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Masses for the Sistine Chapel

Vatican City, Biblioteca Aposotlica Vaticana, Cappella Sistina, MS 14

Donated in the late fifteenth century to the papal choir, the musical manuscript Cappella Sistina14 reflects a new style of mass composition used by some of the era’s most noted composers. Masses for the Sistine Chapel makes the complete contents of the Cappella Sistina14—held in the Vatican Library—available for the first time.

Featuring fifteen masses and four mass fragments, this volume includes works by such composers as Guillaume Du Fay, Johannes Ockeghem, and Antoine Busnoys. In a comprehensive introduction and critical commentary on each work, Richard Sherr places the choirbook in its historical context, describing its physical makeup as well as the repertory. Sherr’s critical edition of this celebrated manuscript finally provides the insight necessary to inform future performances and recordings of its influential contents.


616 pages | 8 halftones, 7 musical examples, 5 tables | 9 x 12 | © 2010

Monuments of Renaissance Music

Music: General Music

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Illustrations from Cappella Sistina 14 follow p.00.


Part One: Introduction


I    Masses for the Sistine Chapel


II
    Physical Description of the Manuscript   


III
    Composers and Repertory    
The Composers
The Repertory
Tinctoris and CS 14    

IV
    Other Observations
Signs of Use
The Manuscript as an Exemplar    

V
    Date and Provenance
Date
Hypotheses about the Provenance
Two Clues to the Provenance   

The Decorated Initials   

A New Hypothesis   


Part Two:  Concordance and Commentary


VI    List of Sources and Bibliography   

A. Prints   

B. Manuscripts   

C. Literature and Modern Editions   

D. Abbreviations of Frequently Cited Works   

E. Other Abbreviations   


VII
    Commentaries on the Individual Compositions    


Part Three:  The Edition


VIII    Editorial Principles


The Transcriptions:

            1.         Kyrie pascale Anonymous       

            2.         Kyrie tempore pascali Anonymous      

            3.         Kyrie and Gloria de Beata Virgine Jo[hannes] Wreede brugensis       

            4.         Gloria de Beata Virgine Anonymous    

            5.         Missa Ave regina celorum Gaspar [van Weerbeke]    

            6.         Missa Se la face ay pale [Guillaume] Dufay   

            7.         Missa Spiritus almus [Petrus] De Domarto    

            8.         Missa Eterne rex altissime Vincenet     

            9.         Missa Dixerunt discipuli Eloy [d’Amerval]      

            10.       Missa Sine nomine Anonymous           

            11.       Missa Ecce ancilla domini [Guillaume] Dufay

            12.       Missa Ecce ancilla domini [Johannes] Regis   

            13.       Missa L’homme armé, Kyrie and Gloria [Guillaume] Dufay   

            14.       Missa L’homme armé [Antoine] Busnois        

            15.       Missa Dum sacrum mysterium [L’homme armé] [Johannes] Regis    

            16.       Missa L’homme armé [Firmin?] Caron         

            17.       Missa L’homme armé G[uillaume] Faugues  

            18.       Missa De plus en plus [Johannes] Ockeghem 

            19.       Missa Puis que je vis Anonymous        


Index of Composers   

Index of Compositions

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