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Mus. 956

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

Manuscript. Cantatas and arias by Severo de Luca, Bernardo Pasquini, Antonio Farina, Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Cesti and others; various Italian copyists, including Severo de Luca; ?last quarter of 17th century. The volume contains 21 previously separate fascicles, at least some of which seem to have circulated and been used individually before being assembled within the present late 17th-century binding; the evidence for this is discussed below. Not all the composer attributions were supplied by the copyists of the fascicles themselves.

Item 6 in the inventory below, Severo de Luca's 'Pensieri, tacete', includes extensive revisions over erasures and deletions (at ff. 46v-47r), and ends (at f. 47r) with the following annotation: 'Non hò hauto tempo di Copiarla e per questo l'invio l'origginale come è venuto. V.S. [Vossignoria] non la dia a nessuno' (I did not have time to copy it and therefore send you the examplar as it came. May it please Your Lordship not to give it to anyone). This suggests that these pages, together with others in Mus. 956 copied by the same hand (ff. 42-63), are holograph copies by Severo de Luca.

The following copyists are represented in Mus. 956:

'Copyist A': responsible for items 4-5, 10-18 and 22. This hand also copied Mus. 952, most of Mus. 955, and some items in Mus. 948. Distinctive features of this hand include (a) a central loop in the brace connecting the staves, (b) idiosyncratic sharps with a loop on the left, and (c) distinctive looped directs at the ends of staves.
Items 6-8: Severo de Luca.
Items 1 and 19-20 were all copied by the same person.
Each of the four remaining items (2, 3, 9 and 21) was copied by a different hand.

Several fascicles bear either stains or fold-marks on their outer pages, implying that they were circulated and perhaps used before being bound together. See in particular the folds or marks on ff. 25v, 55v, 63v and 85v.

Item 9, 'Costanza in bella donna', is followed at f. 77v by a brief sketch that apparently ornaments the end of the vocal line at f. 76v. This sketch is not in the same hand as that of the main copyist, and may have been added by Severo de Luca.

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

1	[Alessandro Scarlatti]	Farfalletta intorno al lume	ff. 4^r-5^v
2		Scendete amori	ff. 6^r-9^r
3	[Antonio Cesti]	Quanto sete per mè pigri	ff. 10^r-20^r
4	Severo de Luca	Vieni ò mia cara	ff. 22^r-25^r
5	Severo de Luca	Sù la spiaggia deserta	ff. 26^r-41^v
6	Severo de Luca	Pensieri tacete	ff. 42^r-47^r
7	Severo de Luca	Senti pur l'alma	ff. 48^r-52^v
8	Severo de Luca	Desiri partite	ff. 56^r-62^v
9	S[evero de] L[uca]	[C]ostanza in bella donna	ff. 64^r-76^v
10		Clori amata amata Clori	ff. 78^r-85^v
11		Pupillette voi che belle	ff. 86^r-93^r
12	[Bernardo Pasquini]	Dite ò Cieli	ff. 94^r-99^v
13		Aspre pene deh' cessate	ff. 100^r-107^r
14		Incostante è la speranza	ff. 108^r-119^r
15		E dolce mio core	ff. 120^r-130^r
16	Antonio farina	Di due Ciglia al bel' fulgore	ff. 131^r-136^v
17		I pensieri del mio Core	ff. 137^r-144^r
18		Si si che và cosi	ff. 145^r-152^r
19		Cieca Dea la tua possanza	ff. 153^r-155^v
20	Pier Simone [Agostini]	Dimmi ò ciel che gioirò	ff. 156^r-160^v
21	Bernardo Pasquini	Se l'amare è volontà	ff. 161^r-162^v
22	[Carlo Caproli]	Rido, una volta in cento	ff. 165^r-172^r

Oblong format, 275 x 105 mm. Physical structure: iii + 170 + iii leaves, foliated in modern pencil. The opening three flyleaves are foliated as '1-3'; the main textblock is foliated as '4-123, [123A] and 124-172'; rear flyleaves i-ii are foliated as '173-4'. The volume has been assembled from the following discrete fascicles, the majority of which contain a single musical work. (Collations have not been ascertained because of the tightness of the binding.)

Item 1 (ff. 4-5).
Item 2 (ff. 6-9); unused staves on f. 9v.
Item 3 (ff. 10-21); unused staves on ff. 20v-21v.
Item 4 (ff. 22-5); unused staves on f. 25v.
Item 5 (ff. 26-41).
Item 6 (ff. 42-7); unused staves on f. 47v.
Item 7 (ff. 48-55); unused staves on ff. 53r-55v.
Item 8 (ff. 56-63); unused staves on ff. 63r-v.
Item 9 (ff. 64-77); unused staves on ff. 77r-v (with cadenza added on f. 77v).
Item 10 (ff. 78-85).
Item 11 (ff. 86-93); unused staves on f. 93v.
Item 12 (ff. 94-9).
Item 13 (ff. 100-7); unused staves on f. 107v.
Item 14 (ff. 108-19); unused staves on f. 119v.
Item 15 (ff. 120-3, 123A, 124-30); unused staves on f. 130v.
Item 16 (ff. 131-6).
Item 17 (ff. 137-44); unused staves on f. 144v.
Item 18 (ff. 145-52); unused staves on f. 152v.
Items 19-20 (ff. 153-60).
Item 21 (ff. 161-4); unused staves on ff. 163r-4v.
Item 22 (ff. 165-72); unused staves on f. 172v.

Some but not all of the cantatas open with strapwork initial letters; these seem to have been inserted individually by the copyists, rather than systematically by a decorator of the assembled bound volume. Late 17th-century binding of limp vellum; stubs of leather ties at the upper, lower and fore edges of both the upper and lower covers. The style of binding resembles that of Mus. 948. Bookplate 2 on the inside upper cover. 19th-century shelfmark: E.1.21.

Provenance: from the Aldrich bequest, listed in Dowding at shelfmark Q4 as 'Italian Cantatas / in five Volumes with their Basses . . . by Cesti & Luighi'; this entry also covers Mus. 950, Mus. 957, Mus. 958 and Mus. 959. In Mus. 956 itself, the shelfmark 'Q. 4. Vol. 2' is written on the inside upper cover.

Microfilm: manuscript music, reel 54.

The description and inventory above incorporate information kindly supplied by Michael Talbot.