Christ Church Library music catalogue: Mus. 947

Mus. 947

This is one of the many manuscripts of 17th-century Italian cantatas now in Christ Church Library.

Manuscript. Cantatas for solo voice and continuo by Antonio Francesco Tenaglia, Giacomo Carissimi, Antonio Cesti and others; two unidentified Italian copyists, probably third quarter of 17th century. The same copyists also contributed substantially to Mus. 946; and there are scribal concordances with Mus. 950 and Mus. 951.

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

1	?Domenico Antonio De Mundo	Chi le mie colpe udì	ff. 1^r-9^r
2		Come ve l'ho da dire	ff. 11^r-14^r
3		La volete così	ff. 15^r-22^r
4		Volta e gira	ff. 23^r-26^r
5	Antonio Francesco Tenaglia	Che musica è questa?	ff. 27^r-35^r
6	Giacomo Carissimi	In un mar' di pensieri	ff. 37^r-44^v
7		Ho voto di non amare	ff. 45^r-50^r
8	Atto Melani	A più sventure ancora	ff. 51^r-60^v
9	Antonio Cesti?	Esser colpa come puo'	ff. 61^r-80^v
10	Giacomo Carissimi	Soccoretemi, ch'io moro	ff. 81^r-86^v
11		Fra le pene dello stral	ff. 87^r-92^v
12	Benedetto Bartorelli	Basta amor	ff. 93^r-98^v
13	Antonio Francesco Tenaglia	Non diamo in barzellette	ff. 99^r-104^v
14		Filli mia, altro ci vuole	ff. 105^r-108^v
15		Ancor vive una speranza	ff. 109^r-111^v
16	Luigi Rossi	Adorate mie catene	ff. 113^r-116^r
17	Antonio Cesti	Quanto è dolce il languir	ff. 117^r-128^v

Oblong format, 275 x 123 mm. Structure: 118+i leaves; the rear endleaf is now detached and torn, and loose within the volume. Textblock foliated '1-128' in late 17th-century ink, omitting 70-79 in error. The volume has been assembled from the following fascicles, each of which contains a single musical item. Two copyists can be distinguished; they also contributed to Mus. 946 (q.v. for images illustrating their scripts), and are here designated as 'Copyist 3' and 'Copyist 2':

Item 1: three gatherings: A4, B4, C2 (= ff. 1-4, 5-8, 9-10). Copyist 3. Unused ruled staves at end (ff. 9v-10v).
Item 2: one gathering: D4 (= ff. 11-14). Copyist 3. Unused ruled staves at end (f. 14v).
Item 3: two gatherings: E4, F4 (= ff. 15-18, 19-22). Copyist 3. Unused ruled staves at end (f. 22v).
Item 4: one gathering: G4 (= ff. 23-6). Copyist 3. Unused ruled staves at end (f. 26v).
Item 5: three gatherings: H4, I4, J2 (= ff. 27-30, 31-4, 35-6). Copyist 3. Unused ruled staves at end (ff. 35v-36v).
Item 6: three gatherings, one of which encloses the other two: thus K4 (ff. 37-8, 43-4) encloses L2, M2 (ff. 39-40, 41-2). Copyist 2.
Item 7: one gathering: N6 (= ff. 45-50). Copyist 2. Unused ruled staves at end (f. 50v).
Item 8: one gathering: O10 (= ff. 51-60). Copyist 2.
Item 9: one gathering: P10 (= ff. 61-69 and 80; the foliation sequence omits 70-79 in error). Copyist 3.
Item 10: one gathering: Q6 (ff. 81-6). Copyist 2.
Item 11: one gathering: R6 (ff. 87-92). Copyist 3.
Item 12: one gathering: S6 (ff. 93-8). Copyist 3.
Item 13: one gathering: T6 (ff. 99-104). Copyist 3.
Item 14: one gathering: U4 (= ff. 105-8). Copyist 3.
Item 15: one gathering: V4 (= ff. 109-12). Copyist 3. Unused ruled staves at end (ff. 112r-v).
Item 16: one gathering: W4 (= ff. 113-16). Copyist 3. Unused ruled staves at end (f. 116v).
tem 16: one gathering: X12 (= ff. 117-28). Copyist 3.

The collation was originally indicated by numbers written in ink at the lower left-hand corner of the first page of each gathering. Some of these numbers are still present; see for instance ff. 9, 81 and 117; the remainder were presumably trimmed during binding. Ornamental capitals have been supplied probably by two different artists, the first at ff. 1r, 11r, 15r, 23r, 27r, 61r, 81r, 87r, 93r, 99r, 105r, 109r, 113r and 117r, the second at ff. 37r, 45r and 51r. A list of contents is supplied on the recto of the rear flyleaf; its copyist also foliated the textblock, and may have added some of the composer attributions. Mid 17th-century binding of untooled limp vellum; the textblock has gilt edges. Stubs of two ?green ties at the fore-edges of both the upper and lower covers. The inside upper cover is annotated 'Cesti - Carissimi / Luigi' in an unidentified ?late 17th-century hand, to which Malchair has added in pencil: 'Bartorelli / Tenaglia'. Also on the inside upper cover is an inscription partially concealed by a later bookplate: '[?Mar]ch ye 4th [16]97'; the same unidentified hand also made the following annotation on the front flyleaf of Mus. 958: 'Mr Jones March ye 25th'. The bookplate in Mus. 947 largely conceals an annotation 'Lib[ro ]' followed by a number that would have placed this volume within a sequence of other music manuscripts now at Christ Church. Bookplate 2 on the inside upper cover. 19th-century shelfmark: E.1.12.

Provenance: ?'Mr Jones' (see above). Then part of the Aldrich bequest, listed in Dowding at shelfmark Q1 as 'Italian Cantatas / in five Volumes with their Basses'; this entry also covers Mus. 946, Mus. 948, Mus. 949 and Mus. 952. In Mus. 947 itself, the shelfmark 'Q.1. Vol. 3' is writen on the inside upper cover.

The description and inventory above incorporate information kindly supplied by Margaret Murata.

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 51.