P-EVp (Évora) Biblioteca Pública Pasta 3, doc. 026
P-EVp Pasta 3, doc. 026
This fragment contains offices for Pentecost and some days within its octave. All feasts are characterized by a certain lack of fixity and interchangeability of chants throughout the entire week.
Taller initials of a rather distinct French appearance in red, blue, green and sepia ink. Inner filigree sometimes, flourishes expanding to the side of the page and zoomorphic characteristics.
On the top right of fol. Ar, modern hand, penciled: "doc. 21". On the bottom left of fol. Br, upside down, modern hand, penciled: "Évora, n.º 67 / (Notarial)"; on the top right: "doc. 26". On the bottom right of fol. Bv, upside down, in ink: "1556 / Julho 1556 / the 7bro dito".
Fair overall. Two minor holes in the upper side of fol. A; moderate to severe ink fade in the exposed sides Ar - Bv; inner sides Av - Br in good condition.
Two columns of text and music per folio. Overall dimensions: 370 x 500 mm (each folio: 370 x 250 mm; written area, 300 x 190 mm)
On the top of fol. Br alone, possibly original foliation "xxxix", barely visible, either erased or faded out.
Given the interval across the feasts of fol. Av and Br (Feria 2a and 6a Pent.), about two to four more bifolios were probably posited inside of this one.
This fragment's choice of chants and their succession mirror the expectable strong ties with Aquitanian and Iberian traditions, as well as presenting some rather rare items that are apparently only circumscribed to Aquitanian-Iberian sources. One example is the short responsory verse 007530zb.
Further analysis could help clarifying the origins of this fragment as well as feasts within the octave of Pentecost in Portugal, especially when set against sources more complete and of safer origins such as P-BRs Ms. 32 and the Évora 1528 printed breviary (P-Ln RES. 253 P).
In July 2023, João Pedro d'Alvarenga presented a paper at the Munich MedRen Conference where he pointed out that the responsory Erant omnes apostoli appears with the prosula Alle nunc hodie summa voce (both copied in this source) in only a few manuscripts. A full-fledged study, where the connection of this fragment with the liturgical tradition of E-Tc 44.2 is made clear, was published afterwards (see References).
ALVARENGA, João Pedro d'. «The Pentecost Responsory Erant omnes apostoli, its Borrowed Melismas, a Rare Prosula, and Portuguese Fragments Containing it», in Fragmenta Musicae: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. João Pedro d’Alvarenga, Manuel Pedro Ferreira, and Alberto Medina de Seiça, Turnhout: Brepols, 2025, pp. 293-325.