The Peterhouse partbooks are a collection of English
partbook
A partbook is a format for printing or copying music in which each book contains the part for a single voice or instrument, especially popular during the Renaissance and Baroque. This format contrasts with the large choirbook, which included all ...
s dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They are named "Peterhouse" after Peterhouse in Cambridge, where the books were kept for some time, and are now preserved in the
Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
. They are handwritten
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 ...
s, all written on paper. At some point in the mid-eighteenth century, the books were rebound, although the
foliation
In mathematics (differential geometry), a foliation is an equivalence relation on an ''n''-manifold, the equivalence classes being connected, injectively immersed submanifolds, all of the same dimension ''p'', modeled on the decomposition of ...
and indices remained unchanged.
Partbooks
In partbook format, each of the voice parts has its own book; hence, here, there are separate books for the Triplex, Medius, Contratenor, Tenor, Bassus, and Organ parts. Partbooks were a practical way of circulating
polyphony
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 ...
; each voice part could be copied much more quickly in separate volumes than in score format, individual books used less paper overall than one single volume in score format, they were cheaper to produce and easier for larger groups to sing from, and each singer only needed to carry one smaller volume. However, the disadvantage to the partbook format is that a small individual volume was easy to lose, and if any of the partbooks went missing, the others were potentially rendered useless. Such is the case with the Peterhouse partbooks; only seventeen currently survive out of what appears to have originally been twenty-three books.
Other contemporary groups of partbooks, like the Peterhouse sets, include the Forrest-Heyther (Oxford,
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
Christ Church Library
Christ Church Library is a Georgian building that forms the south side of Peckwater Quadrangle in Christ Church, Oxford, England. To the east is Canterbury Quadrangle. The library houses the college's modern lending library and early printed bo ...
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 ...
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 ...
The partbooks can be divided up into two separate collections. The "Henrician" set consists of four surviving books (Triplex, Medius, Contratenor, and Bassus, MS. 31–32 and 40–41), with the Tenor book missing and with several pages missing from the beginning of the Triplex. These books contain pieces exclusively set in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
; they were all written by a single scribe between 1539 and 1541, and do not seem to have been used much, as there are numerous errors that were never corrected. As such, it is possible that they were copied more like an anthology than a set for practical or current use, and as the
English Reformation
The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
continued, it may be that much of the repertory preserved in the partbooks fell from favor, or would have been considered politically ill-advised, shortly thereafter.
The "Caroline" set consists of nineteen books (MS. 31–53, minus the Henrician set listed above), four of which (two Tenor books, MS. 50 and 52, and two Contratenor books, MS. 51 and 53) have been lost. Although labelled 'former' and 'latter', the two sets are broadly contemporaneous; the 'latter' set however contains a number of works by Thomas Wilson, first organist at Peterhouse Chapel, who is not represented in the 'former' set; this may indicate a slightly later date for the 'latter' set. This collection dates to between 1625 and 1640, although they were assembled together later, and are much more diverse than the Henrician set. The books contain pieces in both Latin and English, including
Services
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...
, and were copied by numerous scribes of varying ability, several of whom are composers of works in this set of partbooks.
The two sets are numbered inconsistently due to the order in which they were re-discovered. They were found, described, and cataloged by John Jebb, rector of
Peterstow
Peterstow is a village and Civil parish in Herefordshire, England, situated about west of Ross-on-Wye on the A49.
General description
Among the general features of the village is the Parish Church, begun in the Norman period contained windows ...
,
Herefordshire
Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...
, in the 1850s, at which point they were rebound in their current format. Some of the partbooks were found much later than others; three of those from the Caroline set, for example, were located in 1926 in a space behind the panelling of the Perne library, where presumably they had been hidden to protect them from the
Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...
. Additionally, a second numbering system was applied to photocopies made of the partbooks, though these were made after the four lost books of the Caroline set went missing.
The music preserved in the partbooks is entirely sacred, consisting of Masses,
y soul
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
magnifies
he Lord
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...
s,
Services
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...
,
anthem
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...
s, 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. The partbooks are exceptional for their preservation both of famous composers, such as
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one o ...
,
William Byrd
William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He ...
, and
Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax (23 April 1464 – 24 October 1521) was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.
