Mus. 818-20

Printed; complete set of three partbooks. Contents annotated by Walter Porter (see below).

Mus. 818-20 Porter, Walter, d. 1659 Mottets of two voyces for treble or tenor and bass. With the continued bass or score: to be performed to an organ, harpspycon, [sic] lute or bass-viol. London: Printed by William Godbid for the author, 1657 RISM A/I P5219 Mus. 818: Treble or tenor; Mus. 819: Bassus; Mus. 820: Basso continuo. See other copies of this work.

Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest, listed in Archives 1717, item H9, as 'Porters Mottets. 3 Books', qualified in Dowding (main hand) as 'Lond. 1657'.

Upright format, 280 x 185 mm. Thin paper wrappers as issued; the outside upper wrapper of Mus. 818 annotated by Porter: 'For Mr Weeb' (= William Webb, d. 1657, a London singing teacher and Gentleman of the Chapel Royal); the inside upper wrapper of Mus. 819 has a personal dedicatory letter to Webb by Porter, autograph MS, comparable to the dedication to John Wilson in another copy of this edition: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Mus. Sch. D. 349a/b. The musical contents have also been emended by Porter himself. Each partbook is now stitched into a folder of modern card and mounted impermanently on cords within an early C20th folder of stiff card and vellum, together with Mus. 821-3. Shelfmark 'H.9' on original upper wrapper of Mus. 820. Bookplate 2 in Mus. 820 only. C19th shelfmarks: K.4.32-4.

Microfilm: The printed music of Christ Church, Oxford, reel 45.
View microfilm details.

For two other copies of this edition, see Mus. 821-3 (which includes the first state, subsequently cancelled, of sigs. C and D1 in the 'Treble or Tenor' partbook), and Mus. 878-80.

At the rear of the folder containing Mus. 818-20 and Mus. 821-3, the bifolio of blank paper stamped with a design of red diamonds and hearts (now mounted on a cord) appears once to have formed part of the binding of Mus. 817, and is therefore of Goodson provenance.

Bibliography: