Evanston, Northwestern University, Music Library, MSS 1600 (NW-L3-2)

Cantus Siglum

US-Eu MSS 1600 (NW-L3-2)

Holding Institution

Evanston, Northwestern University, Music Library (US-Eu)

Manuscript/Print

Manuscript

Description

This manuscript consists of one or two quires comprising eighteen vellum folia (nine bifolia), foliated continuously from f.16r to f.34v. The musical notation is in black square neumes on red five-line staves, with rubricated headings and large red and blue initials, occasionally adorned with black pen flourishes. The script is italic, post-Gothic hand, likely dating to the early 16th century. The content is drawn from an antiphoner and contains chants primarily for the Feast of St. Lawrence, including chants for Vespers, Matins, and Lauds.
Provenance is partially documented by two accompanying letters. The first, dated December 2, 1937, is addressed to Bevan Lewis (Knightstown, PA) and written on Union Theological Seminary (New York) letterhead by Helen Dickinson. It records an evaluation by Dr. Gibbs and Dr. Silby, who identified the manuscript as an antiphoner fragment. The second letter, dated September 28, 2016, by Virginia L. Beatty (Evanston, IL), states the fragment was gifted to Northwestern University and had originally been acquired by her mother in 1936 in Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala, as a thank-you gift from villagers following a church donation. Beatty refers to a set of twenty folia, though only eighteen remain extant.

Full/Partial Inventory

Full Inventory

Complete Source/Fragment

Fragment

Fragmentarium ID

F-tosw