P-Cug (Coimbra) Biblioteca Geral da Universidade MM 0049 [capa] + MM 0232 [capa] + MM 0234 [capa] + MM 0236 [capa] + MM 0243 [capa]

Archive
P-Cug (Coimbra) Biblioteca Geral da Universidade
Shelfmark
MM 0049 [capa] + MM 0232 [capa] + MM 0234 [capa] + MM 0236 [capa] + MM 0243 [capa]
Siglum

P-Cug MM 0049 [capa] + MM 0232 [capa] + MM 0234 [capa] + MM 0236 [capa] + MM 0243 [capa]

Source type
Tonary
Category
monophony
Completeness
fragment
Document type
manuscript
Origin
Coimbra, Mosteiro de Santa Cruz
Main place of use
Coimbra, Mosteiro de Santa Cruz
Date
16th century
Contents

Tones for Psalms, Introit Psalm Verses, and Responsory Verses.

Type of script
Late Gothic
Type of notation
Mensural (white)
Semi-mensural
Square
Description of the notation

Square notation with oblique pes and scandicus, and use of custos, over red pentagram (Iberian traits). Semi-mensural notation with square and lozenge shapes. For the mensural notation on a section of fol. Cr1, see MM0233 (capa) + MM0234 (capa).

Decoration

Some decorated initials in blue with sepia filigree.

Inscriptions

On Fragment Br1 (MM 236d) someone pencilled in modern times an index of polyphonic works, possibly found in the codex that these fragments covered, P-Cug MM 236, written in the 1660s. A glued sticker of the Coro Polyphonia - Schola Cantorum, founded in 1941 in Lisbon and directed until 1966 by musicologist Mário de Sampayo Ribeiro, makes it plausible that at some point he appropriated the book for his own use and was the one responsible for the scribbling.  

Material
Parchment
Condition of document

Fair overall. Minor loss of contents due to library stamps and occasional faded ink.

Page layout

Fragment A [MM 49] c. 485 x 310; Fragment B [MM 236] c. 530 x c. 360; Fragment C [MM 243] c. 435 x 295 (+ another fragment sewed with c. 120x c. 295); Fragment D [MM 234] c. 430 x 315 (+ another fragment sewed with c. 125 x c. 315); Fragment E [MM 232], c. 430 x c. 310 (with another fragment sewed with c. 110 x c. 310).

Remarks

MM49 Contains a rare chant, based on Proverbs 30:18, a passage commented upon by several theologians, but found here in reverse order: Quartum penitus ignoro cum sint tria difficilia mihi. As the chant appears after the third tone (which may have started on the strip of parchment glued on top of fol. Ev: Tertius tonus sic incipit), it may be intended as a newly-composed illustration of the fourth mode (in spite of the high C), as suggested by the rubric: D[emons]tratio [...] modi. MM234 is apparently composed of two fragments from different books. One of them, with square notation, is related to MM49 above. The other, with semi-mensural notation, includes the hymn Hostis herodes impie (CAO 8248), for Epiphany, and is related to MM50 / MM51. MM236 comes from the same book as MM49 and MM234; it contains a newly-composed chant in fifth mode, Quintum sigillum cum aperuisset vidi subtus..., based on a passage from the Apocalypse, 6:9, with the order of the text reversed. MM243 consists of apparently two fragments from different books. The outer fragment corresponds to MM233. The inner fragment comes from the same Tonary as do three fragments above (MM49, MM234, MM236). The presence in this Tonary of new compositions freely based on Biblical texts usually removed from liturgical experience suggests a scholarly and reform-minded environment, such as that encountered at Santa Cruz de Coimbra in the second quarter of the 16th century. The origin in Santa Cruz is confirmed by the presence of the full tonary in P-Cug MM 37.

Description author/s
Alberto Medina de Seiça
Manuel P. Ferreira
Indexed by
Alberto Medina de Seiça
Project ID
PTDC/ART-PER/0902/2020
Reviewed by
Giulio Minniti