
Joseph W. Drexel, who had already amassed a large music library. Upon Drexel's death, he bequeathed his music library to The Lenox Library. When the Lenox Library merged with the
Astor Library
The Astor Library was a free public library in the East Village, Manhattan, developed primarily through the collaboration of New York City merchant John Jacob Astor and New England educator and bibliographer Joseph Cogswell. It was primarily me ...
to become the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
, the
Drexel Collection The Drexel Collection is a collection of over 6,000 volumes of books about music and musical scores owned by the Music Division of The New York Public Library. Donated by Joseph W. Drexel in 1888 to the Lenox Library (which later became The New Yo ...
became the basis for one of its founding units, the Music Division. Today, Drexel 4175 is part of the Drexel Collection in the Music Division, now located at the
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
at
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
.
Physical state
![Drexel 4175 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Drexel_4175_4.jpg)
The manuscript measures .
According to the manuscript's table of contents, there were originally 58 songs, including blank spaces intended for songs 59 and 60. The manuscript's numbering left out numbers 38 and 45. At some point a number of songs were removed so that, today, there are only 25 leaves containing 28 songs.
[Duckles mistakenly counted 27.] At least one song appears to have been removed since the time of Smith's ownership. "Rest awhile you cruell cares" (no. 39 of the table below) was noted by Smith and Oliphant, but is not present in the manuscript. Cutts questioned why it was removed, surmising the reason might have been for the song on its
verso
' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet.
Etymology
The terms are shortened from Latin ...
, "Haue you seen ye"?
Due to its poor physical state, Drexel 4175 was rebound by
conservators In certain areas of England, Conservators are statutory bodies which manage areas of countryside for the use of the public.
Establishment, Role and Powers
Conservators are bodies corporate generally established, and granted their powers, by a ...
Carolyn Horton & Associates in 1981. The cover was separated and a new binding with marbled covers supplied.
Content
Of the 28 songs currently contained in the manuscript, six are from plays or
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque ...
s (nos. 24, 29, 40, 43, 47, 52). Seven of the missing songs are also from dramatic works (nos. 2, 4, 5, 13, 19, 30 and 38). Seventeen of the songs have a simple bass accompaniment, ten have accompaniment notated in
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
tablature (nos. 40–42, 50–51, 53–57) and one song lacks accompaniment (no. 58). Two songs are duplicates: No. 24 (no. xxiv) "Cupid is Venus only ioy" is repeated at no. 54 (no. lvi) and no. 40 (no. xli) "Deare doe not your faire beuty wronge" is repeated at no. 49 (li).
In its repetition at no. 49 (li), "Deare doe not your faire beuty wronge" is the only song to have a composer attribution, that of
Robert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...
. Johnson is represented by several songs in the manuscript: "O let vs howle" (no. 4 from ''
The Duchess of Malfi
''The Duchess of Malfi'' (originally published as ''The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy'') is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by English dramatist John Webster in 1612–1613. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, ...
''), "Tell mee dearest what is loue" (no. 43 from ''
The Captain''), "Haue you seene the bright lilly growe" (no. 47 from ''
The Devil is an Ass''), and "Heare yee ladyes yt" (formerly part of the manuscript as no. 19 from ''
Valentinian''). Cutts notes that all these plays were produced by
King's Men, the repertory company to which Shakespeare belonged and for which Johnson wrote music from 1608-1617.
Smith appears to have been the first to publish anything from the manuscript. He included six songs from it in his 1812 publication ''Musica Antiqua'': "Come away, come away hecket" (no. 52), "Though your stragnes freet my hart" (no. 25), "Deare doe not your faire beuty wronge" (nos. 40 and 49), "Ist for a grace or ist for some mislike" (no. 20), "You herralds of Mrs hart" (no. 56), and "When I sit as iudge betweene vertue and loues princely dame" (no. 26).
Smith apparently took particular interest in "Come away hecket" (no. 52), going as far as to note that it was the music used in Thomas Middleton's play ''The Witch''. Cutts took great interest in the song, surmising that the song was probably in the possession of a member of the King's Men, which is how it is quoted in the 1623 folio of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
''. Comparing it to another "witch" song known to have been composed by Johnson, "Come away ye lady gay", Cutts feels that similar attributes of compositional technique and verbal rhythm suggest that Johnson also composed "Come away hecket." Cutts used this evidence to underscore his theory that this song was an inspiration for the witches' scene in ''Macbeth''.
Based on the titles of the missing songs provided in the table of contents, Cutts was able to make observations (sometimes extensive) on the content, when possible noting their existence in different contemporaneous manuscript collections.
Of those who have studied the manuscript, none have made more than fleeting comments on the manuscript's non-musical content, consisting of recipes and poems. Curiously, the recipes have been written upside down in comparison to the remainder of the book. Duckles specifically mentioned recipes for carpe pye, pigeon pye, marrow pudding and
French bread
This is a list of notable French breads, consisting of breads that originated in France.
* Baguette – a long, thin type of bread of French origin. The "baguette de tradition française" is made from wheat flour, water, yeast, and common sal ...
.
Drexel 4175, inscription on first leaf.jpg, Drexel 4175, inscription on first leaf
Drexel 4175 8.jpg, "Deare doe not your faire beuty wronge" in lute tablature; the only song to have a composer attribution (at bottom right)
Drexel 4175 9.jpg, "Come away hecket"
Drexel 4175 11.jpg, Drexel 4175 Table of contents (the final leaf) with annotations in pencil by British Museum librarian Thomas Oliphant
List of contents
This list is based on the table of contents and includes numbering from Jorgens and the numbering used in the manuscript. Those songs not in the manuscript are indicated in the column as "Not in ms." with a row color of silver. Most of the attributions and remarks were provided by Cutts.
Bibliography
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Facsimile
*
Notes
External links
Drexel 4175: Songs unto the violl and lute (digitized images)NYPL catalog record (Classic catalog)RISM OPAC entry of Drexel 4175Musica Antiqua
{{Baroque music manuscript sources
17th-century manuscripts
Baroque music manuscript sources
Books on English music
English manuscripts
Manuscripts in the New York Public Library
Music anthologies