17th-century MANUSCRIPTS of ITALIAN CANTATAS at CHRIST CHURCH

John Milsom

1. Manuscript collections of cantatas copied largely by a SINGLE ITALIAN COPYIST in a continuous sequence (i.e with no correlation between contents and gatherings).

• Mus. 377. 19 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; all copied without composer attributions, but including works by Giacomo Carissimi, Marco Marazzoli, Marc'Antonio Pasqualini and Luigi Rossi. Copied by a single hand, which was also responsible for Mus. 996 below. Provenance uncertain; possibly from the Goodson bequest.
• Mus. 953. 22 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; all copied without composer attributions, but including works by Carlo Caproli and Luigi Rossi. Copied principally by a single hand, with additions by two further copyists. This collection also includes sketches and a draft composition by additional unidentified hands. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 958. 22 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; all copied without composer attributions, but principally works by Antonio Farina. Copied by a single hand, possibly in several repertorial layers. This volume has a fine binding. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 959. 18 cantatas for one, two or three voices and continuo; all copied without composer attributions, but including works by Antonio Cesti and Luigi Rossi. Copied principally by a single hand, but with additions by up to four further copyists, and including one composer's draft, plus solmization exercises. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 993. 14 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; all copied without composer attributions, but principally by Giovanni Bononcini, Francesco Gasparini and Alessandro Scarlatti. Copied by a single hand, which was also responsible for Mus. 994 below. Provenance: from the Goodson bequest.
• Mus. 994. 4 cantatas for solo voice and continuo, copied with attributions to Giacomo Carissimi. Copied by a single hand, which was also responsible for Mus. 993 above. Provenance: from the Goodson bequest.
• Mus. 996. 45 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; largely copied without composer attributions, but including works by Carlo Caproli, Giacomo Carissimi, Marco Marazzoli, Marc'Antonio Pasqualini and Luigi Rossi. Copied by a single hand, which was also responsible for Mus. 377 above. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.

• Mus. 946. 12 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; the majority are copied with composer attributions (some spurious), including works by Carlo Caproli, Domenico Antonio De Mundo, Marc'Antonio Sportonio and Luigi Rossi. Compiled by three copyists; the same hands also occur in Mus. 947 (see below). Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 947. 17 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; the majority are copied with composer attributions (some spurious), including works by Benedetto Bartorelli, Giacomo Carissimi, Antonio Cesti, Atto Melani, Luigi Rossi and Antonio Francesco Tenaglia. Compiled by two copyists; the same hands also occur in Mus. 946 (see above). Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 948. 12 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; the majority are copied with composer attributions, including works by Antonio Cesti, Guiseppe Corsi, Antonio Farina, Antonio Masini, Giovanni Cesare Netti, Luigi Rossi and Alessandro Stradella. Three copyists, one of whom also copied the whole of Mus. 952, most of Mus. 955, and parts of Mus. 956. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 949. 19 cantatas for solo voice and continuo by Giacomo Carissimi, Luigi Rossi, Pietro Simone Agostini and others. Single unidentified Italian copyist. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 950. 8 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; the majority are copied with composer attributions (some spurious), including works by Giacomo Carissimi, Vincenzo Leopardi and Luigi Rossi. Compiled by at least three copyists; the same hands also occur in Mus. 951 (see below), which closely resembles Mus. 950 in all respects. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 951. 12 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; the majority are copied with composer attributions (some spurious), including works by Giacomo Carissimi, Antimo Liberati, Marc'Antonio Sportonio and Luigi Rossi. Compiled by at least two copyists; the same hands also occur in Mus. 950 (see above), which closely resembles Mus. 951 in all respects. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 952. 12 cantatas for solo voice and continuo; the majority are copied with composer attributions, including works by Carlo Caproli, Francesco Federici and Alessandro Stradella. Single copyist; his hand also occurs in Mus. 948, Mus. 955 and Mus. 956. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 955. 30 cantatas and arias for solo voice and continuo, including arias by Alessandro Scarlatti from the following three stage works: L'Aldimiro (first performance: Naples, 6 November 1683); Il Pompeo (first performance: Rome, 23 January 1683); Dal male il bene (commedia; revision of Tutto il mal non vien per nuocere; first performance of revised version: Naples, 1687). Three copyists; the principal hand was also responsible for copying the whole of Mus. 952 and parts of Mus. 948 and Mus. 956. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 956. 22 cantatas and arias for solo voice and continuo, including works by Severo de Luca, Bernardo Pasquini, Antonio Farina, Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonio Cesti. Seven copyists, one of whom may be Severo di Luca; another was responsible for copying the whole of Mus. 952, most of Mus. 955, and parts of Mus. 948. Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 998. 24 cantatas largely for solo voice and continuo, including works by Francesco Boccalino, Carlo Caproli, Giacomo Carissimi, Mario Savioni and Luigi Rossi. Copied by a single hand (Roman). This volume has a fine binding. Provenance: from the Goodson bequest.

