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Buffalo and Erie County Public Library (N.Y.)--History
Libraries--New York (State)--Buffalo
Branch libraries
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library (N.Y.)
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
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Written on back "Genesee branch closed Dec. 1981"
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Graduals (Chants)
Music--Manuscripts
Illumination of books and manuscripts--Specimens
Manuscripts, Latin--Specimens
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.
Bibliography: De Ricci, p. 1209, n. 2 (although this fragment is not mentioned)
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.
lat
Manuscripts, Latin--New York (State)--Buffalo
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
Manuscripts, Medieval--Specimens
Manuscripts, Medieval--New York (State)--Buffalo
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
Gradual with the beginning of the introit (on the recto) and the beginning of the gradual (on the verso) for the mass for Easter Sunday. Parchment:; the upper half (?) of a leaf; 3 lines of text each with its 5-line staves of music. Written in a formal gothic book hand; on the recto, a line filler shaped as multiple small lozenges stacked one on top of the other. On the recto, square notation in red ink on 5-line red staves; on the verso, the notation is in black. The initial R (for Resurrexi) in parted red and blue with a narrow strip of blank parchment separating the two colors; blank parchment square boxes on the initial's red; elaborate red flourishing along the outer left and the outer right of the initial (but no infilling, or flourishing at top or bottom of the initial). One initial in blue with red flourishing the height of one line of text and one set of staves. Rubrics in red. Added in a noting hand on the verso, along the left margin, cropped: "//erna //te vetus //agdalene."
Written in Spain during the 16th 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. 16 in the Elson collection; that number on a small oval label in the upper left corner of the recto.
Bibliography: De Ricci. Census, p. 1210, no. 12
Formerly classified as RBR Mss. C33G72 1300z
[Grosvenor Library reading room in the Cyclorama building, view of reference desk and librarian in foreground]
Grosvenor Library
Handwritten note by Gorny about a quote from "Mémoires d’aveugle: L’autoportrait et autres ruines" by Jacques Derrida.
Gorny, Anthony-Peter
eng
Hymnals
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."
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