Diana Zhu 21M.220 Fall 2011 Professor Cuthbert Glaser Codex – Folio 101

The study of folio 101 of the Glaser Codex was accomplished with the collaboration of Allison Simi who studied f. 97. F.101 includes the end of the Communion of the Mass “Os Iusti,” the Common of a Confessor not a Bishop, and the Antiphon of the Introitus for Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr. The Common of a Confessor not a Bishop was a Proper of the Mass. Saint Clement was the patron saint for metalworkers, tanners, and mariners, as he was a tanner in his original life and was martyred by drowning. Part of the Proper, the Introitus for Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr was sung in celebration of St. Clement’s feast day on November 23.

The very end of the Communion of the Common of a Confessor not a Bishop Mass can be seen on f.101r (left). The presence of the Communion indicates this Mass was likely sung after Catholic Advent, when many of the old parts of the Mass (Vespers and Compline; Matins and Lauds; Mass) were relabeled (Evensong; Matins; Communion). It originally had the same form as the Introit, with the same psalm and different antiphons, but was reduced to the antiphon only by the twelfth century (Hoppin 125). They were characteristically short and simple, with some including a few melismas (Hoppin 126). The final chant of the Proper of the Mass, it would have been sung during the distribution of the Eucharist during the Roman Catholic masses. The text on f.101r reads as follows: ‘vigilantem amen dico vobis, super omnia bona sua constitue teum’, or, ‘watching: amen I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods’ . This Communion can be found on page 1397 of the Liber Usualis as well as in the Bible in Matthew 24:46–47 1.

The music begins in the F clef, marked by a middle dot indicating the F and two 1 flanking dots (right, 1), then moves to the C clef in the second staff of f.101r with two dots flanking the C (right, 2). 2

Vi gi lan tem amen di co vo bis sup er om nia bo na

Su a con sti tue te um

The music is mainly neumatic, with some longer melismas at the end of the chant.

This folio is notably more well-worn than many of the other pages of the codex. The entire folio 1 looks older and more worn than folio 97, and is considerably thinner from scraping/erasing in various areas as well. F101v 2 especially appears to have been scraped over at least once, with faded letters and notes that do not match with the text on f101r. In the example on f101v to the right, there is a faded custos (1) that must have been previously made and scraped away, as f101r has the clef (2, visible through the page) beginning that line and no further notes or symbols preceding the clef. The skin underneath the text looks and feels thinner and more fragile than the borders of the rest of the page. The ink has also had an effect on the skin; about five [spell out isolated numbers under 100] letters are extremely eaten away along the first staff Worn away letter (right). The damage is extensive at the start of the first staff on the recto and the end of the first staff on the verso; those letters are torn away and illegible. Another nine or ten letters have holes faded through the skin along the second and last (fifth) staff on f.101r. The thinness of the skin from the scraped away text could be responsible for this eating of the ink through the skin; by contrast, f. 97 with its clean text and normally thick skin has no ink eating through the notes and text.

This folio is 57cm wide by 82cm tall. There is a portion on the left side of the recto that appears to be part of the binding for this page. This area is more yellow and thicker than the rest of the page, appearing to be a strip of skin ~1.5cm wide glued on the left edge. There are small pin- holes 1-2mm in diameter scattered along this strip (not visible in pictures). A few of these holes are spaced almost exactly 5cm apart along the binding; these holes happen to match up with the holes in f. 97, indicating these holes were likely used for the binding itself or holding the pages together while the glue set. There are a few other holes in f. 101 that are close to those matching holes but not quite; perhaps these holes were made by mistake or were used for binding the original music on the page that was scraped away for the current chants. 1. New number The number .CJ. at the top, written in red ink, appears to be on top of a longer, scraped-off number. The first period, the “C”, and the very last 2. Old number period are in a lighter red ink than the added “J.”, which has a darker, more maroon-colored ink (right, 1). The old number took up about twice the area of the current number, and the period that ended the number is still there (right, 2), as perhaps the author wanted to reuse the period for the rewritten number. The original number was likely a long number beginning with “C”.

There are five red staves on f.101r,v. The dimensions are remarkably consistent; the staves all start either 6cm from the left edge on the face page [recto, etc. throughout] and 12.5cm from the left edge of the back page. They also end consistently, 12 cm from the right edge on the face page and 5.5 cm from the right edge on the back page. The staves on the front and back actually match up through the skin. There appears to be a faint black ink outline of a rectangle around the perimeter of all 5 staves that matches on both sides; perhaps there was an outline used for both the front and back. Each staff line is remarkably straight, hinting at the use of a straight-edge; however, the distance between each staff varies slightly, which could rule out a 5-pronged straightedge such as a rastrum and likely means each staff line was drawn individually.

The rest of the chant beginning on f.101r and continuing on f.101v is an Introitus, which is the chant that accompanies the priests and abbots into the church at the start of Mass (right). The red text immediately preceding the start of the chant, marked by the elaborate and large D, indicates the beginning of the Introitus of the chant for Saint Clements. However, the chant immediately preceding the Introit does not appear to be the antiphon for the chant. It is possible that the antiphon was originally written on this page, then scraped away to make room for the Introit itself. This could be attributable to the shortening of the Introit psalm during the eighth and ninth centuries when churches began singing the Introit after the priest had already proceeded to the altar (Hoppin, 1 123). There is a notable yellow vertical line about 6mm thick that has been drawn on the fifth staff (left, 1). This line most likely indicates the division between cantor and choir, which usually occurs near the beginning of a chant. This Introitus can be found on page 1758 of the Liber Usualis. The text of the Introitus on f. 101r,v is as follows: “Dicit Dominus: Sermones mei, quos dedi in os tuum, non deficient de ore tuo et munera tua accepta erunt” ‘Lord said, My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, and your gifts will be accepted’

Di cit do mi nus | Se mon nes me I quos de di in os

Tu um non de fi ci ent de o re

Tu o et mu ne ra tu a ac cep ta e runt

A more detailed study would be beneficial to establish when this folio was created and the difference between the face page and the back page. DNA analysis of the skin of f.101r,v especially, including the binding, could give details about the age of the old and new text, and carbon dating of the skin and ink could reveal the differences between the worn-out f.101 and the other folios of the codex. Works Cited

1) Liber Usualis. Catholic Church. Hosted by McGill University. http://ddmal.music.mcgill.ca/

2) Hoppin, Richard H. Medieval Music: The Norton Introduction to Music History. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 1978. Print.