The Old Hall Manuscript (British Library, Add MS 57950) is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for late

Medieval 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, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

English music. The manuscript somehow survived the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, and formerly belonged to St. Edmund's College, a Roman Catholic school located at

Old Hall Green Old Hall Green is a hamlet in Hertfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Standon. In 1793, an academy, St. Edmund's College, Ware, was established there which provided a school for Catholic b ...

(hence its name) in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. It was sold to 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 ...

after an auction at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

in 1973.

Overview

The manuscript contains 148 compositions overall, 77 of which are written in score rather than in separate parts. Most of the pieces are settings of parts of the ordinary of the

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 ...

, and are grouped by section. In other words, the settings of the Gloria are together, as are the settings of the ''

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 sett ...

'', ''

Sanctus The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition. In Western Christianity, the ...

'', and ''Agnus Dei''. Between these grouped settings are some

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 pieces related to the

conductus The ''conductus'' (plural: ''conducti'') was a sacred Latin song in the Middle Ages, one whose poetry and music were newly composed. It is non-liturgical since its Latin lyric borrows little from previous chants. The conductus was northern Frenc ...

. The Old Hall Manuscript was compiled in the early 15th century, probably over a period of about 20 years. The hands of several copyists are identifiable, and some of them may be those of the composers themselves. Recent research has suggested that work on the manuscript ended with the death of Thomas, Duke of Clarence, in 1421, a somewhat later date than was previously suggested. This date allows the fitting into the chronology of the most recent piece in the manuscript, the wedding motet by

Byttering Byttering (also Bytering, Bytteryng, or Biteryng; ) was an English composer during the stylistic transitional from Medieval music, medieval to Renaissance music, Renaissance music. Five of his compositions have survived in the ''Old Hall Manuscri ...

which was almost certainly written for the marriage of

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1 ...

and

Catherine of Valois Catherine of Valois or Catherine of France (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was Queen of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of Charles VI of France, she was married to Henry V of England and gave birth to his heir Henry VI of Englan ...

on 2 June 1420, as well as a group of motets by several composers, the titles of which closely match written accounts of the music played at the celebration of the victory of Agincourt in 1415.

Musical styles and techniques

Various musical styles and techniques are represented including English

discant A descant, discant, or is any of several different things in music, depending on the period in question; etymologically, the word means a voice (''cantus'') above or removed from others. The Harvard Dictionary of Music states: A descant is a ...

, treble-dominated works,

isorhythm Isorhythm (from the Greek for "the same rhythm") is a musical technique using a repeating rhythmic pattern, called a ''talea'', in at least one voice part throughout a composition. ''Taleae'' are typically applied to one or more melodic patterns o ...

ic compositions, and

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

s. A complex Credo (No. 75 in the manuscript) includes a three-voice mensuration canon among its five voices; it is notated in black, red and blue notes. The Old Hall Manuscript is significant for confirming the existence and character of specifically English musical traits, the extent of the development of English music, as well as the influence of continental practices. In particular it shows a tendency in England to focus on musical complexities, such as canons, at a time when music on the continent was increasingly tending towards simplicity. Whether this trend generally continued in the 15th century in England is hard to determine because of the poor survival of manuscripts from that time, but it was well established by the middle of the 15th century, for example at the Burgundian court, that there was a style which was identifiably English"la contenance angloise", according to

Martin le Franc Martin le Franc ( – 1461) was a French poet of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Life and career He was born in Normandy, and studied in Paris. He entered clerical orders, becoming an apostolic prothonotary, and later becoming secretar ...

in his poem of 1441–1442 ''Le Champion des Dames''. On the other hand, the Old Hall Manuscript is an impressive example of French influence in England.

Manfred Bukofzer Manfred Fritz Bukofzer (27 March 1910 – 7 December 1955) was a German-born American musicologist. Life and career He studied at Heidelberg University and the Stern conservatory in Berlin, but left Germany in 1933 for Switzerland, where he ob ...

, writing in ''Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music'' (1950) wrote: "The greatest surprise of the Old Hall Repertory is unquestionably the prominent role of isorhythmic technique, which is irrefutable proof of a strong French influence." As English musicians were well known at the Burgundian court, French musicians may also have been known in England. It has been suggested that

Pycard PYCARD, often referred to as ASC (Apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''PYCARD'' gene. It is localized mainly in the nucleus of monocytes and macrophages. In case of pathogen in ...

, composer of the canon No. 75, was actually French; but this is unlikely on stylistic grounds. The influence of the Low Countries may be discerned in the music of Oliver. One feature of the repertoire is the cultivation of dissonance, comparable perhaps to the music in the

Cyprus Manuscript Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

of a couple of decades later. Good examples can be heard in the music of John Cooke and Damett. A historically significant development was the occasional use of ''divisi'', the earliest certain evidence of polyphony being sung by a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

of two or more voices per part.

Composers represented

Composers with works in the Old Hall Manuscript include

Leonel Power Leonel Power (also spelled ''Lionel, Lyonel, Leonellus, Leonelle''; ''Polbero''; 1370 to 1385 – 5 June 1445) was an English composer of the late Medieval and early Renaissance music. Along with John Dunstaple, he was a dominant figure of 15th ...

, William Typp, Thomas

, Oliver, Chirbury, Excetre, John Cooke, Roy Henry (probably

King Henry V Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the ...

, but possibly King Henry IV), Queldryk, John Tyes, Aleyn, Fonteyns, Gervays, Lambe, Nicholas Sturgeon, Thomas Damett, and others. The manuscript also contains some works by foreign musicians, including Antonio Zachara da Teramo and Mayshuet.

Scholarly editions

The Old Hall manuscript yA. Ramsbotham. Nashdom Abbey : Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Soc., 1933. The Old Hall manuscript transcribed and edited by Andrew Hughes and

Margaret Bent Margaret Bent CBE , (born Margaret Hilda Bassington; 23 December 1940) is an English musicologist who specializes in music of the late medieval and Renaissance eras. In particular, she has written extensively on the Old Hall Manuscript, English ...

. Dallas (Tex.):

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 ...

, 1969-1973. (

Corpus mensurabilis musicae The ''Corpus mensurabilis musicae'' (CMM) is a collected print edition of most of the sacred and secular vocal music of the late medieval and Renaissance period in western music history, with an emphasis on the central Franco-Flemish and Italian re ...

; 46)

References

External links