Results tagged “Beneventan Script”

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