Biography
He was born in Deeping Gate, Linco ...
, and much lesser-known composers such as Arthur Chamberlayne, John Darke, John Norman, and Johann Hector Beck. Only two works in the Henrician set are by non-English composers: the motet "Aspice Domine" is elsewhere ascribed to Jacquet de Mantua, and a Mass based on the motet "Surrexit pastor bonus" by
Andreas de Silva
Andreas de Silva ( fl. 1520) was a composer, probably of Portuguese origin, who is known mainly from inclusion of five motets in the Medici Codex.Winfried Kirsch, Die Motetten des Andreas de Silva (Tutzing: Schneider, 1977),
Now attributed to de ...
is labeled by a "Lupus Italus" in the partbooks, but it is unclear who this composer might be.
A complete list of the composers represented in the Peterhouse partbooks is given below.
The repertoire in the Peterhouse partbooks shows considerable overlap with that preserved in other contemporary manuscripts:
St John's College, Oxford
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...
181 the Christ Church Cathedral partbooks (Oxford,
Christ Church Library
Christ Church Library is a Georgian building that forms the south side of Peckwater Quadrangle in Christ Church, Oxford, England. To the east is Canterbury Quadrangle. The library houses the college's modern lending library and early printed bo ...
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 ...
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
Hugh Aston
Hugh Aston (also spelled ''Asseton'', ''Assheton'', ''Ashton'', ''Haston''; c. 1485 – buried 17 November 1558) was an English composer of the early Tudor period. While little of his music survives, he is notable for his innovative keyboard a ...
Robert Fayrfax
Robert Fayrfax (23 April 1464 – 24 October 1521) was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.
Biography
He was born in Deeping Gate, Linco ...
Nicholas Ludford
Nicholas Ludford (c. 1485 – 1557) was an English composer of the Tudor period. He is known for his festal masses, which are preserved in two early-16th-century choirbooks, the Caius Choirbook at Caius College, Cambridge, and the Lambeth Choirb ...
* Lupus/Lupus Italus
*
Jacquet of Mantua Jacquet of Mantua (Jacques Colebault, dit Jachet de Mantoue) (1483 – October 2, 1559) was a FrenchGeorge Nugent. "Jacquet of Mantua." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 23 Sep. 2010 . composer of the Renaissance, who spent almost his entire ...
* Edward Martyn
* John Mason
*
John Merbecke
John Marbeck, Merbeck or Merbecke () was an English choral composer and theological writer whose musical setting of the early Anglican liturgy standardised the sung Anglican service until the late 20th century. He is also known today for his s ...
William Pasche
William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norm ...
asor
The asor ( he, עָשׂוֹר ''ʿasor''; from עשר ''eśer'', meaning "ten") was a musical instrument "of ten strings" mentioned in the Bible. There is little agreement on what sort of instrument it was or to what instruments it had similaritie ...
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one o ...
*
John Taverner
John Taverner ( – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas'' and ''The Western Wynde Mass'', and ''Missa Coro ...
*
Christopher Tye
Christopher Tye (c.1505 – before 1573) was an English Renaissance composer and organist. Probably born in Cambridgeshire, he trained at the University of Cambridge and became the master of the choir at Ely Cathedral. He is noted as the music ...
John Amner
John Amner (1579–1641) was an English composer.
A composer of sacred works, Amner was born in Ely and had a close association with Ely Cathedral, even before his employment there as ''Informator choristarum'' (1610–1641), through his rela ...
*
Adelard of Bath
Adelard of Bath ( la, Adelardus Bathensis; 1080? 1142–1152?) was a 12th-century English natural philosopher. He is known both for his original works and for translating many important Arabic and Greek scientific works of astrology, astronom ...
*
Adrian Batten
Adrian Batten (c. 1591 – c. 1637) was an English organist and Anglican church composer. He was active during an important period of English church music, between the Reformation and the Civil War in the 1640s. During this period the litur ...
John Bull
John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...
*
William Byrd
William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He ...
*
William Child
William Child (160623 March 1697) was an English composer and organist.
Early life
Born in Bristol, Child was a chorister in the cathedral under the direction of Elway Bevin. In 1630 he began his lifetime association with St. George's Chape ...
