Mus. 1012

Manuscript. Bassus Cantoris partbook from an otherwise lost set; English, after 1669 (on grounds of the attribution of pieces to 'Dr [Benjamin] Rogers', who was awarded his Oxford doctorate in that year). Copyist unidentified; the same hand was also responsible for copying the first layer of Mus. 1246.

• Item 11 (Farrant, Te deum): there are cues on pp. 66-8 that refer to divisi verses. The relevant passages, variously for high or low voices, were then notated in score on pp. 72-3.

Oblong format, 237 x 180 mm. 64 surviving folios, paginated in ink by the copyist, with supplementary pagination in 20th-century pencil. (Some adjustments to the pagination were made in 1989; these will not be present in microfilms made before that date.) Collation: A8 (pp. 1-16), B8 (pp. 17-32; leaf B8 is excised, and pp. 31-2 are therefore represented by a stub), C8 (pp. 33-48; leaf C1 is excised, and pp. 33-4 are therefore represented by a stub), D4 (pp. 49-52, 61-2 and 63-4) enclosing E6 after p. 62 (= pp. 62a-l; these leaves are smaller in dimensions than the remainder of the volume), F8 (pp. 65-80), G8 (pp. 81-96), H8 (pp. 97-109, 109a, 110-11), I8 (112-27). There is no sign of excised leaves between pp. '52' and '61' (which face one another at the centre of a regular 8-leaf gathering), and the gap in the numbering may arise from the removal of a complete 8-leaf gathering formerly inserted at this point. Unused ruled staves on pp. 1-2, 10-12, 16-18, 29-30, (pp. 31-4: excised), 35, 50-52, 62k-l, 63, 87 and 124-5. The copyist has provided two listings of the contents, the first of services (front flyleaf, recto and verso), the second of anthems (rear flyleaf, verso and recto). Late 17th-century binding of limp vellum lined with grey card, inscribed 'Bassus Cantoris' on the outside upper cover. Inside lower sheet of grey card: inscribed 'Decani / Meane'. Bookplate 2. 19th-century shelfmark: G.22.

Provenance: this is probably the volume from the Aldrich bequest listed in Archives 1717 (at position F20) as 'Dr Childs Service &c', a description that matches the heading of the first piece (f. 3: 'Dr Childs service in Elami'). In Dowding (main hand), the entry has been expanded to read 'Batton's Service. Portman & Rogers's Service. M.S. in score'; Batten, Portman and Rogers are the composers of the ensuing three works. However, Mus. 1012 is a partbook, not 'in score' (as stated in Dowding); and the entry in Malchair 1787, though providing what seems to be a largely accurate transcription of the partial contents list on the front flyleaf of Mus. 1012, refers to it as being 'A book Containing the Trible and Bass'. Possibly Malchair's description arises from the conflicting inscription of 'Meane' on the card leaf at the end of the volume but 'Bassus' on the outer upper cover, or from the passages of Farrant's Te deum (item 11) that are notated in score (as described above; see the comment immediately preceding the inventory).

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 36.