Manuscript Leaf from Antiphonal in Latin, circa 1550

Creator

Preview

Reverse Side

An image of the reverse side is available for download in the Additional Files at the bottom of this page.

Date

circa 1550

Description

This original vellum manuscript leaf is from a Spanish antiphonal. Antiphonals are service books that contain the sung portions of the cycle of daily devotions performed by members of the clergy and members of religious orders. The large size of both the Latin text and the neumes (musical notation) on this leaf indicates that it would have been performed by a choir. The clef sign locates the note F (F clef), and this example is in the Dorian mode, one of 8 church modes, or systems of pitch organization, in common use at that time. The text, used on various apostles' feast days, is taken from Matthew 19.

Origin

Spain

Medium

Vellum

Language

Latin

Dimensions

550 x 395 mm. (21¾" x 15½")

Digitization Date

September 6, 2017

Location

University Special Collections