*
William Cranford
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...
Richard Dering
Richard Dering (''c.'' 1580–1630) — also Deering, Dearing, Diringus, etc. — was an English Renaissance composer during the era of late Tudor music. He is noted for his pioneering use of compositional techniques which anticipated the advent ...
Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons ( bapt. 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer and keyboard player who was one of the last masters of the English Virginalist School and English Madrigal School. The best known member of a musical famil ...
* Gibbons/W. Smith
*
Nathaniel Giles
Nathaniel Giles (1558 – 1633 or 1634) was an English Renaissance organist and composer. He was the organist for Worcester Cathedral and wrote Anglican anthems.
While Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal he took over Blackfriars Theatre in ...
John Hilton the Younger
John Hilton (ca. 15991657) was an English early Baroque composer.Peter Le Huray; Ian Spink: ''Hilton, John (ii)'', New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980 He is best known for his books ''Ayres or Fa-Las for Three Voices'' and ''Catch Tha ...
Henry Loosemore
Henry Loosemore ( – 7 July 1670) was an English organist and composer who served as organist of King's College, Cambridge from 1627 until his death.John Lugge
*
Thomas Mace
Thomas Mace (1612 or 1613 – c. 1706) was an English lutenist, viol player, singer, composer and musical theorist of the Baroque music, Baroque era. His book ''Musick's Monument'' (1676) provides a valuable description of 17th century musica ...
* Marson
* Henry Molle
*
Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the Englis ...
Osbert Parsley
Osbert Parsley (1510/15111585) was an English Renaissance composer and chorister. Few details of his life are known, but he evidently married in 1558, and lived for a period in the parish of St Saviour's Church, Norwich. A boy chorister at N ...
Martin Peerson
Martin Peerson (or Pearson, Pierson, Peereson) (between 1571 and 1573 – December 1650 or January 1651 and buried 16 January 1651) was an English composer, organist and virginalist. Despite Roman Catholic leanings at a time when it was illegal n ...
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one o ...
*
John Taverner
John Taverner ( – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for ''Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas'' and ''The Western Wynde Mass'', and ''Missa Coro ...
*
Thomas Tomkins
Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 9 June 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort mus ...
*
Christopher Tye
Christopher Tye (c.1505 – before 1573) was an English Renaissance composer and organist. Probably born in Cambridgeshire, he trained at the University of Cambridge and became the master of the choir at Ely Cathedral. He is noted as the music ...
Thomas Warwick
Thomas Warwick (or Warrick) was a poet and unbeneficed clergyman of Cornish origin, born about 1755, died after 1785. He took part in the revival of the sonnet form at the end of the 18th century and his other writing included odes and poems on me ...
*
Thomas Weelkes
Thomas Weelkes (baptised 25 October 1576 – 30 November 1623) was an English composer and organist. He became organist of Winchester College in 1598, moving to Chichester Cathedral. His works are chiefly vocal, and include madrigals, anthe ...
Because of the missing partbooks, much of the music in the Peterhouse partbooks had not ever been recorded until recently. Nicholas Sandon, however, has spent numerous years researching the Peterhouse partbooks and has devoted considerable time to reconstructing lost vocal parts. Sandon was formerly Professor of Music at
University College, Cork
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...
and at
Exeter University
, mottoeng = "We Follow the Light"
, established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter)
, type = Public
, ...
, and now acts as general editor of Antico Edition, which is publishing his reconstructions of the music found in the Peterhouse Partbooks.
Based on Sandon's reconstructions, the
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
-based early music ensemble Blue Heron has released a five-CD series of music from the Henrician set of the Peterhouse partbooks, including compositions by Hugh Aston, Robert Jones, John Mason, Nicholas Ludford, Richard Pygott, and Robert Hunt. Additionally, the
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
-based Byrd Ensemble released the album ''Our Lady: Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks'', also based on Sandon's reconstructions, in 2011.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* {{Cite journal, title = Fragments of Medieval Polyphony at Canterbury Cathedral, jstor = 20532186, journal =
Musica Disciplina
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 ...
, year = 1976, pages = 37–53, volume = 30, first = Nicholas, last = Sandon