Recto: Six lines of music in quadrat (square) notation written on parchment on five-line staves with F and C clefs and a custos*. The text is written in Gothic Rotunda script in Latin. The rubric ‘Co’ indicates the beginning of the Communion antiphon, sung for the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.
Verso: The parchment is darkened and stained, with hair follicles from the animal clearly visible. Nevertheless the text and notation remain perfectly legible and in excellent condition.
Origin: Spain or Portugal, c.1600.
Content: The red initial ‘O’ on Recto begins an antiphon derived from Psalm 86:9
Omnes gentes, quascumque fecisti, venient et adorabunt coram te, Domine, et glorificabunt nomen tuum. (All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and glorify your name.)
The chant continues on Verso.
Size: approx. 615x420 mm.
Condition: A light water stain at the end of the third line of Recto and considerable marking in the right margin from page-turning. Otherwise clean parchment with full margins and no ink loss.
Notes: While a four-line staff is the norm for medieval chant, a five-line system emerged later in the manuscript tradition, particularly in Spain and Portugal during the late 15th through the 17th centuries.
This adaptation allowed for a wider vocal range to be written without shifting clefs as frequently.
*A custos is a pitch-anticipation sign — it shows the singer the pitch of the first note on the following stave, so that there is no momentary loss of pitch orientation.
Item No: MMU075
