Dubrovnik, Franjevački Samostan (Franciscan Monastery), Cod. D Nr. 5

Cantus Siglum
HR-Hf Cod. D Nr. 5
Holding Institution
Dubrovnik, Franjevački Samostan (Franciscan Monastery) (HR-Hf)
Manuscript/Printed
Manuscript
Summary
Part of a four-volume, fifteenth-century Franciscan antiphoner, likely written at a scriptorium in Venice for use by a male Franciscan monastery in Dubrovnik. 204 folios. Varying sizes of parchment pages. Italian-type square notation on four-line staves with C- or F-clefs. Seven staves per side.
Liturgical Occasions

Ff. 1r-204r, Temporale: f. 1r, Ferial Office; f. 38r, Septuagesima Sunday; f. 50r, Sexagesima Sunday; f. 60v, Quinquagesima Sunday; f. 71v, Ash Wednesday; f. 73v, Lent; f. 136v, Passion Sunday; f. 154r, Palm Sunday; f. 164r, Holy Week; f. 197v, Holy Saturday.

Description

This manuscript is one part of a four-volume antiphoner comprised of HR-HF Cod. C, D, E, and F, written by the same scribe. This manuscript contains part of Temporale, from the second Sunday after Epiphany and the chants for the weekly ferial Office until Holy Saturday. Although the material in this manuscript follows that of Codex C, the four manuscripts are not numbered in liturgical order, as their connection was not recognized at the time of cataloguing.

Although now held at a Dominican monastery (in the library of the Friars Minor in Dubrovnik, Croatia), the manuscripts are of Franciscan origin, as described by Ana Čizmić, despite not including material for the feasts of St. Francis, St. Anthony of Padua, and St. Clare. A fourteenth-century antiphoner from a nearby Franciscan monastery in Ston also does not include the feasts for these saints, suggesting that this antiphoner is in concordance with the regional rite of Bosnian Franciscan Friars. An inscription in Codex C confirms that the manuscripts were used by the Franciscan friars in Dubrovnik: “TABULA OFFICIORUM HUIUS ANTIPHONARII SPECTANS AD CHORUM SANCTI FRANCISCI RAGUSII [Dubrovnik].”

A psalter, now also held in the Franjevački Samostan in Dubrovnik (Codex B Nr. 1), was written in a similar hand and bears the colophon: “Explicit psalterium secundum ritum romane ecclesie. Fratrum sancta marie gratiarum de venetiis. Ordinis obseruatine eximii doctoris sancti hieronymi, scriptum per me uenc fratrem ludouicum ferra eiusdem ordinis professum. Anno domini MCCCC nonaginta die sabb (…).” This inscription reveals the provenance of the psalter, the scribe (friar Ludovico Ferra), and year of completion (1449). While the antiphoner was not written by the same scribe, as evidenced by slight differences in majuscule letters, it likely also dates from the second half of the fifteenth century, possibly also from an Italian scriptorium.

Differentiae are identified within each mode by their last note and an arbitrarily-assigned number, e.g., G1, D2, F1, etc. Minor variations are recognized by an alphabetic suffix, e.g. G1b, A1a, F1a, etc.

Selected Bibliography

  • Čizmić, Ana. “The Dubrovnik Antiphoner.” In Papers Read at the 15th Meeting of the IMS Study Group Cantus Planus, Dobogókő/Hungary, 2009. Aug. 23-29. Vol. 2, 619-628. Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen/Musicological Studies, No. 100. Lions Bay, BC: The Institute of Mediaeval Music, 2013.

Notes on the Inventory
The inventory for HR-Hf Cod. D was prepared by Ana Čizmić (University of Graz), with editorial assistance from Debra Lacoste (The University of Western Ontario). Manuscript description written by Rebecca Shaw (Dalhousie University), with editorial assistance from Debra Lacoste (University of Waterloo).).
Full/Partial Inventory
Full Inventory
Complete Source/Fragment
Complete source