Clement Matchett's Virginal Book is a musical
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand β or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten β as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
from the late
renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
compiled by a young
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
man in 1612. Although a small
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
, it is notable not only for the quality of its music but also for the precise
fingering indications that reveal the contemporary treatment of
phrasing and
articulation. Moreover, the manuscript is unusual in that each piece bears the exact date of its copying.
The manuscript
The manuscript consists of a small
oblong
An oblong is a non-square rectangle.
Oblong may also refer to:
Places
* Oblong, Illinois, a village in the United States
* Oblong Township, Crawford County, Illinois, United States
* A strip of land on the New York-Connecticut border in the Unit ...
quarto
Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4ΒΊ) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...
measuring some 15 by 19 centimetres. It is in excellent condition and retains its original
binding formed from several sheets of rough paper folded, pasted and stitched to a strip of
vellum
Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...
to form the
spine
Spine or spinal may refer to:
Science Biology
* Vertebral column, also known as the backbone
* Dendritic spine, a small membranous protrusion from a neuron's dendrite
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, needle-like structures in plants
* Spine (zoolog ...
. The manuscript contains 32 leaves bearing two pairs of hand-ruled six-line
staves on which are twelve short pieces written in a neat
hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...
.
On the first of the two front flyleaves is the inscription: ''Clement Matchett 1613'', with a table of contents on the
verso
' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet.
Etymology
The terms are shortened from Latin ...
. The second flyleaf bears a
Guidonian hand
In medieval music, the Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight-sing. Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo, a medieval music theorist who wrote a number of treatises, including one ...
figuring the
Gamut
In color reproduction, including computer graphics and photography, the gamut, or color gamut , is a certain ''complete subset'' of colors. The most common usage refers to the subset of colors which can be accurately represented in a given circ ...
. The end flyleaf bears some
doggerel
Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is deri ...
rhyme. The manuscript is precisely dated on the inside back cover: ''Iste liber per me Clement Matchett eiusdem possessorem compositus fuit in Anno Domini 1612/mense augustaneo/1612''.
The manuscript is now in the collections of
Panmure House
Panmure House was a 17th-century country house in the Parish of Panbride, Angus, Scotland, to the north of Carnoustie. It was the seat of the Earl of Panmure. It was rebuilt in the 19th century, and demolished in 1955.
History
The Panmure est ...
in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
(Scotland), the seat of the
Ramsays of Dalhousie, under catalogue number En 9448. It is possible that the manuscript found its way to Scotland through one Duncan Burnett (circa 1590-1651), a
Glasgow musician whose own music book is also in the Panmure House collection, and who may have been related to another Duncan Burnett, physician of Norwich, birthplace of Clement Matchett himself.
The author
Clement Matchett was born in
Norwich,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, in 1593, the son of a schoolmaster. He attended a local school and was subsequently admitted a scholar of
Caius College,
Cambridge, where he may have studied
law. From then on nothing more is known about him.
Contents
Most of the pieces are known from other sources, but numbers 3, 8 and 12 are unique to this manuscript, the last being the only known piece of keyboard music by
John Wilbye:
#My Ladyes left hande (August 13, 1612)
#Nans thinge (August 13, 1612)
#Tille valle Monye growe (August 14, 1612)
# (
Mr. Byrde, August 14, 1612)
#Mounsiers Allmayne (Mr. Byrde, August 16, 1612)
# Fortune my Foe (Mr. Byrde, August 19, 1612)
#The Ghoste (Mr. Byrde, August 20, 1612)
#My Choice I will not Change (
Mr. Bull, August 24, 1612)
#Preludium (August 24, 1612)
#A Grownde (August 24, 1612)
#Pegge Ramsye
ohn Bull(August 25, 1612
#The Frogge
John Dowland,
et by Mr. Willoughbye, August 25, 1612
See also
*
The Mulliner Book
*
The Dublin Virginal Manuscript
*
My Ladye Nevells Booke
*
Susanne van Soldt Manuscript The Susanne van Soldt Manuscript is a keyboard anthology dated 1599 consisting of 33 pieces copied by or for a young Flemish or Dutch girl living in London. Its importance lies mostly in the fact that it is the only known source of early Dutch keybo ...
*
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
*
Parthenia Parthenia may refer to:
*Parthenia (music), the first printed collection of music for keyboard in England
* Parthenia (Mauretania), a town and bishopric in the Roman province of Mauretania Sitifensis
* Parthenia (Paphlagonia), a town of ancient Pap ...
*
Priscilla Bunbury's Virginal Book
*
Elizabeth Rogers' Virginal Book
''Elizabeth Rogers' Virginal Book'' is a musical commonplace book compiled in the mid-seventeenth century by a person or persons so far unidentified. Of all the so-called English "virginal books" this is the only one to mention the name of the inst ...
*
Anne Cromwell's Virginal Book
Anne Cromwell's Virginal Book is a manuscript keyboard compilation dated 1638. Whilst the importance of the music it contains is not high, it reveals the sort of keyboard music that was being played in the home at this time.
The manuscript
The ...
Further reading
*''Clement Matchett's Virginal Book (1612)''. Transcribed and edited by
Thurston Dart.
Stainer & Bell, London, n.d.
Edwards, W. Seventeenth-century Scotland: the musical sources. In Porter, J. (Eds) Defining Strains. The Musical Life of Scots in the Seventeenth Century, pages pp. 47β71. Bern: Peter Lang
David J. Smith, Keyboard Music in Seventeenth-Century Scotland: Genre, Gender and Context
{{Renaissance music manuscript sources
Renaissance music
English music
Compositions for harpsichord
Compositions for keyboard
Renaissance music manuscript sources
1612 books
1610s in music