Livro dos defuntos P-Cug (Coimbra) Biblioteca Geral da Universidade MM 0034

Archive: 
P-Cug (Coimbra) Biblioteca Geral da Universidade
Siglum: 
P-Cug MM 0034
Shelfmark: 
MM 0034
Source type: 
Polyphonic book
Subcategory of source: 
Choirbook
Category: 
polyphony
Completeness: 
complete or nearly complete
Document type: 
manuscript
Origin: 
Coimbra
Main place of use: 
Coimbra?
Provenance: 
Coimbra, Mosteiro de Santa Cruz
Date: 
late 16th century (1570s or 1580s)
Type of notation: 
Mensural (white)
Material: 
Paper
Contents: 

Collection of music for Office and Mass for the Dead

Composers: 
Bernal
Cristo, Pedro de, Dom
Cruzada
Fernandes, Aires
Gomes (Correia), Fernão
Guerrero, Francisco
Lopes, António
Morales, Cristóbal de
Mouro, Francisco
Moutinho, André
Trosilho, Bartolomeu
Foliation/Pagination: 
45 fols
Gathering: 
First section (fols 1-40) consists of five gatherings (cf analysis in Rees 1995, pp. 240-41, Table 9). Second section added later by same person and who also ruled the margins and staves
Page layout: 
Choirbook format; 425 x 285 mm
Condition of document: 
Good
Watermarks: 

Type of paper used also appears in P-Cug MM 44 (cf Rees pp. 240, 376 and 403). Two watermarks found (illus. Rees 1995, p. 403)

Bindings: 
Old, possibly original, soft covers of light brown leather, with remains of leather ties
Decoration: 
Decorative initials
Inscriptions: 

Inscription on cover: Livro dos defuntos

Remarks: 

None of composers attributed in manuscript can be identified with the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, although it seems likely that the manuscript originated in Coimbra. The music is exclusively Iberian in origin. The MS appears to have been prepared by a single person, who carried out the work in two main stages, corresponding to the first 40 folios and the last seven (now five). (Cf Rees 1995, p. 240.) The book appears to have been specifically compiled for performance; it also includes many written instructions to the singers. The MS gives the appearance of having been frequently used; it also has many drops of wax on the folios. (Further information in Rees 1995, pp. 241-42.)
Original ink foliation. Original fol. 046 is missing; the last surviving folio (fol. 047) not given a number. This last folio has been given the new folio number fol. 046r here (= fol. [047]: see Rees 1995, p. 239)

References: 

REES, Owen, Polyphony in Portugal c. 1530 – c. 1620. Sources from the Monastery of Santa Cruz, Coimbra, New York & London / Garland, 1995, pp. 237-45, 376 & 403

ALVARENGA, João Pedro d', 'Patterns for Sixteenth- to Seventeenth-Century Portuguese Polyphonic Settings of the Requiem Mass', in Música e História: Estudos em Homenagem a Manuel Carlos de Brito, eds M.P, Ferreira and R. Cascudo, Lisbon, 2017, pp. 53-76

Name of the source: 
Livro dos defuntos
Completed on: 
2013-05-09
Description author/s: 
Bernadette Nelson
Reviewed by: 
Bernadette Nelson