The Dow Partbooks (Christ Church, Mus. MSS 984–988) are a collection of five
partbooks compiled by
Robert Dow in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
around 1581–88. The collection includes mostly choral but also some instrumental pieces. At the end is an instrumental ''La gamba'' and a canon, both a 3 and apparently copied from
Vincenzo Ruffo's book printed in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in 1564.
The partbooks are an important source for
Tudor music
Early music of Britain and Ireland, from the earliest recorded times until the beginnings of the Baroque in the 17th century, was a diverse and rich culture, including sacred and secular music and ranging from the popular to the elite. Each of the ...
, and the sole known source for some of the pieces. Robert Dow was a trained
calligrapher
Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
and the books are unusually easy to read among manuscripts of the
Tudor period
The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began wit ...
. All works were copied by him, with the exception of numbers 53–4, which were copied by John Baldwin (a singing-man at St George's Chapel), and nos. 99–100, which were copied by an unidentified person. The numberings following no. 54 were added by several other people at a later time (19th century), in sequences that do not coincide perfectly.
The collection was acquired by
Henry Aldrich
Henry Aldrich (15 January 1648 – 14 December 1710) was an English theologian, philosopher, and composer.
Life
Aldrich was educated at Westminster School under Dr Richard Busby. In 1662, he entered Christ Church, Oxford, and in 1689 was ma ...
and donated to
Christ Church, Oxford as part of his bequest to the college following his death in 1710.
Contents
* N.B. pieces are numbered sequentially in the table above, rather than following the numbering of the MS, which contains some errors and is inconsistent between the partbooks.
References
Bibliography
* ''The Dow Partbooks, Oxford, Christ Church Mus. 984-988: facsimile with introduction by John Milsom'' (Oxford: DIAMM Publications, 2010)
* D. Mateer: ''Oxford, Christ Church Music MSS 984–8; an Index and Commentary'', RMARC, no.20 (1986–7), 1–18
External links
* High quality, fully zoomable images of the Dow Partbooks are available at the
Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music
The Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) is an online database of all European polyphonic music sources before 1550. Founded in 1998, it is based in Oxford and maintained by the University of Oxford's Music Faculty and the Bodleian Li ...
(DIAMM) (free registration required):
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GB-Och Mus. 984(Discantus)
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GB-Och Mus. 985(Medius)
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GB-Och Mus. 986(Altus)
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GB-Och Mus. 987(Tenor)
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GB-Och Mus. 988(Bassus)
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{{Anglican church music
Music publications
Renaissance music manuscript sources
Books on English music