Mus. 21

Manuscript. Score-book in three scribal layers. Layer 1: instrumental and vocal works by Orlando Gibbons and John Coprario; copyist unidentified, English, ?1620s. / Layer 2: Italian madrigals and other miscellaneous works; copyist unidentified, English, ?1630s / Layer 3: vocal works by Benjamin Rogers, autograph; English, c. 1673-85. A slip of paper in Rogers's handwriting now pasted to p. [1] records the following: 'Ben: Rogers his book. Aug[us]t 18 1673 / and presented me by Mr John Playford stationer / in the Temple London. / This Score booke was done formerly / by that rare Musition, Mr Orlando Gibbons / and this book is of great value to a Composer'. It is now generally agreed that Orlando Gibbons was not one of the copyists of Mus. 21; nonetheless, Layer 1 is one of the principal surviving sources of his vocal and consort works. Loose within the volume is Mus. 21a.

At its inception, Mus. 21 may have been conceived as a repository for works scored for three, four, five and six voices respectively. The pages of its opening section (pp. 1-56) are ruled with 12 staves, suitable for three- and four-voice repertory; then comes a large central block (pp. 57-320) with pages ruled with two five-stave systems separated by a central space; the closing section (pp. 321-72) then reverts to 12-stave format, suitable for six-voice repertory. Of these three sections, only the first two were used by the copyist of scribal Layer 1. For further comments about the rastration of the staves and information about watermarks (which are consistent through the volume), see The Viola da Gamba Society Index of Manuscripts Containing Consort Music, compiled by Andrew Ashbee, Robert Thompson and Jonathan Wainwright, vol. 1 (Aldershot etc., 2001), pp. 190 and 258-9. Some leaves are now missing from Mus. 21, and had already been removed when it was paginated in the late 18th century; details of the locations of missing leaves are given below.

Layer 1 (= items 1-50 in the inventory below): instrumental and vocal works by Orlando Gibbons and John Coprario; copyist unidentified, English, ?1620s. There are five sub-layers: (a) Orlando Gibbons, fantasias a3 (= items 1-8); (b) Orlando Gibbons(?), consort works a6 (= items 9-12); (c) vocal works, principally from Orlando Gibbons's The first set of madrigals and mottets of 5 parts (London, 1612), all copied without text-underlay (= items 13-33); (d) John Coprario, fantasias a5 (= items 34-9); (e) Orlando Gibbons, nine verse anthems, followed by one full anthem, all copied in 5-voice score with full text-underlay (= items 40-50). Throughout Layer 1 the scores are copied stratigraphically (i.e. continuously across double-page spreads, the topmost system proceeding directly from the left-hand page to the right-hand page, followed by one or more systems copied in identical format). Any titles and/or composer attributions supplied by the music-copyist himself have been included in the inventory below (when viewed in the form found in the manuscript); conversely, all titles and attributions supplied by later owners/users have been suppressed (and, where of interest, are reported below in the comments on Layer 3). The following pieces were annotated by the Layer 1 copyist:

• Annotation at the end of items 1-8 (on p. 17): 'The end of mr Gibbons 3 part[s] for the viols'. The versions copied here differ slightly from the ones published in RISM G 1998 (of which there is an incomplete copy at Mus. 105-6).
• Annotation at the start of items 13-32 (on p. 57): 'mr orlando Gibons his Songes of 5 partes'. The versions copied here differ slightly from the ones published in RISM G 1994 (of which there are copies at Mus. 449-54(8) and Mus. 708-12). The first item in this layer has not been copied stratigraphically.
• Item 40: headed 'Thes words were made by Doctor [Godfrey] goodman de[an] of Rochester'. Goodman was appointed to this post in 1620/1. It therefore follows that at least this sub-layer of Mus. 21 was copied after that date.
• Item 41: headed 'Psalme 30: Anthem of 5 voc: was made for Do[cto]r [Hamlett] Marshall'. Marshall's doctorate was awarded in 1615.
• Item 42: headed 'for St John Baptists day[.] This Anthem was made for Dr [William] Laud presedent Sant Johns [College]', to which another hand has added 'Oxford'. Laud was President of St John's during the period 1611-21.
• Item 43: headed 'A thanks Giving for the kings happie recoverie ffrom a great dangerous sicknes' (i.e. 1619).
• Item 45: headed 'This antem was made for the kings being in Scottland' (i.e. May 1617).
• Item 47: headed 'An Anthem for all Saints day'.
• Item 48: headed 'A Weddinge Anthem first Made for my lord of summersett' (i.e. 1613).
• Item 49: headed 'tthis Anthem was made at the Entretie of Doctor [Anthony] maxcie Deane of Winsor the same day sennight before his death'. Maxey died on 3 May 1618.
• Item 50: headed 'tthe lamentation: A ffull Anthem'. The last opening (pp. 292-3) has not been copied stratigraphically, as if to signal the end of a section.

