Guardbook containing several autograph composing scores. Material
for each of the seven pieces represented here occupies a discrete
fascicle or section within the manuscript, and probably had a
separate existence before being bound into its current
position.
Contents: Henry Aldrich (after Carissimi), Oxford Act song
'Consurge tandem' (ff. 1-5). Henry Aldrich (after Carissimi),
Oxford Act song 'Jam satis somno' (ff. 6-11). Henry Aldrich (after
Carissimi), Oxford Act song 'Revixit Io Carolus' (ff. 12-15).
Matthew Locke, Oxford Act song 'Descende caelo' (ff. 16-19). Anon.,
probably Sampson Estwick or Henry Aldrich (after Carissimi), Oxford
Act song 'Dum mosa torpet' (ff. 20-27). Oxford Act song 'O Maria, O
diva', largely or entirely by Sampson Estwick (ff. 28-30). Sampson
Estwick, Oxford Act song 'Julio festas referente luces' (ff.
31-2).
Extent: ff. 34. Foliation is in modern pencil. 387 x 247 mm.
Decoration: Undecorated except for two parallel fillets at
edges.
Binding: Late 18th-century binding of white parchment over boards;
spine in contrasting brown leather; at the centre of the outside
upper cover, a black leather inset, tooled in gold: 'ACT SONGS / BY
DR. ALDRICH / & SAMPSON ESTWICK'; on the spine, a red leather
inset, tooled in gold: 'ACT SONGS'; also tooled number '2',
matching this volume's partner Mus 618 (= '1'). The collection was
probably assembled into its current state when the volume was bound
as part of an uncompleted binding project intended to protect
previously unbound items from the Aldrich and Goodson bequests.
Additional information: Tony A. Trowles, The Musical Ode in Britain
c.1670-1800 (unpublished D.Phil. dissertation, University of
Oxford, 1992). For a detailed description, please see
www.chch.ox.ac.uk/library-and-archives/digital-library.
Provenance: All the items assembled here probably derive from the
Goodson bequest, together with the material now bound into the
partner volume Mus 618. Presumably originally part of an unbound
collection of scores of Oxford Act songs, many of them autograph,
now distributed between Mus 618 and 619.
