P-VV (Vila Viçosa) Biblioteca do Palácio Real A.M. A-003
P-VV A.M. A-003
Gothic parted/puzzle and pen-flourished red and blue initials inscribed in square frames with blue filigree, on fols. ff. [0]v and 12r. Roman initials in plain square frames, in blue and gold, on fols. 17v-18r, 21v-22r, 24v-25r, 31v-32r, 34v-35r, 38v. Black cadel initials recur throughout the entire book.
Good. The paper shows signs of wear, particularly light damp and grease stains in the bottom fore-edge corners. Small wormholes until fol. [13-bis], at the bottom of the pages, especially near the gutter. Larger and darker damp stains in fols. 19-20. Ink corrosion in fols. 17-20. Fols. 17-18 were reinforced with pasted-on paper sheets; the one over fol. 17r obscures musical items: marginal inscriptions giving tones by hand B partially visible. Throughout the book, smaller glued-on paper patches are visible. The book underwent new rebinding after 1989, to replace the ‘much worn-out’ original cover, mentioned by Alegria and Joaquim (Alegria, Catálogo, 1989, 13; Joaquim, Vinte livros, 1953, 7); during this renewal operation, the bottom fore-edge corners of fols. 51-63 were redone.
Choirbook format. 480 × 364 mm
70 fols. = 2 front endpapers + 1 non-numbered folio (index and section title) + 63 numbered folios (1 non-numbered folio between fols. 13 and 14) + 1 non-numbered folio + 2 back endpapers. Missing: fols. 15-16.
Despite the book’s heterogeneity, the foliation is continuous and was done by the same hand (datable to the 17th century), even though it is absent from some folios. The endpapers are not original (posterior to 1989).
Highly irregular, since the book is made up of several gatherings of different origins, and original collation obscured by subsequent processes of rebinding.
Brown calf leather over boards. The binding was completely redone in renovation posterior to 1989 which replaced the original binding.
JOAQUIM, Manuel, Vinte livros de música polifónica do Paço Ducal de Vila Viçosa (Lisbon: Fundação da Casa de Bragança, 1953) [= Joaquim, Vinte livros, 1953], pp. 95-103 (Livro n.º 9)
ALEGRIA, José Augusto, Biblioteca do Palácio Real de Vila Viçosa: Catálogo dos Fundos Musicais (Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1973) [= Alegria, Catálogo, 1989], pp. 13-14 (A. Livros de música religiosa manuscrita, no. 3)
RYAN, Michael, "Music in the Chapel of the Dukes of Bragança, Vila Viçosa", PhD diss. (University of London, 2001)
Museu-Biblioteca da Casa de Bragança, Vila Viçosa. Catálogo do Arquivo Musical (pdf), Secção A