Mus. 1137

Manuscript. A miscellany of scores, drafts and sketches of instrumental chamber music, mainly scored for two trebles and figured bass; English, probably early 18th century. Probably part of the repertory of the Oxford city/university waits or 'musick'. The copyist/composer, who has not been identified, is here designated as 'Copyist Y'; he was also responsible for other autograph scores and/or sets of performing parts within the Christ Church collection. For further details, see the entry for Mus. 34-6. Mus. 1137 also contains (at sheet 6) an incomplete copy of the Chaconne from Henry Purcell's Dioclesian (Z.627 (16)), copied by unidentified Copyist X, who appears to have worked in close proximity to Copyist Y.

Mus. 1137 comprises 9 separate sheets, mounted on guards in random order within an early 20th-century guardbook of stiff card and vellum (upright format, 570 x 420 mm). The sheets are numbered in modern pencil.

In the descriptions of contents below, sets in the same key are distinguished from one another by means of roman numerals (I, II, etc), using and extending the numbering sequence of Mus. 34-6. Within each set, the number of movements is shown in round brackets: '(1-5)', etc.

• Sheet 1: originally a bifolium, folded horizontally; now presented as a single sheet in upright format, 490 x 377 mm. Recto: fair copies of two movements in b minor, copied by Copyist Y; the second is headed 'Rondeau. Not fast'. Neither of these movements appears to have been subsequently incorporated into a single-key set, and this is their only known source. Verso: unused ruled staves.
• Sheet 2: upright format, c. 300 x 237 mm. Recto: draft (with minor revisions) of a duo in G major (clefs: G2, F4), copied by Copyist Y. Verso: sketches and partial draft of a movement in A major, copied by Copyist Y with the sheet inverted; the page is annotated 'Transcrib'd', and the music crossed out, but no fair copy of this movement has yet been located.
• Sheets 3-4 and 8: all upright format, c. 327 x 207 mm. Fair copies by Copyist Y of six movements in C major, presumably intended to form a 'set' in that key, although the order of the movements is not specified. Sheet 3 recto/verso is devoted to a single movement; sheet 4 (which is intended to be read from verso to recto) contains three movements, the second of which is headed 'Two Trumpets'; sheet 8 (which is intended to be read from verso to recto) contains two movements, the second of which is again headed 'Two Trumpets'. This is the only known source of the set now designated as C major/XII (1-6).
• Sheet 5: oblong format, 410 x 320 mm, cut down from a larger sheet. Two miscellaneous movements, copied by Copyist Y. Recto: fair copy of a movement in B flat major; there is another copy by Copyist Y of this movement in Mus. 1125, p. 8. Verso: fair copy of a movement in E flat major; there is another copy by Copyist Y of this movement in Mus. 1125, p. 11. Performers' parts for both of these movements are in Mus. 1141a (ff. 12-14), copied by Copyist W. Neither of these movements appears to have been subsequently incorporated into a single-key set.
• Sheet 6: oblong format, 473 x 300 mm. Recto: opening of [Henry Purcell], [Chaconne from Dioclesian, Z.627 (16)], copied in score by Copyist X. Verso: unused ruled staves.
• Sheet 7: originally a bifolium, folded horizontally; now presented as a single sheet in upright format, 557 x 400 mm. Recto: fair copy of set in b minor/VI (1-3), copied by Copyist Y. This is the only known source of the set. Verso: unused ruled staves.
• Sheet 8: see sheets 3-4 above.
• Sheet 9: oblong format, 395 x 273 mm. Recto: fair copy of a four-part movement in g minor, copied by Copyist Y. This is the only known source of the movement. Verso: unused ruled staves.

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 37.