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Three unknown Carthusian liturgical manuscripts with music of the 14th to the 16th centuries in the Grey Collection, South African Library, Cape Town

Of the three manuscripts that form the basis of this thesis, MS Cape Town, South African
Library, Grey 4c7 is, in musicological terms the most important of the three manuscripts. It
is a complete Carthusian Antiphonary, of the late 14th century, written for the Charterhouse
of Champmol, near Dijon, the mausoleum of the Dukes of Burgundy. It also contains an
extensive Tonary, a Hymnary and a Kyriale. The two didactic verses which form part of the
Tonary are of particular importance, since MS 4c7is one of the few manuscripts in the world
intended for musical performance to contain the Ter terni by William of Hirsau; furthermore
it is apparently the only Carthusian manuscript of any kind to contain the Oyapente et
dyatessaron by Hucbald. The manuscript is placed in the context of the Carthusian liturgy
of the 12th to the 16th centuries and is compared with 33 manuscripts of this period. It is
shown that, although a marked textual similarity exists between the manuscripts, there are
variant melodies. The conclusion is therefore drawn that the Carthusians did not have a
single exemplar for the melodies in their liturgical books. It is shown that MS 4c7 and MS
Oijon, Bibliotheque municipale 118, also written for Champmol, were copied from the same
exemplar and that they are closely related to MSS Beaune, Bibliotheque municipale 27, 34
and 41, ot the neighbouring Charterhouse of Fontenay.
The second manuscript, MS Grey 3c23, an Antiphonary for nuns, for Lauds and Vespers,
written for the Charterhouse of Mont-Sainte-Marie, at Gosnay, near Arras, has been dated
1538 by the original scribe. This manuscript is almost identical to MS AGC C II 817. The
presence of a Sequence, foreign to the Carthusian tradition, is however unique toMS 3c23.
The third manuscript, MS Grey 6b3, is an Evangeliary, signed by the scribe, Amelontius de
Ercklems, in 1520. Its provenance is the Charterhouse of Our Lady of the Twelve Apostles
at Mont-Cornillon near Liege. Musicological features of the manuscript which are discussed
are the Hymn 'Te decet laus', and the accent neumes at the ends of pericopes. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D.Mus. (Musicology)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/16114
Date11 1900
CreatorsSteyn, Frances Caroline
ContributorsReid, D. J., Walton, R. B.
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format1 online resource (242 leaves)

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