• Mus. 13. A collection principally of motets, copied by Henry Aldrich and Richard Goodson Sr; includes two cantatas (as items 14 and 15). Of these, item 14 seems to have been copied from Mus. 959 (see section 1 above); there is another copy of item 15 in Mus. 1215(6) (see section 5 below). Provenance not firmly ascertained, but probably from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 17. A collection of English songs and catches, Italian cantatas and motets, and French airs, copied principally by Henry Aldrich with additions by Richard Goodson Sr. The cantatas, which were all copied by Aldrich, include works by Giacomo Carissimi, Nicholas Lanier, Pietro Reggio, Luigi Rossi, and possibly Vincenzo Albrici. Provenance not firmly ascertained, but probably from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 18. English and Italian sacred and secular music, copied by Henry Aldrich. Includes cantatas by Francesco Turini and Marco Marazzoli; some pieces derive from Mus. 377 (dehandd in Section 1 above).
• Mus. 51. 22 cantatas by Giacomo Carissimi, copied by Richard Goodson Sr. Provenance not firmly ascertained, but probably from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 52. 5 cantatas by Giacomo Carissimi, copied by Richard Goodson Sr; some of these derive from Mus. 996 (dehandd in Section 1 above). Closely related to Mus. 54 (see below). Provenance not firmly ascertained, but probably from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 54.. 6 cantatas by Giacomo Carissimi, copied by Richard Goodson Sr; some of these derive from Mus. 996 (dehandd in Section 1 above). Closely related to Mus. 52 (see above). Provenance not firmly ascertained, but from the Aldrich bequest.
• Mus. 83. Italian and French cantatas and motets, copied possibly by William Dingley. Includes cantatas by Antonio Cesti.

• Mus. 350. Songs, motets, cantatas and other vocal works, copied by Richard Goodson Sr. Includes cantatas by Vincenzo Albrici, Giacomo Carissimi and Marco Marazzoli.

• Mus. 1147(A): unidentified cantata beginning 'Del mio partir, oh dio'; copyist unidentified, possibly Italian.
• Mus. 1215(4): unidentified cantata beginning 'O quanto è contenta'; copyist unidentified, probably English.
• Mus. 1215(5): unidentified cantata beginning 'Colui che partesi'; copyist unidentified, possibly German.
• Mus. 1215(6): Giacomo Carissimi, 'Care selve beate'; copyist unidentified, probably English. This cantata was also copied by Henry Aldrich in Mus. 13 and Mus. 18; see section 3 above.
• Mus. 1215(8): fragment of Giacomo Carissimi, 'Sciolto havean dall'alte sponde', copied by Richard Goodson Sr.
• Mus. 1215(9): fragment of an unidentified cantata; copyist unidentified, possibly Italian.

Select bibliography:

• Margaret Murata, 'Roman Cantata Scores as Traces of Musical Culture and Signs of its Place in Society', Atti del XIV Congresso della Società Internazionale di Musicologia 1987, I: Round Tables (Turin, 1990), pp. 272-84 (with discussion at pp. 326-36).
• Alessio Ruffatti, '"Curiosi e bramosi l'oltramontani cercano con grande diligenza in tutti i luoghi": La cantata romana del Seicento in Europa', Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, 13 (2008), published online at http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v13/no1/ruffatti.html.

Annotations

1. Mus. 951: 'Libro 1^o'
2. Mus. 948: 'Libro 2^o'
3. Mus. 949: 'Libbro 3'
4. not traced
5. not traced
6. Mus. 946: 'Libro 6^o'
7. Mus. 950: 'Libro 7^o'
8. not traced
9. not traced
10. not traced
11. not traced
12. not traced
13. not traced
14. not traced
15. not traced
16. not traced
17. not traced
18. not traced
19. not traced
20. not traced
21. not traced
22. not traced
23. Mus. 952: 'Libro 23'
24. not traced
25. not traced
26. Mus. 958: 'Libro 26'