GB-Lbl Add. MS 25031 (Worcester fragments)

British Library, London, England

fragment: 14th century: c.1300

Archive British Library, London, England (GB-Lbl)
Shelfmark Add. MS 25031 (Worcester fragments)
Surface Parchment
Numbering System Foliation
Format portrait
Measurements 280 x 200 mm
Other Identifiers
  • RISM: Worc
Notations
  • English mensural
External Links
External Authorities
Provenance
  • England
Contents 5 pieces from 1 composers
General Description

A collection of fragments, mostly polyphonic, which were formerly flyleaves in a number of Worcester manuscripts. These form part of 'Worcester 1' (the 'motet book'), q.v.

JCM, 2011
Binding

now kept in a plain cloth binder

JCM, 2011
Notation

red five-line staves, red-blue initials, longs and breves, and the lozenge-shaped notes of the so-called English mensural notation

JCM, 2011
Foliation

1-4v; traces of original foliation xiii-xvi.

JCM, 2011
Surface

Parchment

JCM, 2011
RISM Description

RISM B/IV 1: Worcester fragments. See under Worcester Cathedral: [copied from entry for Worcester Cathedral:] A collection of fragments, mostly polyphonic, which were formerly flyleaves in a number of Worcester manuscripts and are now kept in a plain cloth binder. Fragments ix, x, xi, xiii, xxviii, xxxi and xxxv have been dealt with under the ms Oxford, Bodleian Library, Lat. liturg. d. 20. The remaining fragments are xii, xviii, xix, xx, xxix, xxx, xxxii, and xxxiv, meas. respectively 345 x 230 mm, 305 x 210 mm., 276 x 202 mm., 260 x 197 mm., 228 x 168 mm., 100 x 140 mm., 238 x 206 mm., and 109 x 51 mm. at the maximum. In addition, there are 3 binding strips meas. 212 x 33 mm., 286 x 34 mm., and 141 x 36 mm., which are numbered xxxiv a, b and c. Of these three, c is little use and a is not much better; b is a horizontal strip beg.: "te dicat nova tibi promens cantica" on the recto and "-a resultet plectro laudu leta carmine" on the verso. Fragment xxxiv itself is another binding strip of the late 13th century, like the preceding: only 2 voices are visible on the verso and one on the recto. These pieces alone are not transcribed in DittmerWF, perhaps owing to their fragmentary state. They are in English mensural notation. Fragment xii is early 14th century: the recto contains long-breve notation, the verso has groups of semibreves but no minims. Fragment xviii is from the first half of the 13th century according to Dittmer, but perhaps a date in the second half of that century would be more realistic. The notation is of English mensural type again. Fragment xix is more substantial and consists of 3 bifolios, though only half of f. al, bl and cl remains. It dates from the Ars Nova period c. 1330 or a little earlier, but the notation is mainly of long-breve or Petronian type. There is, however, a faded piece in Ars Nova notation on f. al verso, and f. cl verso and c 2 contain odd minims. Fragment xx dates from c. 1300 and again uses long-breve or, on f. 2, English mensural notation. Fragment xxix, which contains several monodies, could well be as early as the mid-13th century, like fragment xxx. An old folio number XIIII appears at t.m.r. on f. a 2. There are 15 staves per page and the notation is of Notre Dame type, except that English mensural traits appear particularly in no. 4. Fragment xxx may in fact belong to the first half of the 13th century with its undifferentiated longs for single notes and its four-line staves. Fragment xxxii dates from the same period as xix and may be from the same original ms.

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Répertoire International des Sources Musicales

4v [xvi]

Click an entry to see more information about that item.

Folio / Pages Composition / Item title Source attribution Composers (? Uncertain)
1 [xiii] Felix namque Maria parens matris - Anonymous

Felix namque Maria parens matris

Anonymous
Appears on: 1 [xiii]
Genres: Motet
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: Felix namque Maria parens matris
General Note

Mot only; lower horizontal strip of f.4 is actually part of the same folio as f.1, and completes the Mot.

