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Chansonnier with music notation

Polyphonic variations on Gloria chant and on two secular French songs (Espirance and Dame par vos douch plazier)

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Gent, Rijksarchief te Gent, Archief abdij van Groenenbriel (Gent), nr.133

Merel Waeyaert, Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheken, 2021 (Born Digital)

Remarks by the Editor

Additional information by Roos in't Velt, Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheken, 2023.

General Information

Title Chansonnier with music notation
Shelfmarks Gent, Rijksarchief te Gent, Archief abdij van Groenenbriel (Gent), nr.133
Material Parchment
Place of Origin Southern Low Countries
Date of Origin late 14th century
Script, Hands

Northern littera gothica textualis. On the lower part of fol. [1]v and fol. [2]v the Middle French text is in a smaller modulus. Musical notation is executed by at least three hands.
General Remarks

1 bifolium. Outer margins are crumpled and frayed. Small hole in fol. 4, from fol. 5v an initial has been removed in the top left-hand corner.

Original Condition

Page Height 318 mm
Page Width 221 mm
Height of Written Area 252 mm
Width of Written Area 178 – 180 mm
Number of Columns 1
Width of Columns 178 – 180 mm
Number of Lines 10 – 11
Ruling frame ruling in red ink, no prickings visible
Numbering

Medieval foliation in upper margin in Roman numerals ('IIII' and 'V').
Collation

This bifolium was the inner bifolium of a quire and represents consecutive leaves.

Current Condition

Extent 1 bifolium
Dimensions 322 x 445 mm

Book Decoration and Musical Notation

Description

Pen-flourished initials with interior reserved shapes and drolleries (red and blue) - Plain versals (red and blue) - Colour stroking (red).
  • Musical Notation

    Mensural notation, in 5 lines in red ink, 10 staves. On fol. 4v a staff with 5 lines in black ink has been added. 

    • Content

    • Content Item
      • Text Language Latin
      • Title <i>Et in terra pax hominibus</i>
      • Content Description

        Three polyphonic variations on Gloria, Cantus ID 509502 ("deo et in terra pax hominibus").
      • fol. 4r
      • Secondary Literature Cantus Index (http://cantusindex.org/)
    • Content Item
      • Text Language Middle French
      • Title <i>Espirance qui en mon cuer</i>
      • Content Description

        Fol. 4v-5r.
      • fol. 4v
      • Edition Lannutti, Maria Sofia, ‘«Sofrir m’estuet» «En Atendant» «Sus La Fontayne» From Pavia to Florence and Rome*’, ed. by Anna Alberni, Antonio Calvia, and Maria Sofia Lannutti, Polyphonic Voices. Poetic and Musical Dialogues in the European Ars Nova, La Tradizione Musicale, 22 (Florence: Sismel - Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2021), 244
      • Remarks

        Polyphonic variations on a popular secular French rondeau, also known as Esperance qui en mon cuer.
    • Content Item
      • Text Language Middle French
      • Title <i>Dame par vos douch plazier</i>
      • fol. 5v
      • Remarks

        Polyphonic variations on a secular French song.

    History

    Remarks

    Fragment was used as binding for a rent register of Groenenbriel abbey. Note in later handwriting (17th or 18th century) on fol. [1]r refers to an account book of the abbey ("ouden ontfanck boeck van pachten en renten van dit klooster").

    Bibliography

    • Strohm, Reinhard, ‘The Ars Nova Fragments of Gent’, Tijdschrift van de Vereniging Voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 34 (1984), 109–31
    • Cuthbert, Michael Scott, ‘Esperance and the French Song in Foreign Sources’, Studi Musicali, 36 (2007), 3–20
    • Schreurs, Eugeen, An Anthology of Music Fragments from the Low Countries (Middle Ages-Renaissance) (Leuven, 1995), p. 16-17
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