Antiphonaries
Music--Manuscripts
Illuminations of books and manuscripts--Specimens
Manuscripts, Latin--Specimens
Manuscripts, Latin--New York (State)--Buffalo
Parchment; f. 1, cut down at both top and bottom; now with 16 long lines in an early gothic script (double pp is fused; round s at the ends of words, but round r occurs only once) with staffless Germanic neumes inscribed between the lines of text. 6-line letter H to open the responsory on the recto: particolored yellow and parchment, with zigzag line in red to separate the areas; infilling of non-painted leaves, outlined in red, against a light blue ground. 1-line initials within the text touched in red. Rubrics in red.
Written in Germany, or perhaps in the Netherlands, during the 13th century. It survived to modern times as the cover of a small book, with clearly visible wear and dirt along what was the spine (with the recto of the leaf facing outwards). 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. This leaf, as described by De Ricci, was no. 2 in the Elson collection.
J. V. Mierlo, Jr., S. J., "Een utrechtsch Antiphonarium: Bijdrage tot de Geschiedenis van het liturgisch Drama in de Nederlanden," in Leuvensche Bijdragen vol. 8 (1908-1909) pp. 1- 75, here p. 15 (recto) and pp. 16-17 (verso) for the office at Christmas.
Previously classified as RBR MSS. C33F7 900Z, item 1
Bibliography: De Ricci, p. 1209, n. 2, item 1.
Catholic Church
Rare Book Room of B&ECPL (repository)
Elson, Louis Charles, 1848-1920
Digital image copyright 2023 by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
Manuscripts, Medieval--Specimens
From an antiphonal, one leaf, with the liturgy for the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin (8 September).
Parchment; f. 1; 23 long lines with the neumes for the music added above each text line; the text is copied in a pregothic minuscule; the music is in staffless neumes. On the recto, 3-line initial for the responsory, "Hodie nata est beata maria," in white vine stem on a particolored blue and yellow (?) ground. Initials of the major breaks in the text are highlighted in red; rubrics in red. Thanks to Prof. Susan Boynton (Columbia University, Dept. of Music) for her description of the musical notation.
Copied in Germany or Austria towards the end of the 11th century. Damage to the reverse of the leaf shows that it survived to modern day as a pastedown in a binding.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1209, no. 4
Formerly classified as RBR MSS. C33A6 1100Z
Elson, Louis Charles, (1848-1920)
Manuscripts--New York (State)--Buffalo
Antiphonal, with the end of the night office for the feast of St. Paul (29 June) signaled by the rubric on the recto, "In III nocturno," and on the verso with the beginning of Lauds with the rubric, "In Mat. Laud.," for which see R.-J. Hesbert, Corpus antiphonalium officii (Rome: Herder, 1963-1979) vol. 1, and as an example of this type of book, no. 102b for Bamberg. The book from which this leaf was taken was intended for secular (rather than monastic) use, as shown by the three antiphons for the third nocturn (here, preceded by the responsories for the second nocturn; and then followed by the responsories for the third nocturn, and at the end, Lauds).
Parchment; ; f. 1; 22 long lines of text with the musical notation in neumes in campo aperto copied above each text line. Written in a pregothic script (no fusing of contrary convex curves and no round letter "s"; but also no "ae" or "oe" diphthongs; one cedilla'd e noticed). Rubrics in a dark red ink, and adjacent major initials in a reinforced ink of the text itself. Copied in Germany, or more carefully stated, in Eastern Europe, during the 12th century, as is shown by the shapes of the neumes; use of this book was certainly in a secular church (see note, regarding the text).
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. This leaf was n. 5 in the Elson collection (his name and the number, on an oval sticker attached to the upper recto). Stamp of the library (as BECPL) in lower margin of the recto
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1209, no. 5
Elson, Louis Charles,1848-1920
lat
Illumination of books and manuscripts--Specimens
Parchment; ; f. 1; 7 lines of text and music, the text copied in a highly fractured gothic book hand, and the music in Hufnagelschrift on 5-line red staves, with a custos at the end of each set of staves, with text and music placed within "tram lines" that border the written area on both vertical sides. The opening initial corresponding to the height of 2 lines of text and their corresponding 2 sets of staves in an initial formed of scrolling green leaves, set on a punched gold ground, and enclosed withing a frame of pieces of "wood" in alternating red and blue sections; growing out of the initial, and running the length of the page in its far left border is an extended scroll of multicolored acanthus leaves and gold dots, the entire spray of leaves is roughly trimmed on the left by the knife of the person who removed this leaf from its binding. In the lower margin, an equivalent spray of acanthus leaves, flowers and gold dots, enclosed within a narrow silver frame. On the verso, a calligraphic initial (equivalent to 1 line of text and its music) in the ink of the text. In upper right area of the recto of the leaf, the foliation in red roman numerals, "ccxi."
