Folio with chants for the Divine Office

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Evanston, IL, Northwestern University, Music Library, MS 1600 (NW-SF-5)

General Information

Title Folio with chants for the Divine Office
Shelfmarks Evanston, Northwestern University, Music Library, MS 1600 (NW-SF-5)
Former Shelfmarks MUS 734
Page/Folio Reference f. 1r–v
Material Parchment
Place of Origin Italy
Date of Origin Second half of the 12th century
Script, Hands

Transitional Caroline-Gothic minuscule, written in black ink.

General Remarks

This single folio, once part of a larger Italian antiphonal, was later reused as a pastedown, leading to rubbing and fading (especially on verso). The leaf preserves a sequence of Office chants for Thursday Matins and Lauds (recto) and Thursday/Friday Vespers with Saturday Matins (verso). The chants include responsories, antiphons, and incipits for psalms and versicles.

Book Decoration and Musical Notation

Description

Simple red initials mark the incipits of chants, often one to two lines in height. Rubrication is limited to initials and the occasional highlighting of liturgical rubrics

  • Musical Notation

    Diastematic neumes on a single red line, with the pitch “f” consistently marked. Occasional auxiliary yellow lines indicate “c.” Notation written in dark brown/black ink, now faded in places.