Christ Church Library music catalogue: Mus. 365-6

Mus. 365-6

Manuscript. Metrical psalms in English and French, and sacred and secular songs, scored for one and two voices with continuo; English, mid 17th century. The two volumes function partly as a two-partbook set (in which case Mus. 356 gives the texted upper voice-part in score with unfigured bass, Mus. 366 the texted lower voice-part); elsewhere the two volumes are independent of one another in terms of repertory.

The contents of Mus. 365-6 seem to have been copied by a single unidentified scribe (notwithstanding some small variants in the hand). His identity may be implied by the three pieces attributed to 'S.C.' (items 33, 47 and 60), all of which are apparently unique to this source. A possible candidate is Simon Coleman, organist and master of the choristers at New College, Oxford, c.1640-8. This hypothesis would align with the following facts: (a) Mus. 365-6 apparently reached Christ Church as part of the Goodson bequest; (b) Richard Goodson Sr had been organist of New College in the decade 1682-92, and was therefore a successor to Coleman; (c) Goodson's bequest included several music-books that are definitely of New College provenance; for details, see the entry for Mus. 93.

Many of the pieces in Mus. 365-6 are unidentified. For music incipits, see Godfrey E. P. Arkwright, Catalogue of [manuscript] music in the Library of Christ Church Oxford, Part II: 'MS. works of unknown authorship, (i) Vocal' (Oxford, 1923). This lists the unidentified works in the following order:

pp. 53-7: two-voice works with English texts, listed alphabetically by incipit;
pp. 57-64: French-texted metrical psalms, listed by psalm-number (1-50);
p. 65: works with English texts for which the partbooks supply only a bass voice, listed alphabetically by incipit.

Items 1-40 in the inventory below represent the entire contents of Mus. 365, and are listed in the order in which they appear in that volume; cross-references to Mus. 366 are given where relevant. Items 41-64 are unique to Mus. 366, and again are listed in the order in which they appear in the volume. Comments on individual items:

Item 1: equivalent to the entire musical contents of A paraphrase upon the psalmes of David. By G[eorge]. S[andys]. Set to new tunes for private devotion: and a thorow base, for voice, or instrument. By Henry Lawes[,] Gentleman of his Majesty's Chappell Royall (London, 1637/8), of which Christ Church has a copy at shelfmark C.2.2.10. In Mus. 356-6, only selected continuation stanzas are supplied. In Mus. 356, superscript numbers added to the treble part appear to be a rudimentary form of tablature that refers to the courses of a plucked string instrument.
Items 2-31: an unidentified cycle of 30 sacred songs for two voices (treble and bass) and continuo. In Mus. 366, the music is copied at the rear with the volume inverted.
Items 32-4: the texts are taken from Christopher Harvey's The synagogue (1640 and later editions; there is a copy of the 1647 edition at Christ Church at shelfmark a.2.4(2)). Item 32 is the second stanza of 'Alas, my Lord is going'; items 33-4 set the opening stanzas of their respective poems. In Mus. 366, the music is copied at the rear with the volume inverted.
Item 35: equivalent to the entire musical contents of George Withers, The hymns and songs of the church, with musical settings by Orlando Gibbons (various editions, all London, 1623; no copy in the Christ Church collections). For comments on the relationship between the printed editions and the copies in Mus. 365-6, see Orlando Gibbons: II. Full anthems, hymns and fragmentary verse anthems, ed. David Wulstan, Early English Church Music, 21 (London, 1978), p. 204. In Mus. 365-6, continuation stanzas are selectively provided at the foot of the page.
Items 35, 37 and 51: tunes and accompanying basses (copied in score) for Psalms 1-50 in the version of the Calvinist psalter of Marot/de Bèze. For Psalms 1-2, separate bass parts are provided in Mus. 366, but thereafter the copyist seems to have decided that scores alone would suffice, and abandoned the two-partbook format. The copy of Psalm 36 (Mus. 366, ff. 30v-31r) is underlaid both in French and with the English text 'Yee children which doe serve the Lord'. The copies of Psalms 41 and 42 are incomplete in Mus. 366 owing to the loss of a leaf after f. 34. For a printed edition (1611) of the standard psalm-tunes, see Mus. 340.
Item 37: texted treble and bass parts, copied in score.
Items 39-40: copied at the rear of Mus. 365 with the volume inverted.
Items 41-5 and 47: texted bass-parts only; the texts are in prose.
Item 46: texted bass part only.
Items 48-9: texted bass parts only, harmonizing the standard tunes for these psalms.
Items 52-64: copied at the rear of Mus. 366 with the volume inverted. Texted bass parts only.
Items 52-7: from Coprario's Songs of mourning (London, 1606). A copy of the latter publication is known to have formed part of Aldrich's bequest to Christ Church; it is listed in Archives 1717 at position H12, but was taken from Christ Church in the 19th century, and is now the copy in the British Library at shelfmark K.2.g.8.
Item 58: apparently a dialogue, represented here by the bass voice only, with text-cues to the missing upper part ('Dorinda'). Incomplete at the end owing to the loss of a leaf between ff. 48 and 49.
Item 60: the words of this piece are also found in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawl. Poet. 23, a collection of anthem texts compiled for one of the royal chapels c.1625-35.