Written in Austria during the time at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century. Although the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library states that the leaf was part of the collection of Louis Charles Elson (1848-1920), there are no round / oval stickers on the leaf that assert Elson's ownership of the leaf, nor is that assertion of provenance in the record by S. De Ricci. Formerly in 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.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1212, no. 25
Antiphonal with the very end of the service for the feast of the Decollation of John the Baptist (29 August) and the beginning of the service for the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin (8 September).
Leaves conjugate but not consecutive; 1st leaf (5 lines) with musical notation; 2nd leaf (15 lines) with text only.
Parchment; one bifolium, i.e. ff. 2, non-consecutive, with the leaves pasted together at the gutter; On f. 1: 5 lines of text and music, the text written in a formal gothic script, the music in square notation on red 4-line staves with a custos at the end of each set of lines; added tones for the antiphons are noted in the margins: 3rd tone on the recto; 5th tone on the verso. Rubrics in red. In the uppermost right corner of the recto, the folio number: 12. On f. 2: 15 lines of text; formal gothic script. In the uppermost right corner of the recto, the folio number: 19. The folio numbers on these two leaves and the basic knowledge that in books of Italian origin and at this date the standard quire size is of ten leaves point to this set of leaves as being the second bifolium in the second quire. On both leaves: 1-line initials (i.e. the height of slightly over one line of text) either in red with purple flourishing, or in blue with dark red flourishing; the painted blue initial on the first recto was originally written as a letter N that was then partially erased to give a majuscule letter I; 4 initials in black ink, with Elefantenr sel.
Written in Italy, probably towards the end of the 15th century; this late date is suggested by the presence of a comma (!) in the text on f. 1 recto. According to De Ricci, the library acquired these leaves from Henkels, in December 1931, and there is a note in pencil in the lower margin of f. 1 reporting this fact: "Henkels 12-8-31 [signed:] E."
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1212, no. 27
Office for the Purification of the Virgin (2 February), in part, but with musical notation showing the importance of this feast. -- Office for the feast of Agatha (5 February), at matins, including here the end of the second nocturn and the beginning of the third.
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (Publisher of digital)
Parchment; ff. 2, not consecutive nor attached to one another; with a very deep lower border (as if in anticipation of an eventual need to add notes to the page?); 9 lines of text, each preceded by its row of staves; pricking along both the outer and the inner margins that ties in groups of 5 holes to the 1 text line plus 4 stave lines. Formal gothic minuscule that includes both the curled line ("ricciolo") and the small waved line ("ondina") abbreviation marks for, respectively, the preconsonantal "r" and the prevocalic "r"; see Andrea Bocchi, "Riccioli e ondine. L'abbreviazione per vibrante preconsonantica e prevocalica nella gotica italiana dei secoli xiii e xiv," Scriptorium 61 n. 2 (2007) 430-437 and images on pl. 52; at the end of the article, Bocchi places use of these marks in central Italy, and he dates them to the time span of the 13th century and into the early years of the 15th. Music in square notation on 4-line red staves with a custos at the end of the set of staves. Initials of somewhat more than 1-line height (they extend into the staves' second line from the bottom) in plain alternating red with simplistic blue flourishing, and blue with red flourishing; the letter following the decorated initial and occasional other initials throughout the text are touched in red. Rubrics in red that are copied above (not before) the beginning of the relevant piece of text. Early modern pagination in ink in the uppermost outer corner of each side of the leaf.
