Add MS 54324

POLYPHONIC MUSIC: three bifolia of polyphonic music, being fragments from a lost manuscript; mid-late 15th cent. Latin text. The fragments contain unique material, including works by Dunstable and Plummer. Five line staves. Numbers of stave to page as follows: 12 (ff. 1, 5); 11 (ff. 1v-2, 3v-4, 5v-6v); 10 (ff. 2v-3). Black-void mensural notation with black-full colouration. For a full discussion of the item, see M. and I. Bent, 'Dufay, Dunstable, Plummer - A New Source', Journal of the American Musicological Society, xxii, No. 3 (1969),

pp. 394-424. See also: G. Warner, Descriptive Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts in the Library of C. W. Dyson Perrins (1920), no. 19, i, pp. 68-70; A. Planchart, 'Dufay's Masses: Notes and Revisions', The Musical Quarterly (1972), pp. 1-23. 'Henry –', written, and excised, 16th cent., probably while the MS. was in its original state (f. 3). The name 'John' and other pen trials in an early 17th cent. hand, ff. 5v-6. 'B.7.1.', in pencil in an 18th-19th cent. hand, f. 5. Warner saw the leaves tucked inside the cover of the Stourton Psalter when cataloguing the Dyson Perrins manuscripts around 1920, see Warner, op. cit.,

pp. 68-70. The Stourton Psalter was owned by George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (d.1833) and sold at the Sutherland sale at Sotheby's,

23 Nov. 1906, lot 1350. The Psalter was purchased by C. W. Dyson Perrins from Quaritch in 1915, and sold at Sotheby's in the Dyson Perrins sale, Part III, 29 Nov. 1960, lot 120. The Psalter and music were afterwards owned by Harold Charles Gilbert Drayton (d.1966). Purchased at Sotheby's, 12 Dec. 1967, lot 58, with the aid of contributions from Professor Thurston Dart and from an anonymous donor.

Paper; ff. 6. Two bifolia (ff. 1-4v, 2-3v) are from the same quire. On musical grounds it appears that ff. 1/2 and 3/4 were adjacent, but not 2/3, arguing that leaves are missing from the centre of the gathering (see Bent, op. cit., p. 395). The third bifolia (ff. 5-6v) was probably not from the same gathering. ff. 5/6 were not adjacent in the manuscript. Dimensions, approx.: ff. 1-4. 225 x 350mm; ff. 2-3. 280 x 360mm; ff. 5-6. 285 x 355mm. Trimmed, with loss of text. ff. 1-4 imperfect at head, with loss of 3-4 staves. Although it has been suggested that the material was used in the binding of the Stourton Psalter, it appears that the bifolia were in fact used opened out and placed lengthways as end-papers in a much larger manuscript. ff. 2v-3 and 5v-6 bear stains where a cover has overlapped the edge of the paper and both show traces of sewing holes circa 65mm. from the lengthways inner edge, which would have left the inner strip of each end-paper as a strengthener. Pen trials (early 17th cent.) occur horizontally on ff. 5v-6 and lengthways on the strengthening strip portion of these leaves. The MS. may have been re-covered at some stage as some of the pen trials occur in an area covered by the stain from the former cover (f. 6). It does not appear that the end-papers were directly pasted to the boards as they are too clean. Other material was probably placed between the end-papers and the boards, perhaps including ff. 1-4, which is very clean but imperfect: the part of the leaf used as a strengthening strip in the other two bifolia is missing, apparently torn off. Mid-late 15th cent. English hands as follows: A. ff. 1-4v, 6-6v;- B. ff. 5-5v. Watermarks: A. Bull's head, with star. nr. Briquet 15082. ff. 3, 4;- B. Crown. Briquet 4846. f. 5. Mounted behind glass. Stained and damaged, with text loss.

Contents:

1. f. 1. Kyrie Deus creator. Imperfect.

2. ff. 1v-2. John Plummer, Kyrie Deus creator. Imperfect.

3. f. 2v. Plummer, Gloria.

4. f. 3. John Dunstable, Descendi in ortum meum.

5. ff. 3v-4v. Dunstable. Gaude flore virginali. Printed in Bent, op. cit., pp. 415-424.

6. f. 5. Antiphon, Speciosa facta es.

7. f. 5v. Asperges me domine.

8. ff. 6-6v. Guillaume Dufay, Kyrie Deus creator from the Caput Mass.

Liturgies LATIN: Music: Polyphony by Dufay, Dunstable, Plummer, etc.,: mid-late 15th cent: Lat: Fragments.

includes:

• ff. 1v-2v Music: John Plummer, composer: Kyrie and Gloria by John Plummer: mid-late 15th cent.
• ff. 3, 4 Watermarks: Bull's head with star: circa 1469.
• f. 5 Watermarks: Crown: circa 1465-1466.