Layout

parts
1v [xiii v]–2 [xiv] De supernis sedibus fortitudo mittitur - Anonymous

De supernis sedibus fortitudo mittitur

Anonymous
Appears on: 1v [xiii v]–2 [xiv]
Genres: Motet
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: De supernis sedibus
Layout

parts
2v [xiv v]–3 [xv] Prolis aeterne genitor loquens / Psallat mater gratie, gaudet ecclesia / Pes super Prolis-Psallat - Anonymous

Prolis aeterne genitor loquens / Psallat mater gratie, gaudet ecclesia / Pes super Prolis-Psallat

Anonymous
Appears on: 2v [xiv v]–3 [xv]
Genres: Motet
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: Prolis eterne genitor/Psallat mater gratie/T. Pes super Prolis Psallat
Layout

parts
3v [xv v]–4 [xvi] Quem non capit fabrica / Pes super Quem non capit / ..ni genitrix, o dulcis alitrix - Anonymous

Quem non capit fabrica / Pes super Quem non capit / ..ni genitrix, o dulcis alitrix

Anonymous
Appears on: 3v [xv v]–4 [xvi]
Genres: Motet
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: Quem non capit/ . . . in genitrix o dulcis alitrix/T. Pes super Quem non capit
General Note

Tr and T only, except that the upper horizontal strip of f.4 contains 15 internal measures of the Mot.

Layout

parts
4v [xvi v] [Benedicta es caelorum regina] ... ex te verbum nunc natum qo salvantur omnia - Anonymous

[Benedicta es caelorum regina] ... ex te verbum nunc natum qo salvantur omnia

Anonymous
Appears on: 4v [xvi v]
Genres: Motet
Voice: [no designation]
Languages: Latin
Voice Text: … est ex te verbum nunc natum quo salvantur omnia …
General Note

14 internal measures of an otherwise lost Tr

Layout

parts
Composer Compositions
Anonymous
Composition Composers (? Uncertain) Folios / Pages
[Benedicta es caelorum regina] ... ex te verbum nunc natum qo salvantur omnia Anonymous 4v [xvi v]
De supernis sedibus fortitudo mittitur Anonymous 1v [xiii v]–2 [xiv]
Felix namque Maria parens matris Anonymous 1 [xiii]
Prolis aeterne genitor loquens / Psallat mater gratie, gaudet ecclesia / Pes super Prolis-Psallat Anonymous 2v [xiv v]–3 [xv]
Quem non capit fabrica / Pes super Quem non capit / ..ni genitrix, o dulcis alitrix Anonymous 3v [xv v]–4 [xvi]

Images © The British Library

Set: Worcester Fragments

Type: Fragments of a whole

GB-Lbl Add. MS 25031 (Worcester fragments)

GB-Ob MS. Bodl. 862

GB-Ob MS. Hatton 30

GB-Ob MS. Lat. liturg. d. 20 (Worcester fragments)

GB-WO Add. 68 (Worcester fragments)

‡ denotes primary source study

‡ Summers, William John, and Peter M Lefferts (editors). 2016. English 13th-Century Polyphony (EECM 57). Pages: pp. 32-39 & plates 179-309. Notes: physical description, contents, bibliography.

Sanders, Ernest H. 2001. Worcester Polyphony. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 560-563.

Sanders, Ernest H, and Peter M Lefferts. 2001. English Polyphony, 1270-1400, The Worcester Fragments. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 878-879.

Thomson, Rodney. 2001. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts in Worcester Cathedral Library.  Woodbridge, Suffolk, & Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, for the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral. Pages: xlvi.

Thomson, Rodney. 2000. Newly Discovered Fragments of Music at Worcester Cathedral: A Preliminary Account. Interpreting and Collecting Fragments of Medieval Books: Proceedings of The Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Oxford 1998, 89-95. London: Red Gull Press.

Wibberley, Roger. 2000. Ave virgo mater dei: towards a Reconstruction. Plainsong and Medieval Music, 41-49.

Malyshko, Olga E. 1998. Three Newly-Discovered Fragments at Worcester Cathedral: Another “Magnus Liber Organi” Flyleaf. Scriptorium, 66-88.

