Stanford, Stanford University - Green Library - Department of Special Collections, MSS CODEX 0734 FF

Cantus Siglum

US-STu MSS CODEX 0734 FF

Holding Institution

Stanford, Stanford University - Green Library - Department of Special Collections (US-STu)

Manuscript/Printed

Manuscript

Summary

Large choir book with sung Liturgy for the Dead. Late seventeenth or eighteenth century. Mexico. 780 x 550 mm. Square notation on five-line staff. 138 folios, with some bound out of order.

Liturgical Occasions

Vespers from the Office for the Dead (1r–14r), Matins from the Office for the Dead (14r–77r), Mass for the Dead (77v–96v), the burial (106v–128v), and the Lauds for the Dead (129r–138r). An inserted gathering incorporates the O Antiphons (97v–105r).

Description

This large choirbook is bound with wooden boards covered in brown leather. There is decorative tooling around the edges, and the corners of the covers have metal protectors. There are remnants of a metal clasp.

The first extant folio begins part way through Vulgate psalm 114 (Dilexi quoniam exaudiet dominus). It is unknown how many folios are missing from the beginning of the volume, but the first extant antiphon appears to be the second instance of the first antiphon of Vespers (i.e., it is copied after the psalm text). The layout of this book includes two instances of most antiphons: one before the fully written-out psalm text and another after. The psalm texts are not notated; they are copied with the first words beginning underneath the differentiae.

The principal foliation is in a modern hand in Arabic numerals in the upper-right-hand corners of the recto sides, and was completed after the first folio(s) were lost from this book.

There are some lacunae, particularly in the middle of the section where Matins is copied, and several folios also occur out of order. For example, the folio numbered as "21" records the first antiphon of the first nocturn, and should come before the one numbered as "15".
The "content order" of the extant folios is: 1-14, 21, 15-16, lacuna, 17-20, 22-27, lacuna, 28-45, lacuna, 46-89, lacuna, 90+. Note that f. 97 appears to begin a different gathering, and has a blank recto side; its verso begins with an illuminated initial. Folio number "103" has been skipped but there is no material missing. A new section begins with the folio numbered "106." There is a different, much later, scribal hand from 136r to the end. F. 136 is a partial leaf (containing just 2 lines of text of the Benedictus antiphon for Lauds.) F. 137 also has the number "126" from a previous foliation.

There is colorful decoration throughout the codex, including interlaced initials and inhabited/illuminated initials on several leaves.

There are a number of different text and notation hands. See, for example, f. 76v where this is a newer hand on the lower staves (and possibly an erasure of previous material). Punctuation marks include periods, commas, and question marks (see, for example, ff. 6v and 7r, 86r, and more).

Dating(s) of the Manuscript:

• A terminus post quem of 1691


• Second dating: 1705


• Rebind date: 1795


• Assumed acquisition date & place: 1892, Mexico


• Appears in Stanford University Special Collection departmental paperwork in 1908 as “old stock.”

This manuscript was most likely used at the Convent of Santiago Tlatelolco | Colegio de la Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco | Colegio de San Buenaventura, Mexico City. The bottom of f. 105r has the inscription with different ink in a new scribal hand: "Santiago to'' [indicating "Tlatelolco," now part of Mexico City] and "m. dc. xci" [1691].

F. 106r has the inscription in black ink in a different scribal hand: "Compositum fuit in Dni [Domini] anno 1705 cum esset hujus Cenovij Pressul R. P. Ex Deffinitor frater Dominicus Capatville [Caxalville]. In anno ultimo sui regiminis Decima Tercia die Maius." "This was written in AD 1705 when the Prior of this community was revered father and former definitor brother Dominicus Capatville [or Caxalville], in the last year of his term, on the thirteenth day of May." (Transcribed and translated by Christina Kim with the help of Anna de Bakker.)

Selected Bibliography

University library link: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/14249331

Notes on the Inventory

The inventory for US-STu MSS CODEX 0734 FF was created primarily by Christina Kim (Stanford U) with additions by Debra Lacoste. Proofreading by Debra Lacoste (Dalhousie University). This inventory was published online on Saturday, May 11, 2024 to coincide with the workshop "Chant from Manuscript: Singing the Office from a Mexican Cantoral," at the 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Other Editors

Debra Lacoste

Full Texts Entered by

Christina Kim
Debra Lacoste

Melodies Entered by

Christina Kim

Full/Partial Inventory

Full Inventory

Complete Source/Fragment

Complete source