Written in Italy during the early years of the 15th century. On p. 202, in the center lower margin, the pencilled note: "Mr. Charles D[avenport ?] Champlin, 3-2-36 D" presumably representing the person from whom these two leaves were acquired, and the date of acquisition, March 2, 1936; the initial "D" may represent the librarian. In-house library files cite the name of Louis Charles Elson (1848-1920) but probably incorrectly.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1212, no. 28
Antiphonal, with responsories 2 through 6, and their accompanying versicles, for Quinquagesima Sunday. -- Antiphonal, with responsories 1 through 5, and their accompanying versicles, for Passion Sunday.
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
[Book of hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary]
1) Parchment; 1. ff. 38-44v, The Gospel pericopes (beginning with the standard text from John 1:1-14), missing the opening leaf, followed by the usual prayers (Protector in te sperantium; Ecclesiam tuam quesumus domine benignus illustra), and then the usual extracts from Luke (1:26-38), Matthew (2:1-12) and Mark (16: 14-20). Misbound in the present position; the pericopes usually occur after the calendar and before the prayers, Obsecro te and O Intemerata (or before the beginning of the Hours of the Virgin).
2) ff. 42-43v, f. 37r-v, ff. 1-5; f. 5v blank//et leticie, fons consolationis et indulgencie Per illam sanctam ineffabiliter leticiam qua exultavit spiritus tuus in illa hora quando tibi per gabrielem archangelum annunciatus et conceptus filius dei fuit . . . [f. 43v] et michi famulo tuo impetres a dilecto filio tuo complementum omni misericordia et consolation, omni consilio, omni auxilio et [f. 37r-v:] adiutorio, omni benedictione et sanctificatione, omni salvatione, pace, prosperitate, omni gaudio et alacritate. Eciam habundanciam . . . tenere me faciat et a septem peccatis crimina- [ff. 1-5] -libus me liberet et deffendat usque in finem vite mee. Et in novissimis diebus meis ostende michi faciem tuam . . . . et exaudi me dulcissima virgo maria mater dei et misericordia. Amen. Oratio beate marie virginis, O Intemerata et in eternum benedicta . . . [f. 2v] et esto michi miserrimo peccatori propicia in omnibus auxiliatrix . . .
3) ff. 6-29, 47-52v -- //psalmis iubilemus ei. Ave maria gratia plena dominus tecum. Quoniam deus magnus dominus et rex magnus super omnes deos . . . Hours of the Virgin (at matins), opening defectively, probably use of Rouen; the office of prime occupies ff 47-52v, and the antiphon and capitulum at prime are: Ant., Maria virgo assumpta est ad ethereum thalamum; Cap., Per te dei genitrix est nobis vita perdita; the service at nones is no longer in the book, as only parts of matins, lauds and prime remain, with all miniatures cut out. Following the remaining part of lauds are, on ff. 25-27v, suffrages of the Holy Spirit, John the Baptist, Nicholas, Martin of Tours, Anthony of Padua, Maurus, and Lupus (here spelled "Luppus," in whose suffrage the text breaks); on ff. 28-29 (f. 29v, blank) is the end of a suffrage of Catherine of Alexandria, here remaining are 27 verses in French in 6-line stanzas ([aa]baab ccdccd eefeef gghggh etc.) plus an irregular final stanza.
4) ff. 30-35vShort hours of the Cross, opening miniature cut out, but containing the rest of the text, through compline -- 5) f. 35v, f. 36r-v, ff. 43-46v, Short hours of the Holy Spirit, opening miniature cut out after f. 35r-v (rubric is on f. 35v, Les heures du saint esperit). -- 6) f. 46v, Rubric in French at the bottom of the page to signal the beginning of the Office of the Dead, which would have followed the Short hours of the Holy Spirit, but which is no longer in this book: Les vespres des mors.Parchment; ff. 52, much misbound and with all illumination removed, as well as easily half of the text leaves, including all of the calendar, the second half of the Hours of the Virgin, the Penitential Psalms, and the Office of the Dead. 175 x 125 mm. Written in a formal gothic book hand in 2 sizes (the smaller is for versicles and responses), on 15 pale red lines to the page. No catchwords or signatures remain.
Illuminated initials and floriated borders.
Written in France, probably in Rouen, given the liturgical use of the Hours of the Virgin (at Prime; Nones no longer remains in the manuscript), during the middle of the 15th century. Probably during the 18th to 19th century, the book belonged to the family residing in Milton Hall, near Peterborough, given the book label on the front pastedown (but this attribution is made with some caution, since the shell of the binding might have belonged to another book).