Caldwell, John. 1994. Worcester-Fragmente. Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart,  Bärenreiter.

Losseff, Nicky. 1994. The Best Concords: Polyphonic Music in Thirteenth-Century Britain.  New York: Garland. Pages: 148-154.

Crocker, Richard L. 1990. XIV. Polyphony in England in the Thirteenth Century. The New Oxford History of Music, II: The Early Middle Ages to 1300, edited by Richard L Crocker, 679-720. Oxford.

Wibberley, Roger. 1977. English Polyphonic Music of the late-thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries: a reconstruciton, transcription and commentary. University of Oxford, DPhil thesis, 2 vols.

‡ Dittmer, Luther A. 1960. Publications of Mediaeval Musical Manuscripts VI: Oxford Latin Liturgical D 20, London Add. Ms. 25031, Chicago Ms. 654 App. Publications of Mediaeval Music Manuscripts.  Brooklyn: Institute of Mediaeval Music.

Apfel, Ernst. 1959. Studien zur Satztechnik der mittelalterlichen englischen Musik. 2 vols. Pages: chapter 1 and opening of chapter 2 up to p. 63.

Dittmer, Luther A. 1959. Publications of Mediaeval Musical Manuscripts V: Worcester Add. 68, Westminster Abbey 33327, Madrid Bibl. Nac. 192. Publications of Mediaeval Music Manuscripts.  Brooklyn: Institute of Mediaeval Music.

Harrison, Frank Llewellyn. 1958, second ed. 1963. Music in Medieval Britain.  London: Routledge. Pages: 132ff.

‡ Dittmer, Luther A (editor). 1957. The Worcester Fragments: A Catalogue Raisonné and Transcription, s.l. Musicological Studies and Documents.  Neuhausen nr. Stuttgart: American Institute of Musicology. Pages: introduction.

Dittmer, Luther A. 1957. The Dating and the Notation of the Worcester Fragments. Musica Disciplina, 5-11.

Dittmer, Luther A. 1957. Auszug aus The Worcester-Music-Fragments.

Dittmer, Luther A. 1954. An English Discantuum Volumen. Musica Disciplina, 19ff. Pages: 29ff.

Dittmer, Luther A. 1953. Binary Rhythm, Musical Theory and the Worcester Fragments. Musica Disciplina, 39-57.

Levy, K J. 1951. New material on the early motet in England. A Report on the Princeton MS. Garrett 119. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 220-239.

Handschin, Jacques. 1949. The Summer Canon and its Background. Musica Disciplina, 55-94, volume 5 (1951), 65-113. Pages: II, 66ff.

Bukofzer, Manfred F. 1944. "Sumer is icumen in": A Revision. .

Reese, Gustave. 1940. Music in the Middle Ages: With an introduction on the music of ancient times.  New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Hughes, Dom Anselm. 1928. Worcester Mediaeval Harmony of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.  Burnham: Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society.

Ludwig, Friedrich (editor). 1926-9. Guillaume de Machaut: Musikalische Werke, 1-3.  Leipzig: Publikationen älterer Musik. Pages: II, 34, 62.

Besseler, Heinrich. 1925. Studien zur Musik des Mittelalters: I. Neue Quellen des 14. und beginnenden 15. Jahrhunderts. Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 167-252. Pages: I, 219ff.

Ludwig, Friedrich. 1923. Die Quellen der Motetten ältesten Stils. Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 185-222, Vol. 5 (1924) 273-315. Pages: 191, 274.

Floyer, J K, and S G Hamilton. 1906. Catalogue of Manuscripts Preserved in the Chapter Library of Worcester Cathedral. Pages: especially 159-163.

Wooldridge, Harry Ellis, and H V Hughes (editors). 1897 and 1913. Early English Harmony from the 10th to the 15th Century. 2 vols. London: The Plainsong and Medieval Music Society.

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Répertoire Internationale des Sources Musicales

Monday, 23 January, 2017

NB: Migrated from old site. Credit for notes may not be completely accurate. RISM Description