Antiphonal - 15th century

Antiphonal (15th Cent.?)

 

Private document held by George Monsson (Monsson 5)
On loan to the University of Colorado, Boulder

Transcribed and Translated by John Stephan Edwards
August 2004

Single page from a much larger manuscript volume containing the music and text for conducting the daily cycle of religious observances, called The Hours. The note in red at the top (recto) indicates that this page is from the service for the Hour of Matins (also sometimes called Vigils, sung at dawn). This page possibly came from a text devoted to Lent and Easter observances, given its focus on the Death and Resurrection. The single page is very difficult to date out of its manuscript context, but is almost certainly fifteenth century or earlier.
 
Document:

Multicolored ink on pencil- and ink-lined vellum (312mm x 413mm) creating a musical score composed of squared notes plus words to be sung from Roman Catholic liturgy. The smaller text highlighted in red lettering is intended as instructions for those participating in the service, denoting which participants sing which words, and (at the top of the page) offering suggestions for personal reflections to be considered by the participants as they sing, listen, or enter and exit the sanctuary.

The script appears to be Gothic textura semi-quadrata, a script popular in France in the late 15th Century. French scriptoria supplied many of the liturgical manuscripts used in English churches in the fifteenth century, and this antiphonal page may well be French in origin.

Much of the wording of the liturgy of this page is taken from Psalms (esp. Psalm 4), Exodus, and Leviticus.
 
Text:

Recto:
 
uidere sepulchrum alleluya. ps[almus].
 
Magnificat.

In doxa refrectionis

d[omi]ni n[ost]ri Jesu [Christ]i

q[uoa]d matut[ine] invit[atio].

S urrexit dominus vere.
 
Alle lu ya. ps[almus]. Ve[n]ite. q[ou]d no[?] a[ntiphona]
 
EGo sum qui sum et
 
consilius meum non est cu[ra]s im
 
pijs sed in lege domini uoluntas
 
 
Verso:
 
mea est alleluya. ps[almus]. B[ea]tus vir. a[ntiphona].
 
Postulam patre[m] meu[m] alleluya
 
dedit mihi gentes alleluya in he
 
reditates alleluya. ps[almus]. Quare. a[ntiphona]
 
Ego dormiui et somnu[m] in
 
cepi et resurrexi quoniam domi
 
nus suscepit me all[eluy]a all[eluy]a. ps[almus]. D[omi]ne q[ui]d.

V[ersus] Surrex[it] do[minus] de sep[u]lc[hro] al[leluya].

R[esponsorium]. Q[ui] p[ro] nob[is] pepe[n]dit i[n]lig[n?] al[leluya]. R[esponsorium]

Translation:
 
Recto:

to see the tomb. Hallelujah. Proper.
 
(My soul) magnifies (the Lord).

Reflecting on the glory

of our lord Jesus Christ

until summoned to Matins.

 

Truly the Lord was reSurrected.
 
Hallelujah. Proper. O Come (let us sing unto the Lord). That which ? antiphon.
 
I am that I am and
 
my counsel is not of concern to
 
the wicked but (rather it is for those) wishing (to live according to)

Verso:
 
the law of the Lord. Hallelujah. Proper. Blessed is the man (that fears the Lord). Antiphon.
 
In accordance with my father's wish, Hallelujah,
 
he gave the nations to me, Hallelujah, in
 
inheritance, Hallelujah. Proper. Truly. Antiphon.
 
I lay down and I slept soundly
 
and I arose because the Lord
 
kept me safe, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Proper. (I pray) thus unto the Lord.

Verse. The Lord was resurrected from the tomb, Hallelujah.

Response. He who suffered for us on the cross, Hallelujah. Response.

SOURCE:  http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/specialcollections/collections/transcriptions.htm