Now surviving only on f. 1, a 4-line white-decorated blue initial with both colors on acanthus leaves in the initial, set on a square gold ground with a bar border on the left extending the length of the text space formed of a gold strip and a colored strip (divided, in part blue and in part pink), and with a C-shaped border of flowers (blue 4- and 5-leaf flowers, strawberries and round red berries) and acanthus leaves in blue and gold around the text on three sides. 2-line initials in white-decorated color (alternating blue or pink) with both colors in the acanthus leaves within the initial, set on a squared gold ground, with a spray of mainly gold trilobe leaves with one colored flower at the top and one at the bottom of the spray, and extending into the margin. 1-line gold initials on blue and pink white-decorated grounds; line fillers in the same colors. Initials of the verses in French for St. Catherine, f. 28r-v, touched in yellow. Rubrics in red. Offset of blue paint from decoration on what was the facing page with a full border, now visible on ff. 5v (before the Hours of the Virgin), 15v (before lauds), 30 (before the Short Hours of the Cross), 35v (before the Short Hours of the Holy Spirit), 42 (before the Obsecro te), 47v (before the now-missing Office of the Dead), 52v (before the now-missing terce of the Hours of the Virgin). On f. 22, lower margin, note, s. XVII (?), "En faint mon fils s<?> ne voullez po<?> maine." Foliated, September 2023.Bound, possibly in former days, in limp vellum over boards, to the extent that there is with today's completely unbound book an outer shell of a limp vellum binding, but it is uncertain if this was ever attached to the present book, in that, sitting on the book's "front" and ''back" areas, there is a dark vellum "leaf" that might have been part of this book's binding. The stitching of the book's gatherings is solid, holding the book in its present jumbled state, and placing the book's one leaf with its highest present level of decoration in first position (the opening of the O Intemerata prayer, with a 4-line initial and C-shaped page decoration).
Digital image copyright 2024 by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
Breviaries
Leaf from an office book (that would later be termed breviary) containing chants and lessons for matins of the feast of the Trinity (celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost); six lessons (readings) are present here; with musical notation. The cues for the repetenda within the responsories are written in rustic capitals. Thanks to Prof. Susan Boynton (Columbia University, Dept. of Music) for her description of the musical notation.
Parchment; one leaf; ruled in dry point on the flesh side for 28 lines of text. Written in a late caroline minuscule; music notated in staffless neumes. Rubrication for the chant genres.
Written in France (?), towards the end of the 11th century. 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 Grovesnor 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. This leaf was n. 3 in the Elson collection (his name and the number, on an oval sticker attached to the upper recto). Stamp of the library (as BECPL) in lower margin of the recto.
Manuscripts, Medieval--New York (State)--Buffalo
Office book or breviary, containing the office at matins for the feast of Sts. Philip and James (3 May). Parchment; f. 1; 15 long lines ruled in drypoint. Copied in a caroline minuscule script in two sizes; the larger script is used for lessons, and the smaller size is used for chant texts (responsories with their versicles). Somewhat later, staffless Germanic neumes (some in red ink that is now faded, but most in brown) were added in the interlinear space under the chant texts.Thanks to Prof. Susan Boynton (Columbia University, Dept. of Music) for her description of the musical notation.
Written in Germany, during the 10th century; it survived to modern times as the pastedown in a bound volume: the dark areas on the recto of the leaf (shaped as a backwards letter c) show where the glued was adhered. 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 Grovesnor 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. This leaf was n. 1 in the Elson collection.