Table of titles and composers in modern form. Display form found in manuscript.
The first column gives the modern numbering of the pieces; the second shows numbering used by the copyist(s).

				Mus. 365	Mus. 366
1		Henry Lawes	Complete musical contents of 'A paraphrase upon the psalmes of David. By George Sandys' (London, 1637/8	ff. 1^r-13^r	ff. 1^r-12^v
2	1		My days are full of cumber	f. 14^r	f. 57^v
3	2		There's no grief so tormenting	f. 14^v	f. 57^v
4	3		'Twas mortal sin that gave my soul this wounding	f. 15^r	f. 57^r
5	4		Poor soul, bethink thee what thou hast committed	f. 15^v	f. 57^r
6	5		A broken contrite spirit trusting, O Lord, in thee	f. 16^r	f. 56Av
7	6		The faith that's firmly grounded	f. 16^v	f. 56Av
8	7		Lord, rebuke not my faults	f. 17^r	f. 56Ar
9	8		My sin in sorrow endeth	f. 17^v	f. 56Ar
10	9		Ay me, sin hath bereft me	f. 18^r	f. 56^v
11	10		Give me, O Lord, the comfort of they spirit	f. 18^v	f. 56^v
12	11		These prayers, O Lord, which my weak faith presenteth	f. 19^r	f. 56^r
13	12		My soul with love of thee, O Lord	f. 19^v	f. 56^r
14	13		My tears and my petitions	f. 20^r	f. 55^v
15	14		Now dangers compass me	f. 20^v	f. 55^v
16	15		My soul with sin oppressed	f. 21^r	f. 55^r
17	16		The pleasant plants, green herbs	f. 21^v	f. 55^r
18	17		Alas, how comes this vine	f. 22^r	f. 54^v
19	18		If such a spoil betide a vine	f. 22^v	f. 54^v
20	19		Lord, what is man?, think I	f. 23^r	f. 54^r
21	20		Thou bad'st me call, O Lord	f. 23^v	f. 54^r
22	21		To sing her maker's praises	f. 24^r	f. 53^v
23	22		If thou, O Lord, do not vouchsafe	f. 24^v	f. 53^v
24	23		Thy sweet mercy, Lord, remember	f. 25^r	f. 53^r
25	24		O know, my God, thou art in Christ well pleased	f. 25^v	f. 53^r
26	25		Lo, I come when thou call'st me	f. 26^r	f. 52^v
27	26		Holy Lord whom the heaven	f. 26^v	f. 52^v
28	27		My soul, why art thou vexed	f. 27^r	f. 52^r
29	28		See, Lord, my soul is straying	f. 27^v	f. 52^r
30	29		Fly away, tempter, leave me	f. 28^r	f. 51^v
31	30		Still as my wounds distress me	f. 28^v	f. 51^v
32			Cheer up thy drooping spirits	f. 29^r	f. 51^r
33		S.C.	Turn in, my Lord, turn in to me	f. 29^v	f. 50^v
34			Unfold thy face, unmask thy ray	f. 30^r	f. 50^r
35		Orlando Gibbons	Complete musical contents of George Withers, 'The hymns and songs of the church' (various editions, all London, 1623)	ff. 30^v-39^v	ff. 19^v-27^v
36			French metrical psalms 1-20, in the versions of Marot/de Bèze	ff. 40^r-55^v	ff. 29^r-30^r
37		William Child	Ye sons of Sion now rejoice	ff. 56^v-58^r
38			French metrical psalms 21-35, in the versions of Marot/de Bèze	ff. 58^v-68^v
39			Psalm 25 (untexted; two versions; treble and bass in score)	f. 69^v
40		John Wilson	Clora's false love made Clora weep	f. 69^r
41			O God, the heathen are come		f. 13^r
42			O pray for the peace of Jerusalem		ff. 13^v-14^r
43			... And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them		ff. 14^v-15^r
44			Why do the heathen so furiously rage together		ff. 15^v-16^r
45			O come, let us sing unto the Lord		ff. 16^v-17^v
46		John Wilson	When Troy town for ten years' wars		f. 18^r
47		S.C.	O God, wherefore art thou absent from us ('2 voc.')		ff. 18^v-19^r
48			All people that on earth do dwell		f. 28^r
49			Give laud unto the Lord		f. 28^v
50			Attend, my people, and give ear		f. 30^r
51			French metrical psalms 36-50, in the versions of Marot/de Bèze		ff. 30^v-43^r
52		John Coprario	O grief, how diverse are thy shapes		f. 60^v
53		John Coprario	'Tis now dead night		f. 60^r
54		John Coprario	Fortune and glory		f. 59^v
55		John Coprario	So parted you		f. 59^r
56		John Coprario	How like a golden dream		f. 58^v
57		John Coprario	When pale famine		f. 58^r
58			I shall go to Elysium		ff. 49^v-r
59			Mount up, my soul, to Sion hill		f. 48^v
60		S.C.	Arise, shine, for thy light is come		ff. 48^r-47^v
61		John Jenkins	Welcome pure thoughts ('2 voc.')		ff. 47^r-46^v
62		John Jenkins	Victorious time whose winged feet ('2 voc.')		ff. 46^r-45^v
63		Henry Lawes	While I listen to thy voice		f. 45^r
64			Attend, my people, and give ear (alternative version of no. 50 above)		f. 44^v

