PROTESTANT LITURGY FOR PENTECOST

MS 5406
MS Short Title PROTESTANT LITURGY FOR PENTECOST
Text ORDENUNG DES HOHEN AMPTS AM PFINGSTEN MIT CHORALMELODIEN IN MENSURIS SINGEN; PROTESTANT LITURGY FOR PENTECOST WITH MUSIC IN MENSURAL NOTATION
Description MS in German on paper, Germany, 16th c., 36 pp. (complete), 20x15 cm, single column, (15x10 cm), 24 lines in cursive script, headings in Gothic bookscript of high quality in red, music on 5 4-line staves in mensural notation.
Binding Germany, 1st half of 20th c., vellum, sewn on 3 cords.
Provenance 1. Musikantiquariat Dr. Ulrich Drüner, Stuttgart, Katalog 61(2007):1; 2. Bernard Quaritch, London.
Commentary Mensural notation, mainly used ca. 1250-1700, was the first system in European music that systematically used individual note shapes to denote duration. The note-heads were diamond– or rhombic-shaped rather than oval. They had their stems perched directly on top or from bottom, rather than to one side. Black mensural notation with note-heads filled in solid black was used up to about mid-15th c.; white mensural notation with void note-heads was used after that time. The present MS is in white (void) mensural notation.
Place of origin Germany
Dates 16c AD