Formerly classified as RBR MSS. C33L4 900Z
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
Elson, Louis Charles, 1848-1920 Rare Book Room of B&ECPL (Repository)
Canon law--Manuscripts
Canon law--Commentaries
Parchment; ; ff. 3 of which the first is a single leaf, and the second two are the innermost bifolium of a quire with consecutive text. Written in a light brown ink by a very unexpert (or very hurried) hand in a compressed gothic book hand in a space that seems to be ruled only for the vertical lines that designate the width of the writing area, although some areas do show the horizontal text lines: e.g. on f. 3v, in the inter-column space adjacent to the gloss's 2-line initial, and on that same page, in the lower right column, where 6 lines were left blank in order to copy the gloss's final line on the very last line available on that page (so that no one could insert other gloss without noticeably interrupting the flow of the text). The number of lines in either the text or the gloss area varies according to the amount of space necessary to copy the gloss that is relevant to the text on that page: the text lines on these leaves varies from 2 columns of 3 lines (on f. 1) to 2 columns of 36 lines (on f. 2); the number of lines of the gloss varies from 2 columns of 60 lines (on f. 1) to 2 columns of 66 lines (on f. 2; but note that the columns have here shrunk in width to where they accommodate only some 4 to 6 letters).
In both the text and the gloss, 3-line initials (although, since the text lines are more widely spaced than those of the gloss, a 3-line initial within the text is larger than an initial of the same spacing in height in the gloss) in alternating dusty rose or in blue, both with some patterning in white, and with flourishing in white-patterned dusty rose; the tendrils of the flourishing end with trilobe leaves or gold balls; in the gloss on f. 1v, the ground of the painted initial is particolored, red and blue. In the gloss on these three leaves, only one 2-line initial with penwork flourishing: on f. 3v, an initial in red with purple penwork. In both texts, paragraph marks alternating in red or in blue. Running headlines: on the verso, "L" (for Liber), and on the recto, the roman numeral in alternating red and blue numbers, "III." Early modern foliation in the upper right corner of the recto: 43; 50; 51.
Written in southern France, possibly in Montpellier given its law school, during the times after the first quarter of the 14th century: either after 21 March 1314, when its text was promulgated by Clement V, or after 25 October 1317, when John XXII, in his bull "Quoniam nulla" promulgated it as an obligatory text. According to De Ricci, this manuscript was acquired from "Weyhe" in March 1921, although it is unclear which "Weyhe" was intended: either the bookstore of the family of Heinrich Weyhe in Salzwedel (some 110 miles west of Berlin, in the former Prussian Saxony), which only closed in 2021 at the death of the last owner, Helga Weyhe; or De Ricci may have intended by the name "Weyhe" the bookstore that belonged to a nephew of that family, Erhard Weyhe whose shop at 794 Lexington Avenue in New York City was active in the 1920s and 1930s; Erhard Weyhe died in 1972. Belonged to 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.
Text in 2 columns, surrounded by commentary; 65-71 lines of commentary.
Leaves numbered 30-31 and 43, with [book] III in top margin.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1212, no. 21
Clement V, Pope, approximately 1260-1314
[Divine office, or, liturgy of the hours/Opus dei]
Liturgies
Music-Manuscripts
Paper; f. 1, although cut ca. in half (?); the fragments now hold 5 lines of text, in a script imitative of Roman font, and the same number of 5-line staves for music in square notation. Rubrics in red.
Produced in the northern part of Europe possibly during the 17th century. In the upper left corner of the verso, the standard label, "No. 3<?>, Elson Collection." 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. This leaf (presumably because it is not dated to medieval or Renaissance times) was not described by De Ricci. Elson no. 26.
R: From the Divine Office, parts of the service for Good Friday, in the 3rd Nocturn; see, for example, the Liber usualis with Introduction and Rubrics in English, ed. by the Benedictines of Solesmes (Tournai, 1950) pp. 682-684. -- V: From the Divine Office, parts of the service for Good Friday, at Lauds; see, for example, the Liber usualis with Introduction and Rubrics in English, ed. by the Benedictines of Solesmes (Tournai, 1950) pp. 689-690.
Formerly classified as RBR MSS. C33F7 900Z, item 3
Bibliography: De Ricci, p. 1209, n. 2 (although this fragment is not mentioned)
Graduals (Chants)
Manuscripts, Latin -- New York (State) -- Buffalo.
Parchment; f. 1, cut down so that barely two lines of text and musical staves survive on each side. The text is produced by stencil, with the originally open spaces of lines around enclosed spaces filled in by hand (for example, to fully enclose the o; to close the upper partial circle of the e; to finish off the enclosing of the bottoms of the rounded spaces in the letters b and d; etc.). Square musical notation on red 4-line staves.
