Mus. 7

*** This is an INTERIM entry ***

Manuscript. The six books of motets for solo voice and continuo by Bonifazio Graziani (opp. 3, 6, 8, 10, 16 and 19), copied in score, apparently from printed editions; English, last quarter of 17th century.

The task of copying these works appears to have been shared by five copyists, largely working independently in four separate layers that were subsequently brought together to form a single volume. The following outline description briefly describes their work; it will be suplemented at a later date by a full inventory of contents.

LAYER 1: ff. 1-125

• ff. 1r-34r: motets headed 'Libro primo' (= op. 3), copied by Francis Withy; then:
• ff. 34v-76r: motets headed '2d Book of Bonitatio Gratiani' (= op. 6), also copied by Francis Withy; then:
• ff. 76v-102v: motets from Il terzo libro, op. 8, copied without heading by Edward Hull. (For a copy of a printed edition of the Terzo libro, see Mus. 223.)

LAYER 2: ff. 126-59

• ff. 126r-152v: motets headed 'Gratiani a voce sola. Libro quarto' (= op. 10). Copyist not positively indentified, but possibly Edward Lowe. Unused ruled staves on ff. 153r-159v.

LAYER 3: ff. 160-82

• ff. 160r- 182r: motets headed 'Gratiani a voce sola. Libro quinto' (= op. 16). Copyist unidentified. Unused ruled staves on f. 182v.

LAYER 4: ff. 183-216

• ff. 183r-215r: motets headed 'Gratiani a voce sola. Libro sesto' (= op. 19). Copyist unidentified. Unused ruled staves on ff. 215v-216v, with a pencil sketch (fugal exposition, in score) added to f. 215v by an unidentified late 18th-century hand.

Upright format, 390 x 247 mm. 216 folios, foliated in modern pencil. (This supersedes the pagination system by Francis Withy in Layer 1.) Late 17th-century binding of thick grey card edged in vellum, equivalent to that of Mus. 8. The spine is annotated 'Gratiani' in an unidentified hand, possibly that of Malchair. Bookplate 2 on inside upper cover. 19th-century shelfmark: H.1.7.

Provenance unknown, but most likely from the Aldrich bequest, on account of the presence of Bookplate 2. Listed by Malchair (item 9) as follows: 'B. Sacred Motets for a Single Voice Libri 1mo-2do-4to-5to. 6to / Bonifatio Gratiani / if the 3d book is also Contained in this folio, its beginning is not Numbred. - marked B'. Mus. 7 corresponds exactly to this description. Malchair's reference to the volume as 'B' in turn allows it to be matched with a block entry by Hind in Dowding, which refers to a sequence of '18 Vols. of Musick, chiefly M.S. mark'd on the Backs, A. B. C. C.2. D. D.2. E. E.2. F. H. I. K. L. M. M.2. N. O. P. Q. T.'; Mus. 7 is presumably item 'B' in this sequence. The volume itself no longer bears the designation 'B', but it may have been written on the spine, and subsequently concealed under a pastedown printed label bearing the number '7'. (There are also traces of an earlier pastedown label having been removed from the spine.)

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 46.