Christ Church Library music catalogue: Mus. 90-1

Mus. 90-1

*** This is an INTERIM entry ***

Manuscript. Two partbooks (treble and bass) apparently from a set originally of three, lacking the first treble, containing instrumental works, accompaniments to stage songs, and music for dramatic dialogues; English, late 17th century. Probably compiled by Oxford musicians, including the 'Mr [John] Dowdon' whose name is written on the inside lower cover of Mus. 91, and whose compositions feature prominently among the musical contents. The partbooks later belonged to Richard Goodson Jr, who filled unused pages with sketches and drafts of his own instrumental works (items 26-7, 36-8 and 44).

In the description and inventory that follow, no attempt is made to distinguish between the various copyists of individual pieces, none of whom has been positively identified. One of them may be Francis Pigott (organist of St John's College, Oxford in the mid 1680s, and organist of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1686-8), if he can be identified as the scribe responsible for copying items 25, 28-35 and 39-43. (For a list of other manuscripts at Christ Church in which this scribe's hand occurs, see the entry for Mus. 865(A).) Another of the hands may be the copyist of Mus. 941.

In the inventory below, items 1-27 are copied at what is now designated as the front of the volumes, items 28-44 at the rear with the volumes inverted. The music copyists used neither a pagination nor a foliation system, but instead designated numbers to 'openings', in two separate sequences, the first counting from the front of the volumes, the second (inconsistently) from the rear. In each sequence, the opening recto is numbered '1'; the ensuing opening (= double-page spread, equivalent to ff. 1v/2r) is numbered '2' at the top left-hand corner of the opening; the next opening is '3'; and so on. In microfilms made before 1983, this double-ended structure is the only numbering system that will be visible. It was replaced in 1983 by a mix of pagination and foliation, arranged in a single numerical sequence, in which the opening leaf of each partbook is paginated as 'pp. 1-2', and the remaining leaves foliated 'f. 3' onwards. This replacement system is used in the inventory below. Readers of microfilms will therefore need to use the following 'conversion table'. Its left-hand column shows 'OPENING' numbers (as designated by the copyists) for items 1-27. (Items 28-44, copied at the rear, are largely texted, and are therefore easy to identify by incipit.) The letters 'L' and 'R' designate left-hand and right-hand pages of 'openings'. The right-hand column shows the CURRENT pagination/foliation system, as used in the inventory.

p. 1

OPENING:	CURRENT:
2L/2R	p. 2 / f. 3r
3L/3R	ff. 3v / 4r
4L/4R	ff. 4v / 5r
etc.	etc.

Attributions: the copyists' consistent use of 'Mr' instead of first names makes it impossible to be sure which composers are represented here. The following identifiable Oxford musicians may have been intended: 'Mr [John?] Withy', 'Mr Oldridge' [Henry Aldrich?], 'Mr [William?] King', and 'Mr Picket' [Francis Pigott?]. Observations on individual pieces:

Item 14: the first treble part of this piece is in Mus. 362, f. 9r.
Item 17: the title may refer to the tuning of the violin part(s).
Items 39-40: other sections of these works, copied by the same hand, are in Mus. 1211. (For a full list of manuscripts at Christ Church copied by this scribe, see the entry for Mus. 865(A).)

Table of titles and composers in modern form. Display form found in manuscript.