• Item 101: derives from RISM N 384-5; copy at Mus. 908-12(16).
• Items 105-8: derive from RISM N 386-7; copy at Mus. 908-12(14).
• Items 109-12: derive from RISM M 3467 or later editions; copies at Mus. 273-8, Mus. 502-7(6), Mus. 533-7, Mus. 283, and Mus. 581-5.
• Item 113: derives from RISM G 1741 or later editions; copy at Mus. 908-12(13).
• Item 114: incomplete owing to missing leaves between pp. 320 and 321. This work survives complete in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Mus. Sch. C.71, p. 122.
• Item 115: derives from RISM W 1066.
• Items 116-7: both pieces incomplete owing to missing leaves between pp. 330 and 331.
• Items 117-31: derive from RISM M 2897; copy at Mus. 442-6(3). The remaining contents of this publication were presumably copied on pages now missing between pp. 330 and 331.
• Items 132-3 (and probably 134): derive from RISM M 2346.

• Item 201: autograph composing score, dated '1677 february 13' at the end (p. 170).
• Item 202: headed 'Revela: 7th verse 9th / Hymnus Apocalipticus' and dated '1678' at the beginning and end.
• Item 203: dated '1684' at the beginning and end.
• Item 204: headed '4 voc. ffull Anthem / psalm 53 verse the 7th / in A re key', and dated '1684' at the end; possibly intended as a matching anthem for the evening service copied as item 203.
• Item 205: annotated 'This Hymn is / song every day, in / Magdalen College Hall, Oxon, / Dinner, and Supper; / through[ou]t the yeare / by the Chaplains / Clarks and Choristers / there / Composed by Benjamin / Rogers, Doctor of / Musique of the unive[rsity] / of Oxon / 1685'.

• pp. 2-41 = items 1-9 (= Layer 1)
• [p. 42: unused ruled staves]
• pp. 43-56 = items 101-4 (= Layer 2)
• pp. 57-165 = items 10-39 (= Layer 1)
• pp. 166-75 = items 201-2 (= Layer 3)
• pp. 176-292 = items 40-50 (= Layer 1)
• [p. 293: unused ruled staves]
• pp. 294-313 = items 105-13 (= Layer 2)
• pp. 314-20 = items 203-5 (= Layer 3)
• pp. 321-72 = items 114-34 (= Layer 2)

Upright format, 365 x 223 mm. 186 surviving leaves, paginated '[1]-372' in ink by Malchair. Collation not ascertained because of the tightness of the binding. Leaves are missing after pp. 18, 320 and 330, possibly after 308, and probably also at the end of the volume. Unused ruled staves on pp. [1], 18, 42, 293, 309 and 326-7. Mid 18th-century binding of brown leather over boards; the spine incorporates a panel of red leather, gold-tooled 'ORL. GIBBONS / B. ROGERS / &.c'; the binding was lightly repaired probably in the mid 20th century. Bookplate 2. There is a summary index of contents by Malchair on the front two flyleaves. 19th-century shelfmark: H.1.21.

Provenance: a slip of paper in the handwriting of Benjamin Rogers now pasted to p. [1] records the following: 'Ben: Rogers his book. Aug[us]t 18 1673 / and presented me by Mr John Playford stationer / in the Temple London. / This Score booke was done formerly / by that rare Musition, Mr Orlando Gibbons / and this book is of great value to a Composer'. Mus. 21 probably passed from Rogers to Richard Goodson Sr, and was definitely acquired by Christ Church as part of the Goodson bequest. It is listed in Clement 1747, item 13, as 'Anthems Mottets Madrigalls in Score. [later addition: 'by Orlando Gibbons & Benj.Rogers.'] No. 13', and in Malchair 1787, f. 3, as 'A Folio smooth Brown Calf. Fantasys Orlando Gibbons / Anthems. et caet Ben Rogers / Pomponio Nenna / Claud. Monteverde / Principe de Venosa / Petri Filippi / Missino / Paged and an index made to it'. Annotation by Richard Goodson Jr on p. 200 (preceding item 42): 'Me[morandum] Aug 1734 the following anthem was wrote out & given to the president [of St John's College, Oxford] Dr Holmes'.

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 3.

Select bibliography:

• John Harper, 'Orlando Gibbons: The Domestic Context of his Music and Christ Church MS 21', The Musical Times, 124 (1983), pp. 767-70.
• John Harley, Orlando Gibbons and the Gibbons Family of Musicians (Aldershot and Brookfield VT, 1999), esp. pp. 160-1.
• The Viola da Gamba Society Index of Manuscripts Containing Consort Music, compiled by Andrew Ashbee, Robert Thompson and Jonathan Wainwright, vol. 1 (Aldershot etc., 2001), pp. 190-4.
• Rebecca Herissone, 'To fill, forbear, or adorne': The Organ Accompaniment of Restoration Sacred Music, Royal Musical Association Monographs 14 (Aldershot, 2006), pp. 102-8.