Christ Church Library music catalogue: Mus. 996

Mus. 996

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

Manuscript. Cantatas by Giacomo Carissimi, Luigi Rossi and others, copied in score; copyist unidentified, probably Italian, before 1672. (The same copyist was also responsible for Mus. 377.) The first layer of the collection (ff. [0]-62) is headed (f. [0r]): 'Arie à tre, et à Dui, del / Sign. Giacomo Carissimi / Mastro in santo Apolinare / di Roma'. (These cantatas were subsequently copied by Richard Goodson Sr into Mus. 52 and Mus. 54.) The remainder of the collection is headed (f. 63r): 'Arie à quattro, à tre, et à Dui del / Sign. Luigi Rossi'.

For facsimiles of items 1 and 6 in the inventory below, see Cantatas by Giacomo Carissimi, selected and introduced by Günther Massenkeil, The Italian Cantata in the Seventeenth Century, 2 (New York, 1986), nos. 18-19.
For facsimiles of items 14, 20, 11 and 34, see Cantatas by Luigi Rossi, selected and introduced by Francesco Luisi, The Italian Cantata in the Seventeenth Century, 1 (New York, 1986), nos. 23 and 25-7.

Table of titles and composers as shown in the manuscript. Display in modern form.

1	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissimi	Dài più riposti abissi	ff. [0]^v-7^r
2	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissimi	Sciolto havean dall'alte sponde	ff. 7^v-17^v
3	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissimi	Le ferite d'un cor	ff. 18^r-23^v
4	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissimi	E pur vuole il Cielo	ff. 24^r-31^r
5	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissemi	Chi fugge d'Amor gl'affanni	ff. 31^v-38^r
6	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissimi	Alma che fai, che pensi?	ff. 38^v-44^v
7	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissimi	Più non ti chieggio ò Filli	ff. 45^r-51^v
8	[index] [Giacomo] Carissimi	Non piangete ò Ciechi Amanti	ff. 52^r-58^v
9	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissimi	Lungi homai deh spiega	ff. 59^r-60^r
10	[index:] [Giacomo] Carissimi	Vaghi rai pupille ardenti	ff. 60^v-62^r
11	luigi [Rossi]	Pur è ver che fiero danno	ff. 63^v-69^r
12	[index:] luigi [Rossi]	Cor dolente ferito	ff. 69^v-71^r
13	[index:] luigi [Rossi]	Hor che frà l'ombre del notturno velo	ff. 71^v-73^r
14	luigi [Rossi]	Hor ch'in notturna pace [Serenata]	ff. 73^v-77^r
15	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Mio cor di che paventi	ff. 77^v-79^r
16	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Udite Amanti opra d'Amor novella	ff. 79^v-81^r
17	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Di desir in desir	ff. 81^v-83^r
18	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Lasso benche mi fugga ogn'hor lontano	ff. 83^v-85^r
19	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Amanti ardire ò goder ò morire	ff. 85^v-87^r
20	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Piangea l'Aurora	ff. 87^v-98^r
21	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	In questo duro esiglio	ff. 98^v-100^v
22	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Mio core impara dal Mare	ff. 101^r-103^r
23	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Quand'io credo esser disciolto	ff. 103^v-105^r
24	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Deh' perche non m'uccide	ff. 105^v-107^r
25	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Tù parti core addio	ff. 107^v-108^v
26	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	À te mio core	ff. 108B^r-109^r
27	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Non cantar libertà	ff. 109^v-110^r
28	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Risolvetevi ò martiri	ff. 110^v-111^v
29	luigi [Rossi]	Datemi pace una brev'hora almeno	ff. 112^r-113^r
30	[index:] luigi [Rossi]	Queste dure catene	ff. 113^v-114^r
31	[index:] luigi [Rossi]	Pene Pianti e sospiri	ff. 114^v-115^r
32	[index:] luigi [Rossi]	Tù giuri ch'è mio	ff. 115^v-116^v
33	[index:] Luigi [correctly: Carlo Caproli]	Pur che lo sappi tù	ff. 117^r-v
34	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Spiega un volo cosi altero	ff. 118^r-119^r
35	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	O Cieli pietà	ff. 119^v-120^v
36	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Poi che mancò speranza	ff. 121^r-124^v
37	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Il contento che mi deste	ff. 125^r-126^r
38	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Soffrirei con lieto core	ff. 126^v-127^v
39	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Mortale che pensi	ff. 128^r-129^v
40	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Al far del di per saper che facea	ff. 130^r-131^r
41	[index:] Luigi [Rossi]	Amor se devo piangere	ff. 131^v-132^v
42	Marc'Antonio [Pasqualini]	Già son morto e non lo crede	ff. 133^r-134^v
43	Sigr Marco [Marazzoli]	Amanti sentite Amor	ff. 134^v-136^r
44	Sigr Marco [Marazzoli?]	All'assedio del cor mio	ff. 136^v-138^v
45	luigi [Rossi]	Dolenti pensier miei	ff. 139^r-142^r