The contents of Mus. 366 are copied in the following order: (A) at the front of volume: items 1, 41-7, 35, 36 (Psalms 1-2 only) and 50-51; (B) at the rear with the volume inverted: items 52-7, 2-34 and 58-64.

Oblong format, 233 x 120 mm. Physical descriptions:

Mus. 365: 69 surviving leaves, foliated in modern pencil. Collation unclear because of the tightness of the binding, but probably regularly in sixes (A6, B6 etc.). A stub at the rear of the volume contains a fragment of a solmization table apparently copied by Richard Goodson Sr; this suggests that the partbooks were used for pedagogical purposes around 1700. Mid 17th-century binding of brown leather over boards, gold-tooled with fillets and small ornaments at the corners and centres of both covers. Edges stained in green. No early bookplate. 19th-century shelfmark: I.4.77.
Mus. 366: 61 surviving leaves, foliated '1-56, 56A, 57-60' in modern pencil. Leaves are missing between ff. 34-5 and 48-9. Collation unclear because of the tightness of the binding, but probably regularly in sixes (A6, B6 etc.). Mid 17th-century binding of brown leather over boards, gold-tooled with fillets and small ornaments at the corners and centres of both covers. Edges stained in green. Bookplate 3. 19th-century shelfmark: I.4.78.

Provenance: not listed in any of the 18th-century catalogues of the Christ Church music collections. Presumably from the Goodson bequest, partly on grounds of the fragmentary solmization table at the rear of Mus. 365, and partly on the evidence of the bookplate.

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 12.