Add MS 40011 B

LEAVES and fragments from two choir-books, taken from the binding of 40011 A.

1. Eight strips of vellum, containing portions of sequences or hymns, with music of black square notes on a five-line stave, 14th cent. The strips fall into four groups and apparently contain fragments of sequences or hymns to the following saints :- (a) ff. 1-3 (consecutive), recto, to St. Margaret, beg. at words " absorbet oris faucibus set crux tam inuincibilis"; verso, to St Catherine (?), beg. at " flos regalis triumphalis honorum catholicorum " ;- (b) ff. 4, 5 (consecutive), recto to St.Catherine (?), beg. " -nium genitricem personantes melodias canticum ob gaudium quo glorificauit seculum " ; verso, without words;- (c) ff. 6, 7 (consecutive) recto to St. William [? Archbp. of Bourges], beg. " hostium ob amorem regis altissimi diuinitus iam deuicisti seculum"; verso, to St. Catherine, beg. "Rota Katerine fit seuissima rota mundi bine " ;- (d) f. 8 recto, music without words, rubrics " Recita formosa (?) " and " Recita Christiana"; verso blank.

2. Six paper leaves (ff. 9, 10 and ff. 13, 14 consecutive, ff. 11, 12 formerly the central leaves of a gathering) containing several settings of portions of the Mass, viz. :- (a) [Gloria in excelsis Deo] " et in terra pax " ; (b) Sanctus; (c) Agnus Dei; (d) Credo, followed by motets, " Supplicum voces percipe deus " and " Alme pater, pastor uerus Christicolarum omnium," for 2 to 5 voices. Only one part of the Gloria on f. 11, and two parts of the Credo (f. 13) is given, but other parts are missing. Written on a stave of 5 lines with square and diamondshaped void and black notes, in two or three hands of the latter half of the 15th cent. The voice parts are given separately, except those of the " Sanctus " and " Agnus Dei," which are arranged one above another, as in modern score. The names of the composers are not given, but three of the settings can be identified with compositions which occur in a MS. of about the same date in the possession of St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, Ware (W. Barclay Squire, " Notes on an undescribed collection of English 15th century music," in Sammelbände der Internationalen Musik-Gesellschaft, 1901, p. 342), viz. " Gloria " (f. 9 b) = Old Hall MS. no. 26, by - Rowland ; " Sanctus " (top of f. 11 b)=Old Hall no. 97; " Credo" (f. 13) = Old Hall no. 86. The " Gloria " on f. 13 b is the same as that on f. 10 b, with a fourth part added. The collection, like that of the Old Hall MS.. probably represents the work of the English native school of composers of mid-15th cent., rather than of the contemporary English continental school.

3. Vellum binding, with thick hide back, of 40011 A. f. 15. Vellum (ff. 1-8, 15) and paper (ff. 9-14). XIV and XV centt. Quarto.