Oblong format, 265 x 210 mm. Struicture: ii+148+ii folios; the textblock is foliated in modern pencil as follows: [0], 1-108, 108bis, 109-146. Small adjustments to the foliation were made in October 2003; these will not be present in microfilms made before that date. Two layers:

Layer 1: ff. [0]-62 (items 1-10), with the following heading added by the copyist on f. [0r]: 'Arie à tre, et à Dui, del / Sig^r. Giacomo Carissimi / Mastro in santo Apolinare / di Roma'. 10 gatherings, numbered '1-10' by the copyist, in each case in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Collation: A6 (ff. [0]-5), B6 (ff. 6-11), C6 (ff. 12-17), D6 (ff., 18-23), E6 (ff. 24-9), F8 (ff. 30-7), G6 (ff. 38-43), H6 (ff. 44-9), I6 (ff. 50-55), J8 (of which J1 has been excised; ff. 56-62). The closing page of this layer (f. 62v) is blank, without ruled staves.
Layer 2: items ff. 63-146 (items 11-45), with the following heading added by the copyist on f. 63r: 'Arie à quattro, à tre, et à Dui del / Sig^r. Luigi Rossi'. 12 gatherings, numbered '1-11' and (duplicate) '11' by the copyist, in each case in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. Collation: K6 (ff. 63-8), L6 (ff. 69-74), M6 (ff. 75-80), N6 (ff. 81-6), O6 (ff. 87-92), P8 (ff. 93-100), Q8 (ff. 101-8), R8 (ff. 108bis, 109-15), S8 (ff. 116-23), T8 (ff. 124-31), U8 (of which one leaf has been excised; ff. 132-8), V8 (ff. 139-46). Unused ruled staves on ff. 142v-146v.

Rear flyleaves i and ii have been used for two lists of contents; these have been added not by the main copyist but rather by a contemporary hand. The first lists cantatas 'di Carissimi' (items 1-9 only), the second cantatas 'di Luigi' (items 11-37, 39-45). Composer attributions within the textblock appear to have been added by another hand, not that of the music-copyist. 17th-century binding of white parchment over boards. Bookplate 2 on inside upper cover. 19th-century shelfmark: G.7.

Provenance: an annotation on the upper cover (partly illegible) reads: 'I give this Book [to] Doctor ?Rogers'. An inscription on f. [0r] reads: 'E Libris - Guliell: Rogers / 1672'; inside lower cover inscribed 'W. Rogers' and 'May 29th 1672'. Front flyleaf signed 'Timothy Nourse 1672', presumably recording a change of ownership in that year. (For comments on Rogers and Nourse, see below.) Then probably part of the Aldrich bequest. The earliest catalogue entry for this item is by Hind in Dowding, where it is listed at position P4 as 'Arie à bc, et [illegible], dell Giacomo Carissimi. M.S.'; in Mus. 996 itself, the shelfmark 'P.4' is written in Hind's handwriting on front flyleaf i, and the number '4' on the spine. For another item acquired by Aldrich from Nourse, see the entry for Mus. 887-92.

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 58.

The description above incorporates information kindly supplied by Margaret Murata and Alessio Ruffatti.

Bibliography:

Geoffrey Webber, 'Italian Music at the Court of Queen Christina: Christ Church, Oxford, Mus. MS 377 and the Visit of Vincenzo Albrici's Italian Ensemble, 1652-54', Svensk Tidskrift för Musikforskning, 1993:2, pp. 47-53.
Alessio Ruffatti, 'La diffusion des cantates de Luigi Rossi en Europe', Le jardin de musique, 4 (2007), pp. 51-69.
Alessio Ruffatti, '"Curiosi e bramosi l'oltramontani cercano con grande diligenza in tutti i luoghi": La cantata romana del Seicento in Europa', Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, 13 (2008), published online at http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v13/no1/ruffatti.html.

William Rogers (1646/7-in or before 1730) matriculated from University College, Oxford, in 1663, and was called to the bar in 1673. He was one of a group of Roman Catholic intellectuals gathered around the Franciscan Christopher Davenport. For a full biography, see the entry for Rogers in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Timothy Nourse (d. 1699) matriculated from University College, Oxford, in 1655, and was subsequently elected a fellow of the college. On converting to Roman Catholicism in 1673, he was deprived of his fellowship, and moved to his estate in Newent. He is known to have attended Mass at Somerset House, ostensibly 'to heare the musick'. For a full biography, see the entry for Nourse in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.