Produced in France during the 18th century. On the recto, in the lower right corner, an octangle label, edged in printed blue design, bearing the pen-written note: 1051. 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. Elson no. 24; This leaf (presumably because it is not dated to medieval or Renaissance times) was not described by De Ricci.
For the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (29 June), the sequence that begins, "Quos unus in vita labor," as printed in, for example, the Missale cenomanense (Lyon: ex typographia Caroli Monnoyer, 1835) p. 527. The piece of text missing between the end of the scrap of the recto and the beginning of the scrap of the verso is: una quondam martyres/ In morte iunxit gloria,/ Vos una nunc colit dies./ Supernus inter vos Pater/Partitur. -- //uos unus in vita labor,/ Quos// <text cut away> //orbem: tu doc<es>/<o Petre,> Judaeos; fide/ T//<u, Paule, gentes imbuis>
Previously classified as RBR MSS. C33F7 900Z, item 2.
Paper; f. 1 but torn in half (?); 4 lines of text printed in Roman font, and 4 staves of 4 lines each, with square notation. Major initials (P and F) printed in red, as are the rubrics. In the lower margin of the verso, "Pars Aestiva" (so the text is not from the feast of the Epiphany?) and "eee." In upper left corner of the recto, the usual label, "No. 2 <?>, Elson Collection." In the lower margin of the same page, "BECPL."
European printed text and music, 19th century, although the actual location and date of the printing are not known. The very uncertain identity of this fragment may explain its presence in this collection that 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. This leaf (presumably because it is not dated to medieval or Renaissance times) was not described by De Ricci. Elson no. 28.
The chant for communion on the recto (Ponam visitationem) is identified on the Cantus Database and on the Musica Hispanica database as being from the Hispanic rite, for Epiphany, with the Cantus ID: h03550b ; this piece of text is from London, British Library, Add. 30844, f. 127 (Spain, second half of the 10th century, or 11th century). However, none of the other texts on this fragment are listed in either database, nor did movement forward or backward in the manuscript identify any other pieces of text or chant, nor did an online examination of the description of this British Library manuscript. No results found in Liber usualis, ed. by the Benedictines of Solesmes (Tournai: Society of St. John the Evangelist, Descľe, 1952); none in W. H. Iacobus Weale, Analecta liturgica, pars 1, Clavicula missalis romani (Insulis et Brugis: Typis Societatis s. Augustini, 1889); nor in the mass in time of war (introit, Reminiscere miserationum) in a printed Missale Romanum ex decreto sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini restitutum (Regensburg, 1861).
Formerly classified as RBR MSS. C33F7 900Z, item 4
Missals
Gradual with sung parts of the mass from the end of the 8th through the beginning of the 10th Sunday after Pentecost; added between the lines at the beginning of the 9th and the 10th Sundays are the cues for the collect, epistle and gospel readings for those Sundays.
Parchment; f. 1; 10 lines of text with 3-line staves for musical notation in Hufnagel format. The ruled lines for the text and the music alternate lead, then ink (?), then lead, and so forth; the lines of the staves are marked at the beginning of each set of lines as C or F, or as G or C. Copied in an early gothic book hand that retains the use of ampersands for elegance; each letter copied independently of its neighbors; round r and round s where expected. Foliation in red roman numerals on the verso of the leaf, towards the middle of the page; here, cropped, "//vii." Major initials, equivalent to 2-line height of text lines (plus the necessary 6 lines of music) for the introits: on the recto, in red and green with leafy flourishes, and with a hand, with pointing finger, extending from behind the initial towards the text of the introit; on the verso, mainly in blue with the crossbar of the E in red; leafy flourished in red and blue; 1-line initials in red; rubrics, including references to folio numbers elsewhere in the book. Several short lines added at the end of one Sunday's service, and before the following Sunday with the spoken (not sung) incipits for the collect, and the epistle and gospel readings.
Written in Germany during the period between the late 12 and the early 13th century. In the upper left corner of the recto, later notes probably from the 16th and then the 17th (?) century showing that the leaf served as a wrapper for deeds. In the lower margin of the recto, in modern ink (?): No. 8. 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. This leaf was n. 6 in the Elson collection.