			Mus. 90	Mus. 91
1	John Dowdon	Five binary-form movements in a minor; treble and bass	1	1
2		Five binary-form movements in A major and D major; bass only		2-3^r
3	John Dowdon	Three binary-form movements in B flat major; treble and bass	3^v	3^v
4	John Dowdon	Three binary-form movements in F major; bass only		4^r
5	John Dowdon	Three binary-form movements in G major; treble only	4^v
6	'Mr Pike'	An antique tune (bass only)		4^v
7	John Dowdon	Two binary-form movements in g minor; treble and bass	5^r	5^r
8		Binary-form movement in a minor; bass only		5^r
9		Two binary-form movements in g minor; treble only; possibly part of no. 10 below	5^v
10	'Mr Pike'	Two binary-form movements in g minor; bass only; possibly part of no. 9 above		5^v
11	John Dowdon	Binary-form movement in g minor; bass only		5^v
12	'Mr Smyth'	Five binary-form movements in B flat major; treble and bass	6^r	6^r
13	Edward Judd	Seven movements in g minor; treble and bass; at end, 'Ricut Sute of Ayers'	6^v-7^r	6^v-7^r
14	'Mr Hall'	Binary-form movement G major; treble and bass	7^r	7^r
15	Edward Judd	Three movements in B flat major; treble and bass	7^v	7^v
16	Edward Judd	?'Battle' suite in B flat major; treble and bass (movements include 'Preludium', 'The Releif', 'Trumpet & bels' and 'The seamans dance')	7^v-8^v	7^v-8^v
17	John Dowdon	Mr Dowdon's two fourths and a fifth (binary-form movement in D major; bass only)		9^r
18	'Mr Oldridge'	Six binary-form movements in a minor; treble and bass (possibly continues as no. 19 below)	9^v-10^r	9^v-10^r
19	'Mr Alderidg'	Three binary-form movements in a minor; treble and bass (possibly continued from no. 18 above)	10^v	10^v
20	John Dowdon	Three binary-form movements in G major; bass only		11^r
21	'Mr Oldridg'	Four binary-form movements in g minor; treble and bass	11^v-12^r	11^v-12^r
22	John Dowdon	Three binary-form movements in G major; treble and bass	12^v	12^v
23	'Mr Withy'	24 variations on a ground, in g minor; treble and bass	13^v-14^r	13^v-14^r
24		Eight binary-form movements in B flat major; treble and bass	14^v-15^r	14^v-15^r
25	'Mr Oldridge'	Four binary-form movements in C major; treble and bass	16^r-17^r	16^r-17^r
26	Richard Goodson (ii)	Sketch of a fugue a4 in D major (opening only, in short score)	18^v-19^r
27	Richard Goodson (ii)	Drafts of passages for an instrumental movement a5 in C major, in open score		17^v-19^v
28	William? King	Tell me, O tell me, some powers that are kind (bass only)		32^v
29	'W. Sp.'	We must assemble by a sacrifice (text from Charles Davenant's 'Circe'; untexted treble and bass)	32^r	32^r
30	'W. Sp.'	Come, every demon (text from Charles Davenant's 'Circe'; untexted treble and bass)	31^v	31^v
31	'W. Sp.'	Lovers who to their first embraces go / Ritornello (text from Charles Davenant's 'Circe'; untexted treble and bass)	30^r	31^r
32		Last night when all the village slept (untexted bass)		30^v
33		Young Phaon strove the bliss to taste (text from Charles Davenant's 'Circe'; untexted bass)		30^r
34		Maids in wishes stretch and pant (text from Charles Davenant's 'Circe'; untexted bass)		29^v
35		Untexted bass in B flat major		29^r
36	Richard Goodson (ii)	Draft of passage in A major for two bass instruments	29^r
37	Richard Goodson (ii)	Draft of passage a4 in C major, in open score		28^r
38	Richard Goodson (ii)	Sketch of a fugue a4 in D major (opening only, in open score; copied with volume inverted)	26^v
39	?Francis Pigott	Dialogue between Grumpo and the Witch	26^r-23^r	27^r-24^r
40	?Francis Pigott	Dialogue between Love, Hymen, Fortune and Time	22^v-22^r	24^r-23^v
41		Now, now the sight's done (untexted bass)		23^r
42		A cruel bloody fate (untexted bass)		23^r
43		Hail to the myrtle shade (untexted bass)		23^r
44	Richard Goodson (ii)	Draft of movement a3-5 in C major, in short score		22^v-20^v

Upright format, 297 x 195 mm. Physical descriptions:

Mus. 90: 32 folios. Collation: A6 (= pp. 1-2, then ff. 3-7), B6 (ff. 8-13), C6 (ff. 14-19), D6 (ff. 20-25), E8 (of which E2 is excised; ff. 26-32). Unused ruled staves on p. 2 and ff. 3r, 4r, 9r, 11r, 13r, 15v, 18v-21v, 24v, 27r-28v, 29v, 30v-31r and 32v.
Mus. 91: 31 folios. Collation: A6 (= pp. 1-2, then ff. 3-7), B8 (ff. 8-15), C6 (ff. 16-21), D6 (ff. 22-7), E6 (of which E6 is excised; ff. 28-32; the upper half of f. 31 is missing; f. 32 is torn horizontally but otherwise intact). Unused ruled staves on ff. 13r, 15v, 20r, 27v and 28v.

Late 17th-century bindings of white vellum over thick card. Outside upper cover of Mus. 90 faintly inscribed 'William [illegible]'. Inside lower cover of Mus. 91 inscribed 'Mr Dowdon [twice] / and ffor my Loveing frend / C.M.P'. No early bookplates. 19th-century shelfmarks: I.1.54-5.

Provenance: presumably from the Goodson bequest, on account of the presence of music copied by Richard Goodson Jr. Not listed in any of the 18th-century catalogues of the Christ Church music collections.

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 10.