Manuscript. Keyboard book containing works of Italian and English
origin, copied probably in the 1620s. The opening layer of largely
Italian repertory (items 1-55) appears to be of Roman origin. It is
followed by a layer of English repertory, beginning at item 56. A
few pieces are designated as being for use on specific instruments
(organ, virginals, etc).
Extent: 132 leaves, the majority of which have been paginated by
the copyist. 215 x 165mm.
Layout: Oblong format.
Hand: The identity of the copyist remains a subject of debate. Some
authorities have favoured William Ellis (1620-c.1679; organist of
St John's College, Oxford from 1639 to 1646).
Binding: Mid-17th-century binding of vellum over boards, with stubs
of pink ribbon at the fore-edge; upper and lower covers gold-tooled
with the initials 'William Ellis (1620-c.1679)'. The use of leaves
from gatherings A and R to line the inside upper and lower covers
may imply that the volume was bound before copying began.
Additional information: Geoffrey Cox, Organ Music in Restoration
England: A Study of Sources, Styles, and Influences (New York and
London), 1989, pp. 141-3. Orhan Memed, Seventeenth-Century English
Keyboard Music: Benjamin Cosyn (New York and London, 1993), pp.
90-101. Candace Bailey, 'William Ellis and the Transmission of
Continental Keyboard Music in Restoration England’, Journal of
Musicological Research, 20 (2001), pp. 211-42.
