The volume has been assembled from what was once a set of five
substantial partbooks, each of which ended with a large number of
sheets with unused ruled staves. Of this set, Mus. 429 was the
'Bassus' partbook; it opens with pages bearing music notation, and
continues with gatherings of unused ruled staves. The latter were
then selectively cut down to stubs, and used as guards on to which
excised leaves from the four remaining partbooks were then pasted
(no trace remains of the four discarded partbooks).
Contents: Opening of the original 'Bassus' partbook (ff. 1r-7v).
Seven sheets cut from the 'Canto secondo' partbook (ff. 10r-16v).
Seven sheets cut from the 'Alto' partbook (ff. 19r-25v). Seven
sheets cut from the 'Canto primo' partbook (ff. 28r-34v). Seven
sheets cut from the 'Tenore' partbook (ff. 37r-43v). Not
photographed are unused ruled staves on fol. 44, and the 58
following unfoliated sheets, all of which contain unused ruled
staves. The fantasias bear the following headings (as transcribed
from the 'Canto primo' partbook, ff. 28-34): Sinphonie A.5. Leonora
Duarte / Decimi toni; Sinfonia 2 A5. de duodesimi toni; Sinfonia 3
A5. primi toni; Sinfonia 4. seconda parte [of preceding piece];
Sinfonia 5 A5. Secondi toni; Sinfonia 6 A5. Octavi toni; Sinfonia 7
A5. Terti toni.
Extent: ff. 102 (foliation in modern pencil). 313 x 193mm.
Gathering structure: ff. 1-12 comprise two gatherings each of three
nested bifolios (=6 folios) from the opening of the original
'Bassus' partbook. The last three leaves of this have been cut down
to stubs, to which are pasted the first three leaves of the next
partbook. The remainder of the volume, including sheets now cut
down to stubs, continues in gatherings of three nested bifolios (=
6 folios; 17 gatherings in total).
Hand: Music copyist unidentified; titles in the hand of Gaspar
Duarte (Lenora's father).
Binding: Mid 17th-century binding of blue-green velvet over boards;
edges gilded. Disturbance to the gilt edges proves that the process
of excising and remounting the leaves took place after binding.
Additional information: Rudolph Rasch, 'The Antwerp Duarte Family
as Musical Patrons', in Orlandus Lassus and his Time, ed. Ignace
Bossuyt, Eugeen Schreurs and Annelies Wouters, Yearbook of the
Alamire Foundation, 1 (Peer, 1995), pp. 415-29. Leonarda [sic]
Duarte, Seven Sinfonie à 5, ed. David Pinto, with a biographical
introduction by Rudolf Rasch (Corda Music Publications CMP 448; St
Albans, 1998). For a detailed description, please see
www.chch.ox.ac.uk/library-and-archives/digital-library.
Provenance: From the Aldrich bequest, listed in Dowding as
'Symphoniae / pro divers. Tonis. Leon Duante MS. 5 Vols.'; the
entry was later annotated by Havergal: '5 vol: bound together'. In
Mus. 429 itself, the shelfmark 'N8' (equivalent to N.1.8) is
written on the front flyleaf. Following the removal of the music
collections to the New Library in c. 1763, this item was shelved as
part of the Goodson bequest, and is listed as such in Malchair 1787
(f. 4) as 'A Vol. bound in Changable green velvet. / the contents
seemingly useless' (presumably on account of the five performing
parts being bound together).