"Formerly used as a wrapper for deeds."--De Ricci
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1210, no. 6
Formerly classified as RBR MSS. C33M51 1100Z
Catholic Church--Liturgy--Texts--Manuscripts
Manuscripts, Medieval--New York (State)-- Buffalo
Gradual, presumably for the common of saints: for apostles, for a confessor bishop, for one martyr, for one martyred bishop. Specifically, the leaf contains: at the beginning, two communion chants the one immediately after the other and both for, inter alia, the common of apostles; an introit for the common of a confessor bishop (Sacerdotes tui domine induunt iusticiam); chants for the common of one martyr; an introit for a martyred bishop (Statuit ei testamentum pacis et principem fecit eum).
Parchment; f. 1 but significantly cropped the length of one side and across the top; now with 11 lines of text and their 4-line staves of music. Written in a formal gothic hand with variously long red horizontal lines connecting syllables of a single word when the music called for stretching out the sound; the musical notation in Hufnagelschrift. One plain red initial extending the height of one line of text and one set of staves (for the introit, Sacerdotes tui); smaller initials in alternating plain red or plain blue; lesser initials in the ink of the text with Elefantenr sel along the left side of ascenders, and with single red lines along the same left sides of ascenders.
Written in Germany during the 14th century. De Ricci states that the leaf was formerly used as a wrapper for deeds, presumably in reference to the long vertical fold towards one edge of the leaf that is pierced three times as if to hold binding thongs. 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. An oval label in the uppermost left corner of the recto, "No. 7, Elson Collection."
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1210, no. 7
Formerly classified as RBR MSS. C33M52 1200Z
Parchment; f. 1; 7 lines of text and music, the text written in a formal gothic bookhand, the music in square notation on 4-line red staves with the custos at the end of each set of staves. Some flaking of the ink off from the flesh side of the parchment (i.e. the recto of this leaf). Initials alternating red with purple flourishing, and blue with red flourishing; rubrics in red; in the upper left corner of the recto, the foliation in roman numerals, alternating red and blue letters: LXXV. A small indentation in the lower margin, near the fore edge, was perhaps intended to help the singer turn the page.
Written in Italy during the fifteenth century. 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. This leaf was n. 18 in the Elson collection.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1210, no. 13
Gradual with chants for the 3rd Sunday in Lent, beginning with the introit, In convertendo inimicum meum retrorsum.
Formerly classified as RBR Mss. C33G73 1300z
Parchment; the lower portion of one leaf, including a very large empty bottom margin. 3 lines of text and 2 lines of superscript red 4-line staves (the topmost set of staves is cut away); written in a formal gothic book hand; music in square notation on 4-line red staves, with a custos at the end of each set of staves. 1-line initials in red with purple flourishing, or in blue with red flourishing. Rubrics in red. The cut-off upper portion may have contained a very nice initial.
Written in Italy during the second half of the 15th century. 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. This fragment was n. 31 in the Elson collection.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1211, no. 19
Parchment; ; f. 1; 5 lines of text and music, with the text copied in a formal gothic hand and the music in black square notation on 4-line red staves. Initial S of the height of one line of text and one of music, in dusty rose, infilled with stacked aroid flowers in petals of dark blue, red, green and gray, the whole set on a very spiked gold ground, with a leafy extension in rose and blue; a gold ball in the margin. The initials E and G, the height of one line of text and two (of the four lines of the staves) in white-decorated blue or red, set against a ground of negatively-designed leaves on grounds red and blue or blue alone; the letters X, L, and A (directly following the decorated initials) in elaborate gothic format against a ground of negatively patterned leaves in the ink of the text. On the recto, in the center of the outer margin, the folio number in red roman numerals, "CL." Small round label in the upper innermost corner of the verso, "Elson n. 17."
Written towards the end of the 15th century in Italy, and most likely in Lombardy given the spiky gold ground around the major initial; the rayed gold ball above that initial also occurs in the northern parts of Italy. 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. This fragment was n. 17 in the Elson collection.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1212, no. 24
Gradual with the end of the sung parts of a mass for many martyrs, and the introit for another mass for many martyrs.
Miniature of the Annunciation; decorative border.
Parchment; f. 1; 9 lines of text and music, the text written in a formal and very spiky Germanic gothic book hand, and the music in square notation on 4-line staves, with a custos at the end of each line of staves; the vertical rules on either side of the written space are doubled.
