Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Latin 1240

Cantus Siglum

F-Pn Latin 1240

Holding Institution

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale (F-Pn)

Manuscript/Printed

Manuscript

Summary

A liturgical compendium: troper, proser, abbreviated antiphoner, hymnal, sermons, passions, and lives of the saints (dated 12th century); from the church of the Holy Savior (Sancti Salvatoris Mundi) in the monastery of St. Martial de Limoges; early tenth century. 194 fols.; 227 x 163 mm. Aquitanian notation with superscript letters and French neumes. (olim F-Pnm Lat. 1240)

Liturgical Occasions

Ff. 1-10v: Ordo for Extreme Unction and funeral ordo; 11-16v: Calendar; 17-18v: four sequences; 18v-38: Proper tropes and various chants for Palm Sunday and Triduum; 38-43: twenty Ordinary tropes; 43v-45v: ten prosulae; 46-62: twenty-one sequences; 62v-64v: tonary; 65-66: Laudes regiae; 66-78v: table of incipits for Vespers and Matins; 78v-90v: supplement including tropes, antiphons, and responsories (notated); 91-96: hymnal; 96-97: chants for the Octave of St. Martial; 99-194v: Passions and lives of the saints, including Office and Mass for St. Foy.

Description

This index is of the antiphoner section only, folios 66r-78v. About the Antiphoner This manuscript, including the oldest surviving full troper and the oldest extant calendar from Limoges, is of great interest to scholars. From the Basilica of the Holy Savior in the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Martial, Limoges, along with 203 other manuscripts preserved at St. Martial, it was acquired on September 5, 1730, by the Bibliothèque du Roy. The original section of the manuscript, folios 1-98v, is traditionally dated to 933-936, based on the acclamations for Christus Vincet on folio 65. These refer to "Ioanni pape" (Pope John XI, 931-936), "Rodulpho rege" (Raoul, 923-936), "Turpioni pontifici" (the bishop Turpion, 905-944), and "Stephano abbati" (Abbot Etienne I, 920-937). Emerson suggests that the supplement to the antiphoner (fols. 78v-90v), containing eighty-nine notated chants, may date from 935-943, and the incomplete Office for the Octave of St. Martial (fols. 96-97) to ca. 960-980. Folios 97v-98v are largely blank. Six libelli have been added to the original tenth-century manuscript containing various sermons and a Life of Odo, second abbot of Cluny (fols. 144-168), a Life of St. Leodegarius of Autun (155-168v), a Life of William I of Aquitaine (175-181v), a Life of St. Foy de Conques (183-185), and a Life of St. Margaret (189-192v). It also contains a Mass and Office for St. Foy (185-188v). These additions date from the late eleventh or twelfth centuries, but certainly before 1225. The antiphoner certainly does not represent a complete record of the music of the Office at St. Martial at the time it was written, as it mainly consists of antiphons "in evangelio," with the addition of some other Office chants. For example, Matins responsories are rarely provided. Only the Offices of the Conversion of St. Paul, All Saints (added in the bottom margins of 68v-69r), St. Benedict (with additions in the margins of 66v), and the Annuntiation are essentially complete. Many of the series of chants in Paris 1240 are identical or closely similar to those in Paris 1085 (dated by Emerson ca. 960-980), in both content and ordering. The antiphons for the Office for the Conversion of Paul is very similar to the second of the two Offices provided for that feast in Paris 1085, although the order of responsories is very different. The Dedication of the Church is clearly intended (due to the place in the calendar, October 13) for the church of the Holy Savior, although the church itself is not named. This Office is likewise very similar to that in Paris Lat. 1085. The feasts of Saint Benedict (March 21) and the Annunciation (March 25) are out of place in the manuscript, between the Octave of the Apostles (July 7) and Saint Peter in Chains (August 1). (It is possible that the chants for Saint Benedict are intended for the Translation of Saint Benedict (July 11), but the rubric clearly states "In natale S. Benedicti.") This series of chants is very similar to the series provided for both feast of St. Benedict in Paris Lat. 1085. The feast of the Assumption includes many chants more usually associated with Advent. Paul Evans has noted that certain aspects of the troper suggest northern French influence. Twenty-nine chants in the manuscript are notated in Northern French neumes; the rest of the musical notation is in Aquitanian neumes. One unusual feature is the use of significative letters along with the Aquitanian notation.

About the Index
Nearly all of the chants in this section of the manuscript are abbreviated, with the notable exception of the great O-antiphons. This leads to problems in the accurate identification by CAO number, as the complete text of the chants is not known. Wherever possible, the use of "909999" has been avoided. In cases where two or more CAO chants have a very similar incipit, the number of the incipit that matched exactly was entered. For example, the antiphon Dixit paterfamilias, was assigned the number 002305 (Dixit paterfamilias), and not 002281 (Dixit autem paterfamilias). In other cases, when the incipit was identical to two or more CAO chants, the chant was assumed to be that which appeared on the same liturgical occasion in CAO as in the manuscript. "Alleluia" chants are particularly problematic: there is no way to be certain whether "Alleluia praeoccupemus" or "Alleluia ? (Praeoccupemus)" is actually meant. Finally, in a few cases, a decision was made based on the contents of Paris Lat. 1085, a manuscript from the same church, less than a century later. All of these latter cases are indicated in the notes to the index. Rubrics are sparse, and are at times hard to interpret without the aid of the context that would be provided by complete texts or musical notation. For example, "Ad v." is the usual rubric for Vespers; "Super v." for the invitatory at Matins. The rubrics ("v") for responsory verses and versicles are identical--this is most problematic in Vespers where the versicle (if provided) immediately follows the responsory verse (which may be omitted). First Vespers of Sunday is routinely included among the chants for Saturday: on Easter Sunday, the only rubric is "Sabbato Sancto" for first Vespers, with no subsequent rubric for the day of the feast. An "*" appears in the mode column of every entry in the antiphoner, as this portion of this manuscript is not notated. Chants not found in CAO are assigned numbers beginning with "mar".

Selected Bibliography

• Bannister, H.M. "The Earliest Troper and its Date." Journal of Theological Studies 2 (1901): 420-429.
• Emerson, John. "Fragments of a Troper from Saint-Martial de Limoges." Scriptorium 16 (1962): 369-72.
• Emerson, John. "Neglected Aspects of the Oldest Full Troper (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Lat. 1240)." In, Recherches nouvelles sur les tropes liturgiques [Festschrift Michel Huglo], eds.
• Wulf Arlt and Gunilla Björkvall, Supplement to Corpus Troporum, Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Studia Latina Stockholmiensia 36, 193-217. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell International, 1993.
• Evans, Paul. "Northern French Elements in an Early Aquitanian Troper." In Speculum musicae artis: Festgabe für Heinrich Husman, 103-110. Munich: W. Fink, 1970. Husmann, H. Tropen- und Sequenzenhandschriften. RISM B/V/1, 137-9. Munich, 1964.

Notes on the Inventory

The inventory for F-Pn Lat. 1240 was prepared by Lila Collamore (Catholic University of America).

Full/Partial Inventory

Full Inventory

Complete Source/Fragment

Complete source