Results matching “Beneventan Script”

At the upcoming Known World Heralds and Scribes Symposium I will be running a version of our Reading Manuscripts Roundtable focused on Beneventan miniscule. The class is meeting from 10-11am on Sunday the 12th of July. Here is the formal description

This will be a participatory session, not quite a class in the usual sense. We will work on reading Beneventan Script, a hand used in the Montecassino/Benevento area of Italy, primarily in the 11th and 12th C as its use declined precipitously after 1215. Everyone is invited to try reading the texts, though it won't be required for attendance.  Prior to the event, we will provide digital copies of all manuscripts to be discussed, and direction on how to get started, for anyone who chooses to prepare in advance. No previous experience necessary, other than basic literacy! This is the first attempt at expanding a local Reading Roundtable group to a more global audience.

I've run out of pictures of manuscripts from Benevento (see previous posts 1 and 2), so now to complete the set, a few pictures of the town.  As a town, it hasn't really mattered in centuries, not politically since the 11th century most likely. Since then there was a slight blip on the radar when Pope Benedict XIII was elevated, as he had been archbishop of the city, but nothing else to speak of. Back in the day it was the capitol of an independent Lombard Duchy, and before that a rather important Roman trading post, as it is located on a junction in the Appian way.

Closeup of the Arch of Trajan, one of the best preserved Roman triumphal arches	Facade of the Santa Sophia church in Benevento. The stucco work is Baroque but the church is from the 8th Century. It is thought that the manuscript Benevento 40 was written in/for this church
Interior of Santa Sophia. Most of the interior frescos have been removed. This is a view of the dome looking towards the altar/apse	Interior of Benevento Cathedral looking towards the high altar. Dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, it was destroyed by allied bombs in 1943 and rebuilt in a severe modern style in the 1950s
Original Doors of the Cathedral. These are assembled of bronze plaques. The top 6 courses show scenes from the Bible, primarily the life of Jesus. The bottom three have depictions of all the Archbishops of the city from the time it became a episcopal see until the building of the Cathedral in the 13th Century. These were severely damaged during the 1943 bombing, but have been restored and put on display inside the narthex of the cathedral.	Part of the replica cathedral doors and the original marble frame. These are the exterior doors, copied from the remaining panels of the original. The intricate marble carving around the frame is also original
Interior chapel of St. Jerome in the church of the Annunciation Benevento. This chapel honors Pope Benedict XIII, formerly Pietro Orsini, archbishop of Benevento in the 18th Century. The rococo multi-color stonework is common in southern Italy.	Interior of St. Jerome, looking from the altar towards the entrance. Because this was built originally as part of a convent, the second floor has long passage ways with grills, allowing the nuns to look out on the service without beeing seen. The church is being rennovated due to damage suffered in a recent earthquake

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The rest of the Beneventan Manuscripts (see earlier collection for some details).  

A segment of music and a capitol R from Benevento 39	Closeup of a few lines from Benevento 40
Pa pair of trumpeters starting a piece of music from Benevento 21	Centaur playing a recorder from Benevento 21
An illuminated letter 'H' from Benevento 21 with a scene of the nativity and the bathing of Jesus

That's the last of the pictures of manuscripts. Later on there will be some of the city and cathedral of Benevento
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As part of the same trip that took me to the Monastary of Montecassino (see some manuscripts, more manuscripts or the sights ), I spend about 2 days in the small town of Benevento, about 30 min farther south.

Introduction

Benevento was the seat of the local archbishop, and for a while in the 9th-11th century, the capitol of a small, independent Lombard kingdom. They had a unique style of liturgical chant which was supplanted by Gregorian chant by the 12th Century. The manuscripts we were there to see are the last witnesses of the older, native tradition called Old Beneventan Chant.

The first set of pictures are of the most important manuscripts for that genre, they'll be identified by their shelf numbers. First is a brief explanation of the manuscript forms. For more information, see Thomas Kelly's The Beneventan Chant, or the intro to Paleographie Musical 22

(Information derived from Kelly, T. The Beneventan Chant. 299-303)

Manuscripts

A List of saints names, starting with Peter, Paul and Andrew (Petri, Pauli, Andree) from Benevento 20	Benvento 30
A block of text from Benevento 30. The illuminated letter starts a sequence	Column of text from Benevento 30, gregorian chant is to the right
A page of music and a large decorative element from Benevento 20	A large decoration from the top of folio 160r of Benevento 29, formerly in the British Library
Some lines of gregorian chant from Benevento 35. The red F line and yellow C line are visible	Geometrically decorated O, beginning Omnia, from Benevento 35
Ben 35 f. 202v, 2nd line	Large illuminated R from Benevento 34.

There are some more manuscript pictures and some of the town of Benevento that I'll post in the coming days
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Some more Montecassino manuscripts, from the same morning as MC318.  These are a somewhat random smattering of texts, though mostly musical, written in Beneventan script. 

Music and related manuscripts

Flyleaf removed from the binding of a different manuscript, cataloged as Compactiones XXII

Flyleaf removed from the binding of a different manuscript, cataloged as Compactiones XXII. This one includes at the bottom, following the rubric "ali communion Ambrosiano" the communion for St. Benedict, most probably composed at Montecassino

A page of Glorias from a sacramentary, MC339

Page of text and music from a notated Missel, MC540

Non-Musical Manuscripts

Some late, Bari-type Benventan script, note the increased width of the letters and greater leading, from the Sacramentary MC339.  The purple is from a bit of corruption in the image file, not original to the manuscript.

A page of text with a large illuminated letter "O" from the same Bari sacramentary, MC339

The opening of the Gospel of John ("In principio erat verbum et verbum erat...") from the same notated Missel, MC540

This is the first of a series of posts from my recent trip to London and Italy.  Starting somewhat backwards, this is a series of pages from a manuscript at the monestary of Montecassino, the birthplace of the Benedictine Order.  This particular manuscript, catalogued as Montecassino 318 (MC318 from now on), is a compendium of musical knowledge thought to have been written by a single scribe in the second-half of the 11th Century.  It includes it in the earliest illustration of the Guidonian Hand, multiple systems of musical notation, each weirder then the last, a list of named musical neumes and many other oddities.  I have only a few pictures from the manuscript, which do not do it justice, but there's so little out there some people might have never seen anything, which would be a shame.  A nice thing about the manuscript is how clear and distinct the handwriting is and how few weird abbreviations there are, assuming, of course, you know Beneventan script.

NB: If you click any of these images, you'll get a somewhat larger one.  If you need a higher-res version for any reason, please contact me

An illustration for some sort of musical theory and a short piece in Beneventan notation, with F-lines in red.

An early form of staffless notation where the the pitch is indicated by the common alphabetical form (A-G).  The lengths of the notes are not indicated except by duplication of the note-letter.

Guidonian hand and early form of staffed notation

A selection of Beneventan (Campo Aperto) neumes and short musical phrases with names.  The names, as far as we can tell, are completely made up and sound vaguely Greek, e.g. "Crodula" and "Ampiriph"

Some sort of musical notational scheme

A bunch of snippets of music in Beneventan neumes

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