P-Cug (Coimbra) Biblioteca Geral da Universidade MM 0033
P-Cug MM 0033
First surviving page of P-Cug MM 33 (fol. 02r) has likely self-portrait of Pedro de Cristo in the place of an initial, entitled 'D. PETRVS' AVT(OR)'. Elaborate coloured and gold initials within manuscript
Choirbook format. 421 x 275 mm
i + 125 + i fols
Old covers of white leather over boards. (Material similar to that used for P-Cug MM 36.) Book rebound between 1937 and 1941
Copied by Pedro de Cristo in the 1580s (autograph manuscript). Original ink foliation, with several irregularities (see details in Rees 1995, p. 229). Manuscript prepared in advance of copying, with margins and staves ruled throughout the book. This manuscript was used later by the copyists of P-Cug MM 44 and MM 53, who recopied much of the music. Motets in this manuscript reflect music for high-ranking feasts ('of four cantors'), as represented in the printed 1531 Breviary (Breuiarium secundum usum insignis monasterii sanctae crucis colimbriensis) and other books pertaining to the monastery. These feasts include the Exaltation and the Invention of the Holy Cross, and the Nativity of St John Baptist. Also represented are the feasts of St Martin of Tours and St (Queen) Isabel, two saints of particular devotion in Portugal (cf Rees 1995, p. 235). [NOTE: from 'Asperges me', fols 118v-119r onwards, the numbering of the images does not correspond with the manuscript inventory owing to the loss of two folios in the manuscript]
REES, Owen (1994), 'Newly Identifed Holograph Manuscripts from Late-Renaissance Portugal', Early Music 22, pp. 261-77
REES, Owen (1995), Polyphony in Portugal c. 1530 – c. 1620. Sources from the Monastery of Santa Cruz, Coimbra, New York & London: Garland, pp. 229-36, 376 & 400-402
REES, Owen (1998), Music by Pedro de Cristo: An Edition of the Motets from Coimbra Biblioteca Geral da Universidade, MM 33, Amsterdam: Harvard Academic Publishers. [Introduction includes list of works by Pedro de Cristo in surviving Portuguese sources]