The Modena Codex (''Modena, Biblioteca Estense, α.m.5,24''; often referred to with the

siglum Scribal abbreviations or sigla ( singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechani ...

Mod A) is an early fifteenth-century

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 ...

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance ...

. The manuscript is one of the most important sources of the ''

ars subtilior ''Ars subtilior'' (Latin for 'subtler art') is a musical style characterized by rhythmic and notational complexity, centered on Paris, Avignon in southern France, and also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century.Hoppin 1978, 47 ...

'' style of music. It is held in the

Biblioteca Estense The Biblioteca Estense ('' Estense Library''), was the family library of the marquis and dukes of Este. The exact date of the library's birth is still under speculation, however it is known for certain that the library was in use during the fourte ...

library in

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

. The precise origin of Mod A is controversial, with Pavia/Milan, Pisa and Bologna all being proposed. Firm evidence of ownership of the book by the

only occurs in the early nineteenth century, although a 1495 catalogue of the Este family library in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

might refer to it. It was rediscovered by the philologist Antonio Cappelli in 1868. Excluding flyleaves and modern additions, Mod A comprises 51

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 ...

folios The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

divided into five gatherings. The first and last gatherings are decorated in a simpler style from the central gatherings and mostly contain the works of

Matteo da Perugia Matteo da Perugia (floruit, fl. 1400–1416) was a Medieval Italy, Italian composer, presumably from Perugia. From 1402 to 1407 he was the first ''magister cappellae'' of the Duomo di Milano, Milan Cathedral; his duties included being Cantor (chu ...

, while the middle three gatherings contain works by a more varied group of composers in the ''ars subtilior'' and Italian Trecento traditions. The manuscript contains 100 pieces, mostly by French and Italian composers, all of which are

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 ...

. While the codex contains some religious works, including 12 Mass movements, most of the texts and forms are secular, including forms such as

ballade Ballad is a form of narrative poetry, often put to music, or a type of sentimental love song in modern popular music. Ballad or Ballade may also refer to: Music Genres and forms * Ballade (classical music), a musical setting of a literary ballad ...

s, rondeaus,

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, and

ballata 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 ...

s. Most of the compositions display the intricate and complex rhythms that define ''ars subtilior''. Despite its presumably Italian origins, many of the pieces set French texts. Most of the compositions in the Modena Codex date from ca. 1380–1420. Many of the works by Matteo da Perugia were added later. Mod A is the most important source of the compositions of Matteo da Perugia, containing thirty attributed full works and two single parts by him.Günther/Stone The Modena Codex also contains multiple works from the composers Antonello da Caserta, Antonio Zachara da Teramo, Philippus de Caserta, Jaquemin de Senleches, Guillaume de Machaut, Bartolino da Padova,

Bartolomeo da Bologna Bartolomeo da Bologna (fl. 1405 – 1427) was an Italian composer of the transitional period between the late medieval style of the Trecento and the early Renaissance. Life Little is known with certainty about his life, but he was probably fro ...

Johannes Ciconia Johannes Ciconia ( – between 10 June and 13 July 1412) was an important Flemish composer and music theorist of trecento music during the late Medieval era. He was born in Liège, but worked most of his adult life in Italy, particularly ...

, Conradus de Pistoria,

Egardus Egardus (; also Engardus or Johannes Echgaerd) was a European Medieval composer of ''ars subtilior''. Almost no information survives about his life, and only three of his works are known. A certain "Johannes Ecghaerd", who held chaplaincies in Bru ...

, Egidius, Johannes de Janua,

Matheus de Sancto Johanne Matheus de Sancto Johanne (died after 10 June 1391), also known as Mayshuet, was a French composer of the late Medieval era. Active both in France and England, he was one of the representatives of the complex, manneristic musical style known as ...

, and Andreas Servorum.

References

Bibliography

* Apel, Willi, ed., ''French Secular Compositions of the Fourteenth Century''.

American Institute of Musicology The American Institute of Musicology (AIM) is a musicological organization that researches, promotes and produces publications on early music. Founded in 1944 by Armen Carapetyan, the AIM's chief objective is the publication of modern editions ...

, 1970. * Cappelli, Antonio, ''Poesie musicali dei secoli XIV, XV e XVI tratte da vari codici'' (Bologna: Romagnoli, 1868), online via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

a

* Ursula Günther, Günther, Ursula (ed.). ''The Motets of the Manuscripts Chantilly, Musée condé, 564 (olim 1047) and Modena, Biblioteca Estense, a. M. 5, 24 (olim lat. 568)''. Corpus mensurabilis musicae 39. .p.

, 1965. * Günther, Ursula. "Unusual Phenomena in the Transmission of Late Fourteenth-Century Polyphonic Music". ''Musica disciplina'' 38 (1984). * Günther, Ursula. "Sources, MS, VII: French Polyphony 1300–1420" in ''Grove Music Online'' (accessed July 15, 2012)
(subscription access)
* Günther, Ursula and Anne Stone. "Matteo da Perugia" in ''Grove Music Online'' (accessed July 27, 2012)
(subscription access)
* Haring, Jos and Kees Boeke, editors. ''Modena Codex: New, Complete Edition with Commentary'' (Amsterdam: Olive Music, 2019). * Hoppin, Richard H. ''Medieval Music''. The Norton Introduction to Music History. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. * Pirrotta, Nino. "Il codice Estense lat. 568 e la musica francese in Italia al principio del '400." ''Atti della Reale Accademia di Scienze, Lettere e Arti de Palermo'' IV (1944/45): 101–54. * Plumley, Yolanda. "An 'Episode in the South'? Ars Subtilior and the Patronage of French Princes." ''Early Music History: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Music'' 22 (2003): 103–68. * Stoessel, Jason. "Arms, a Saint and ''Inperial sedendo fra più stelle'': The Illuminator of Mod A." ''Journal of Musicology'' 31 (2014): 1–42. * Stone, Anne. The Manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Alpha.M.5.24: Critical Study and Facsimile Edition. Libreria Italiana Musicale, 2005. {{Authority control Medieval music manuscript sources Music illuminated manuscripts 15th-century illuminated manuscripts Ars subtilior