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The Old Hall Manuscript (British Library, Add MS 57950) is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for late
Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
English music. The manuscript somehow survived the
Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
, and formerly belonged to St. Edmund's College, a Roman Catholic school located at
Old Hall Green Old Hall Green is a hamlet in Hertfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Standon. In 1793, an academy, St. Edmund's College, Ware, was established there which provided a school for Catholic bo ...
(hence its name) in
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...
. It was sold to the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
after an auction at
Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
in 1973.


Overview

The manuscript contains 148 compositions overall, 77 of which are written in score rather than in separate parts. Most of the pieces are settings of parts of the ordinary of the
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...
, and are grouped by section. In other words, the settings of the Gloria are together, as are the settings of the '' Credo'', ''
Sanctus The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition. In Western Christianity, th ...
'', and ''Agnus Dei''. Between these grouped settings are some
motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Ma ...
s and pieces related to the conductus. The Old Hall Manuscript was compiled in the early 15th century, probably over a period of about 20 years. The hands of several copyists are identifiable, and some of them may be those of the composers themselves. Recent research has suggested that work on the manuscript ended with the death of Thomas, Duke of Clarence, in 1421, a somewhat later date than was previously suggested. This date allows the fitting into the chronology of the most recent piece in the manuscript, the wedding motet by Byttering which was almost certainly written for the marriage of
Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...
and Catherine of Valois on 2 June 1420, as well as a group of motets by several composers, the titles of which closely match written accounts of the music played at the celebration of the victory of Agincourt in 1415.


Musical styles and techniques

Various musical styles and techniques are represented including English discant, treble-dominated works,
isorhythm Isorhythm (from the Greek for "the same rhythm") is a musical technique using a repeating rhythmic pattern, called a ''talea'', in at least one voice part throughout a composition. ''Taleae'' are typically applied to one or more melodic patterns o ...
ic compositions, and canons. A complex Credo (No. 75 in the manuscript) includes a three-voice mensuration canon among its five voices; it is notated in black, red and blue notes. The Old Hall Manuscript is significant for confirming the existence and character of specifically English musical traits, the extent of the development of English music, as well as the influence of continental practices. In particular it shows a tendency in England to focus on musical complexities, such as canons, at a time when music on the continent was increasingly tending towards simplicity. Whether this trend generally continued in the 15th century in England is hard to determine because of the poor survival of manuscripts from that time, but it was well established by the middle of the 15th century, for example at the Burgundian court, that there was a style which was identifiably English"la contenance angloise", according to Martin le Franc in his poem of 1441–1442 ''Le Champion des Dames''. On the other hand, the Old Hall Manuscript is an impressive example of French influence in England. Manfred Bukofzer, writing in ''Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music'' (1950) wrote: "The greatest surprise of the Old Hall Repertory is unquestionably the prominent role of isorhythmic technique, which is irrefutable proof of a strong French influence." As English musicians were well known at the Burgundian court, French musicians may also have been known in England. It has been suggested that Pycard, composer of the canon No. 75, was actually French; but this is unlikely on stylistic grounds. The influence of the Low Countries may be discerned in the music of Oliver. One feature of the repertoire is the cultivation of dissonance, comparable perhaps to the music in the
Cyprus Manuscript Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is g ...
of a couple of decades later. Good examples can be heard in the music of John Cooke and Damett. A historically significant development was the occasional use of ''divisi'', the earliest certain evidence of polyphony being sung by a
choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
of two or more voices per part.


Composers represented

Composers with works in the Old Hall Manuscript include
Leonel Power Leonel Power (also spelled ''Lionel, Lyonel, Leonellus, Leonelle''; ''Polbero''; 1370 to 1385 – 5 June 1445) was an English composer of the late Medieval and early Renaissance music. Along with John Dunstaple, he was a dominant figure of 15th ...
, Pycard, William Typp, Thomas Byttering, Oliver, Chirbury, Excetre, John Cooke,
Roy Henry Roy Henry ("King" Henry) () was an English composer, almost certainly the pseudonym of an English King: probably Henry V, but also possibly Henry IV. His music, two compositions in all, appears in a position of prominence in the Old Hall Manusc ...
(probably King Henry V, but possibly King Henry IV), Queldryk, John Tyes, Aleyn, Fonteyns, Gervays, Lambe, Nicholas Sturgeon, Thomas Damett, and others. The manuscript also contains some works by foreign musicians, including
Antonio Zachara da Teramo Antonio "Zacara" da Teramo (in Latin Antonius Berardi Andree de Teramo, also Zacar, Zaccara, Zacharie, Zachara, and Çacharius; c.1350/1360 – between May 19, 1413 and mid-September 1416) was an Italian composer, singer, and papal secretary of t ...
and Mayshuet.


Scholarly editions

The Old Hall manuscript yA. Ramsbotham. Nashdom Abbey : Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Soc., 1933. The Old Hall manuscript transcribed and edited by Andrew Hughes and Margaret Bent. Dallas (Tex.):
American Institute of Musicology The American Institute of Musicology (AIM) is a musicological organization that researches, promotes and produces publications on early music. Founded in 1944 by Armen Carapetyan, the AIM's chief objective is the publication of modern edition ...
, 1969-1973. (
Corpus mensurabilis musicae The ''Corpus mensurabilis musicae'' (CMM) is a collected print edition of most of the sacred and secular vocal music of the late medieval and Renaissance period in western music history, with an emphasis on the central Franco-Flemish and Italian ...
; 46)


Further reading

* Margaret Bent, "Old Hall MS"; "Sources, Medieval, England"; ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. * Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, ''Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance'' (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986.


References


External links


High-resolution colour digital images of the entire manuscript
{{Authority control 15th-century books Medieval music manuscript sources Renaissance music Books on English music Music illuminated manuscripts 15th-century illuminated manuscripts