Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 473: The Winchester Troper
Abstract/Contents
- Summary
- This small sized book, CCCC MS 473, is commonly known as The Winchester Troper; together with Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 775 (sometimes also called by this name) it attests to the musical repertory of the Old Minster Winchester in the eleventh century. It contains some of the oldest polyphonic music in the West. As well as 'tropes', musical phrases which were added as embellishments to the standard chant for the liturgical texts, it also contains sequences and other music. It would have been used by a precentor, whose job it was to lead the music at mass and the divine office. There are many signs that it comes from the Old Minster Winchester, including texts for the feasts of the Winchester saints Swithhun, Æthelwold, Justus of Beauvais, Hædde (Hedda) and Birinus. Datings from the script have varied from circa 1000 to the second quarter of the eleventh century; the earlier dating has led people to associate this manuscript with Wulfstan of Winchester OSB (fl. late tenth century), also known as Wulfstan Cantor, who was precentor of the Old Minster Winchester at around that date, and who wrote saints' lives and hagiographical poetry. A later dating, perhaps 1020s-1030s, now seems probable, but it is still likely that at least some of the material it contains is his work. Material was added to the manuscript serially over the course of the eleventh century.
- Contents
- The Winchester Troper
Description
Alternative title | The Winchester Troper |
---|---|
Type of resource | mixed material |
Extent | ff. 2 + 199 |
Date created | [ca. 1025 - 1075] |
Language | Latin; English, Old (ca. 450-1100); Greek, Modern (1453- ) |
Material | Vellum |
Layout | 16 lines to a full page |
Height (mm) | 145 |
Width (mm) | 90 |
Collation | a(2), 1(8) | 2(10) 3(8) 4(10) 5(8) 6(10) | 7(8) 8(10) 9(8) | 10(8) | 11(10) 12(8) 13(10) 14(8) 15(10) | 16(8) 17(10) | 18(10) | 19(8) | 20(10) 21(10) 22(10) (wants 10). |
Writing | in a lovely minute hand |
Foliation | ff. i-ii + f1 + f2 + 1-198 + b + iii-iv |
Provenance | From Winchester. |
Additions | The whole volume is dealt with in W. H. Frere's The Winchester Troper, Bradshaw Society 1894. The MS. is described on p. xxvii, note 2. Facsimiles are given in plates 4-26. Also in Paléographie Musicale, pl. 179., The flyleaves (ff. f1r-f2v) are a bit of a xvith cent. document. |
Bibliographic information
M.R. James Date | xi. med., |
---|---|
Downloadable James Catalogue Record | |
Superseded Interim Catalogue Record | |
Contains |
|
TJames | 202 |
Stanley | N. 38 |
Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/yp193mg4537 |
Location | MS 473 |
Repository | UK, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- Images courtesy of The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For higher resolution images suitable for scholarly or commercial publication, either in print or in an electronic format, please contact the Parker Library directly at parker-library@corpus.cam.ac.uk
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC).
Collection
Parker Manuscripts
Loading usage metrics...