P-G (Guimarães) Arquivo Municipal Alfredo Pimenta P 641

This fragment records a rare, post-Carolingian Alleluia, Percussa gladio, for the feast of St. Catherine (its dissemination encompasses Genève, Lyons, southern France, and the Iberian Peninsula). It is an even rarer witness to its prolix melody — of which only the ending can be seen in the fragment —, illustrating the words fluit unda salubris with a generous wave of melodic flow. The contents in the feast in this folio differ from the primitive Braga tradition (represented by the Missals of 1498 and 1538) but correspond to the Braga Missal of 1558 and to the latest layer in Braga Códices, nº 37 (where the melody was recomposed in a simplifying vein, probably during the 18th-century). The evidence suggests that the fragment belonged to a volume (prepared in the Braga region around 1558 or slightly later) meant to update the liturgy, that remained incomplete and was later disposed of. The choice of the Alleluia Percussa gladio and the Communion Simile est regnum (taken from the Common of Virgins and Martyrs) coincide with the Salamanca Missal of 1533, suspected of having influenced Braga's liturgical renewal. For details, see comments to the indexed chants.