Mus. 6
Manuscript. Organ accompanments for services and anthems; copyist
unidentified; English, c. 1620-35. Possibly a partner to the
set of four vocal partbooks now New York, Public Library, MS
Mus. Res. *MNZ (Chirk), which were compiled by the same copyist,
and which substantially overlap in contents. The volume is incomplete,
lacking ff. 25-42, 55, and an unknown number of leaves at the
rear. This is one of the many manuscript sources of keyboard music at Christ Church.
Table of titles and composers in modern form. Display form found in manuscript.
1 |
Thomas Tallis |
Short Service (V/T/B/K/C/O/M/N) |
ff. 1r-4v |
2 |
William Mundy |
O Lord, the maker of all things |
ff. 4v-5r |
3 |
William Parsons |
Almighty God, whose kingdom is everlasting |
f. 5r |
4 |
William Deane |
Short Service [T/B/K/C/M/N] |
ff. 5v-9r |
5 |
William Deane |
Lord, in thy wrath |
f. 9r |
6 |
Orlando Gibbons |
Short Service [T/B/K/C/M/N] |
ff. 9v-12r |
7 |
Thomas Tallis |
If ye love me |
f. 10r |
8 |
Christopher Tye |
Blessed are all they that fear the Lord |
f. 12v |
9 |
John Sheppard or Christopher Tye |
Haste Thee, O God, to deliver me |
f. 13r |
10 |
Christopher Tye |
Save me, O God, for thy name's sake |
f. 13v |
11 |
John Sheppard |
O God, be merciful unto us |
f. 14r |
12 |
Nicholas Strogers |
Short Service [T/B/K/C/M/N] |
ff. 14v-18r |
13 |
Christopher Tye |
O God, be merciful unto us |
ff. 18v-19r |
14 |
[John?] Boyce |
If ye love me |
f. 19r |
15 |
John Lugge |
Short Service [T/B/K/C/M/N] |
ff. 19v-23r |
16 |
William Parsons or Thomas Tallis |
Out from the deep I call to thee |
f. 23r |
17 |
|
(later sketch, in pencil) |
f. 24v |
18 |
Thomas Tallis |
I call and cry (= O sacrum convivium) |
f. 43r |
19 |
William Mundy |
O Lord, I bow the knees of my heart |
ff. 43v-44r |
20 |
Edmund Hooper |
Behold, it is Christ |
f. 44r |
21 |
Thomas Morley |
Out of the deep [I]: first accompaniment = EECM 38/12 |
ff. 44v-45r |
22 |
Thomas Tomkins |
Thou art my king, O God: first accompaniment |
ff. 45r-46r |
23 |
Richard Farrant |
When as we sat in Babylon |
ff. 46v-47r |
24 |
William Byrd |
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and consider |
f. 47r |
25 |
William Byrd |
Thou God, that guidest both heaven and earth |
f. 47v |
26 |
William Byrd |
Teach me, O Lord [from Second Preces and Psalm 119:33] |
f. 48r |
27 |
John Amner |
The king shall rejoice |
ff. 48v-49r |
28 |
John Amner |
O magnify the Lord our God |
ff. 49v-50r |
29 |
John Amner |
Lord, in thy wrath reprove me not |
ff. 50r-51r |
30 |
John Amner |
My shepherd is the living Lord |
ff. 51r-v |
31 |
Thomas Morley |
Out of the deep [I]: second accompaniment = EECM 38/3 |
ff. 51v-52r |
32 |
Orlando Gibbons |
Glorious and powerful God |
ff. 52v-53r |
33 |
Thomas Tomkins |
Thou art my king, O God: second accompaniment |
ff. 53v-54r |
34 |
John Ward |
Let God arise [opening only] |
f. 54v |
35 |
John Mundy |
O Lord our governor [ending only] |
f. 56r |
36 |
Michael East |
When Israel came out of Egypt |
f. 56v |
37 |
William Deane |
Blessed are those that are undefiled |
f. 57r |
38 |
Adrian Batten |
O Lord, thou hast searched me out |
ff. 57v-58r |
39 |
Robert Parsons (ii) |
How many hired servants [opening only] |
f. 58v |
Upright format, 405 x 277 mm. Structure: i+39 leaves. Collation:
originally ten or more gatherings, foliated by the copyist, each
of three quired bifolia. Of these, the following survive: ff.
1-24 (= A6, B6, C6, D6, all intact); ff. 43-54 (= H6, I6, both
intact), and ff. 56-8 (leaves 2-4 of gathering J, wanting J1
and 5-6). Mid 17th-century binding of vellum over stiff card;
the volume appears to have been bound without gatherings E-G
(ff. 25-42) or any gatherings after J. There are four pastedown
cancels on f. 54r; these have not been lifted. Bookplate 2.
19th-century shelfmark: H.1.6.
Provenance: if directly connected with the New York partbooks
mentioned above, then probably compiled for use in the chapel
of Chirk Castle (Clwyd); otherwise possibly for Wrexham parish
church. The volume had reached Christ Church by the mid 18th
century, probably as part of the Aldrich bequest. A deleted
shelfmark on the recto of the front flyleaf begins with the letter
'C'; this may link Mus. 6 with the otherwise unidentified volume
listed in Archives 1717, position C20, as 'A Collection of
Services'. This entry was subsequently deleted in Archives 1717,
implying that the volume had been re-shelved. The earliest explicit
catalogue entry for Mus. 6 is by Hind in Archives 1717, item
H65, where it is listed as 'Mr Tallis's Short Service &c
Fol. MS' (this entry subsequently deleted, then recopied without
change); in Mus. 6 itself, the shelfmark 'H.65' is written on
the front flyleaf (with several deleted alternatives), and on
the spine.
Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 1.
Select bibliography:
- John Morehen, 'The Sources of English Cathedral Music, c.1617-c.1664'
(Ph. D. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1969), 457-63.

- J. Bunker Clark, Transposition in Seventeenth Century English
Organ Accompaniments and the Transposing Organ (Detroit,
1974), 39ff, 55-6 and 115-16.

- Peter le Huray, 'The Chirk Castle Partbooks', Early Music
History, 2 (1982), 17-42.

- William Reynolds, 'Chirk Castle Organ and Organbook: An Insight
into Performance Practice Involving a Seventeenth-Century "Transposing"
Organ', Journal of the British Institute of Organ Studies,
21 (1997), 28-55.

|