A square miniature opens the feast of the Annunciation, the height of almost 2 lines of text and music: enclosed in a wooden frame, in a large and deep Renaissance-style bedroom, with a long hall reaching straight back to a garden, the archangel Gabriel approaches in flight from the upper left, with the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove above the Virgin's head, as she turns backwards from her prayers to see the angel; a large vase with lilies sits in the center of the floor. For another pattern of the same miniature, see, for example, Glasgow, University Library, Hunter MS 25 (S. 2.15), the one full-page miniature in the book (there are nine smaller miniatures), in a breviary with pictures attributed to the Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian. This manuscript is discussed in Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: the Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Los Angeles: Getty Museum, 2003), in a section by Thomas Kren on pp. 317-318, n. 89, with a reproduction of the Hunterian manuscript's miniature of the Annunciation.
In the BECPL manuscript, on the recto, a 2-sided border of interconnecting triangles in red, dark blue, green and yellow, each one decorated with faint drawings; the blue triangle directly below the archangel Gabriel contains a coat of arms: quarterly, 1 and 4, [two or three objects?], 2 and 3, argent [?], two bars [azure?]. The R that opens the chants for the Annunciation is rendered as if a 3-dimensional wooden letter, with shadows, sitting on a gray ground; other initials: two are the height of one line of text and one set of staves, in red; another initial, of the same size, is in black Elefantenr sel with flourishes of curled acanthus leaves, touched in green. Rubrics in red. Foliation in black ink in the center of the outer margin of the recto, and with the same number in early modern foliation in the upper right corner of the leaf: "xciiii" (= 94).
Written probably in Austria during the turn from the 15th to the 16th century; the assigning of this leaf to Italy in De Ricci's Census proves that De Ricci himself had not seen this leaf. According to the BECPL inhouse website, the leaf belonged to Louis Charles Elson (1848-1920), although there is no comment to that effect in De Ricci, and there is no oval or round sticker with Elson's name on the leaf (as there is on the leaves in this library's collection that certainly belonged to Elson). We are very grateful to Peter Kidd, who proposed the similar pattern of the Annunciation in the manuscript held in Glasgow, and to his citation of relevant bibliography
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1212, no. 26
Gradual, with the end of the gradual chant and then the communion chant for the feast of St. Benedict (21 March), followed by the introit for the feast of the Annunciation (25 March), with its versicle and the beginning of its gradual; references to other parts of what was once the book that contained this leaf are, on the recto between the rubric and the beginning of the text, "Vultum tuum, fo. 1" and on the verso before the present gradual chant, "Graduale, Diffusa est, [fo.] lii."
Previously classified as RBR MSS. C33G76 1500
Gradual, with, on the recto, sung parts of masses for Processus and Martinianus (2 July), the octave of Peter and Paul (6 July), the Seven Brothers (10 July), and on the other side of the leaf, parts of the masses for Apollinaris of Ravenna (23 July) and Felix II, pope (29 July).
Parchment; the lower part of a single leaf, constituting perhaps 1/2 of what would have been the full height of the leaf. Now with 5 lines of text, written in a formal gothic book hand. Each line of text is surmounted by a set of 4-line staves, of which one line is enhanced by a horizontal red line; this red line bears the letter "f" or "c" (?) on the far left at the beginning of the set of staves. Musical notation in Hufnagelschrift. The two introits are introduced by plain red initials of the height of 2 lines of both text and music; heavy red 1-line initials the height of one line of text and one of music; smaller 1-line red initials; initials the height of one line of text and copied in the same ink as the text, but highlighted by a red stroke along the length of a pen stroke; Elefantenr sel with some frequency and often adding a red vertical stroke to the initial; on the recto, one very elaborate letter S, the height of one line of text and of one set of staves in which the uppermost bar of the S is repeated upwards again and again in an ever-smaller set of curls with red dots and lines running through them and with a sketched profile of a monk (given his tonsure) attached to the left of the initial. Another similar profile attached to the left of an initial M on the verso. Along the left margin of the recto, a vertical dark stripe left on the parchment by the adhesive that held this fragment in place as a pastedown.
Written in Germany during the 14th century. 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. This leaf was n. 8 in the Elson collection; see the oval label attached to the uppermost left corner of the recto.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1210, no. 8