152 PSALMS

MS 5404
MS Short Title 152 PSALMS
Text TWO-PART SETTING OF 152 PSALMS IN MENSURAL NOTATION, TENOR AND BASS PARTS
Description MS in French on paper, France, ca. 1700, 154 ff. (-1) (text complete), 14x31 cm, single column, (11x28 cm), 1-2 lines in cursive script, 2-3 staves with 5 lines each in mensural notation, tenor parts with coloured note-heads and polychrome decorated line-fillers on the left pages, bass parts with white-head notation on the right pages.
Binding Binding: France, ca. 1700, sheepskin with blind-ruled borders, sewn on 3 cords.
Provenance 1. Sotheby's 4.12.2007:109.
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 seems to be in white (void) mensural notation; the coloured note-heads for the tenor parts seem to be for decoration and easier reading purposes mainly. Usually red- or blue-coloured note-heads were understood to have 2/3 of their normal duration. The present note-heads in black, grey, blue, red, yellow and green, and some times in 2 colours, varying from Psalm to Psalm, is highly unusual.

See also MS 5406 Germany, ca. 1550

Place of origin France
Dates ca 1700