Leaf from a Gradual incorporating musical notation and text with a gymnastic initial 'R' depicting a dragon with interlacing scrolls on parti-coloured red and blue ground; written in Gothic Book Script (textualis); Northern European, possibly German; late 12th century.

Leaf of parchment or vellum ruled to accommodate 12 lines of text with accompanying musical notation in ruled staves above each line. The text is Gothic Book Script (textualis) and written in brown ink. The musical notation is in black ink. The ruling lines are in either brown or red ink.

One large gymnastic initial (a gymnastic initial is an initial composed of a lively, acrobatic human and/or animal figures and was particularly characteristic of the Romanesque period) 'R' occurs at the bottom left of the page. This initial is equivalent in height to five lines of text with accompanying musical notation. The letter 'R' is made of the elongated body of two dragons and interlaced scrolls incorporating foliate motifs. The background of the letter is blocked in with either blue or red ink or left as blank parchment/vellum. The letter itself has a brown ink outline with some additions in black ink.

The main body of text incorporates two minor initials (an 'L' and a 'V') denoted in red ink which are equivalent in height to one line of text with its accompanying musical notation and in both instances are preceded by rubrics. Some other, even smaller, initials in the text are embellished with tiny additions in red ink.

A note in a different hand to that of the scribe appears on the left of the lower margin. A further addition occurs on the right of the top margin. This hand is closer to that of the scribe but still appears to be different.

Purchased from J. and S. Goldschmidt as part of three portfolios (now Museum nos 234-296) designated as a 'Illuminations: a collection of 338 specimens, pages and cuttings' for the total sum of £100.0.0, received on 15 October 1872; passed on for Register in April 1874 (see Register of Drawings).

Background to Music and Christian Liturgy

Music was incorporated into the Christian Liturgy early on and had been influenced by the use of music in the synagogue. Plainchant (unison singing, originally unaccompanied) was the traditional music of the western Church and from about 1000, vocal polyphony (music with two or more melodically independent parts) was being practiced. Polyphony made certain chants of the Mass longer and more complex.

The notation of liturgical music initially appears in the form of neumes - graphic symbols written above the text and indicating the rise and fall of melodic movement or repetitions of the same pitch. From the 11th century they were commonly written on a four-line staff. Two hundred years later, eastern European music manuscripts adopted Gothic notation, produced with a thick, square-cut nib, with the points and curves of neumes being replaced by broader, more angular forms. A similar development in the Île de France gave rise to the use of square notation in the late twelfth century, especially in France and Italy.


Different Types of Liturgical Music Manuscripts

Liturgical manuscripts with musical components were either used in the celebration of the Mass or the Divine Office and included the following:

MASS
(With the Divine Office the Mass forms the basis of Christian Liturgy. It centres on the Eucharist and was attended daily by those in religious orders, the clergy and, with varying frequency, by members of the laity)

Gradual - the principal choir book used in the mass.

Kyriale - the portion of a Gradual containing the ordinary chants of the Mass (i.e. the chants whose text remain unchanged throughout the ecclesiastical year)

Sequentiary - book (or portion of a Gradual or Troper) containing sequences (extended melodies) sung by a soloist between the alleluia and the Gospel lesson at Mass.

Troper - book containing tropes: musical and textual additions to the chants of the mass or divine office.

Missal - Service book containing the texts necessary for the performance of the Mass together with ceremonial directions (merged the Sacramentary, Gradual, Evangelary and for the performance of high or solemn mass the Epistolary).


DIVINE OFFICE
(With the Mass forms basis of Christian Liturgy. Cycle of daily devotions - the prayers of the canonical hours - performed by members of religious orders and the clergy)

Antiphonal (also called an antiphoner or antiphonary) - contains the sung portion of the Divine Office . It was often large in format so that it could be used by a choir.

Hymnal (also called a hymnary) - containing metrical hymns sung in the Divine Office and arranged according to the liturgical year. Could be included in a Psalter or Antiphonal as a separate section. Its contents were eventually incorporated into the Breviary.

Breviary - service book combining the various volumes used during the Divine Office (Psalter, Antiphonal, Lectionary, Colectar, Martyrology, Hymnal and others). Used from the 11th century onwards.


[A Choir Book is the generic term for a service book containing the parts of the Mass or the Divine Office sung by the Choir.]


The above is adapted from Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms by Michelle P. Brown (London, 1995)

This is a leaf from a choirbook. It bears the initial R. Professionally made books used such decorative initials to signal the main divisions of a text or, as in this case, music. The initials were added either by the scribe or by a specialist, in spaces that the scribe left blank. The latter was increasingly the practice in the later Middle Ages. The important initials might be historiated (that is, with a figurative picture, istoire being the term for story) or decorated. The lesser initials were made of coloured letters on coloured or gold grounds, often with flourishing in ink of a contrasting colour. Spirals of white stems with leafy sprouts form the basis of the ornament on this fragment. The curved elements of the letter shape represent dragons' wings. Spiralling stems of this kind were frequently associated with a dragon, a decorative device used throughout Europe.

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