[Hymnal]

[Hymnal]

Parchment?; f. 1; 10 lines of text and of 5-line staves for the music. Written in a squared gothic book hand. Music in Hufnagelschrift with a custos at the end of each set of staves. Initials in alternating red or blue occupying the height of one line of text and one set of staves. The initial on the recto that opens the hymn to Cyprian is blue with a small reserved white decoration. Rubrics in red.

Written in Germany during the 15th century; it bears remembering that the head of St. Anne was held in the Stiftskirche St. Stephan in Mainz until 1510, when it was stolen and taken to D en in north Rhine-Westphalia (the church that housed this relic was completely destroyed in Allied bombing in 1944). Belonged to Louis Charles Elson (1848-1920) who was a professor of music theory and history at the New England Conservatory of Music from age 34 onwards; he had begun studying music with his mother, then went on to study in Leipzig; he composed songs, operetta and works for the piano, but mainly he studied and wrote on the history of music; he published in a number of Boston newspapers, and was the editor-in-chief of Modern Music and Musicians (1912; 20 vols.) and of the University Musical Encyclopedia (1912-14; 10 vols.), among the ca. 50 items that he published over the course of his life. The collection of medieval fragments of music that had belonged to Louis Charles Elson was acquired in 1924 by the Grosvenor Library in Buffalo NY; this library, together with the Erie County Library and the Buffalo Public Library merged in 1953 to form today's Buffalo and Erie County Public Library; initials BECPL stamped in lower margin of the recto. This leaf was n. 19 in the Elson collection; that information in the small ovel label on the uppermost corner of the recto: "No. 19, Elson Collection."

Title from De Ricci.

Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1210, no. 14

Hymn dedicated to St. Anne (possibly for her feast on 7 March; end of the hymn that begins "Gaude mater anna gaude mater omni digna mater tante filie / Anne recte nuncuparis") and a hymn dedicated to St. Cyriacus (16 March; beginning of the hymn).

Formerly classified as RBR MSS. C33G74 1300Z

[15th century]

2023-12-19

Louis C. Elson Collection. no. 19

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Text

image/jpg

1 leaf (10 lines) of music ; 39 x 27 cm

parchment (animal material)

RBR Mss. C33H96 1400z

[Germany]

//dono sancti spiritus. Hec est radix anna pia, virga florens est maria, christus flos est inclitus.Digna radix est honore, cuius virga tali flore, fecundatur celitus . . . De sancto cyriaco, De torrente passionis bibens veri salomonis ad reclinatorium. Cristi transiit adletha . . . Socios in passione consolatur spem corone spondens pro martirio. O mens tendens ad superna o sol terre o lucerna lucens non sub mo<dio>.//