Add MS 29987

The manuscript

The manuscript measures approximately 26 × 19.5 cm, and consists of 88 parchment leaves in 11 quaternio gatherings. There are six flyleaves at the front, one from 1957, three from 1876 and two from the seventeenth century, of which the first has a list in the hand of Carlo di Tommaso Strozzi of the composers represented; two flyleaves at the back date from 1876 and 1957. The binding in half leather is from 1957, over older thick wooden boards. The first folio has the arms of the de' Medici family in red, gold, blue and green; the arms are in the "augmented" form, with the arms of France in the upper central ball, granted by Louis XI in 1465.

Add 29987 is a part of a larger manuscript of at least 185 pages, as the surviving leaves were originally numbered 98–185. The pages are ruled with eight five-line staves in red, and the music is written in full (black) mensural notation, with only occasional use of void ("white") notes and red colouration. It is carelessly written in one principal and several other scribal hands; the musical text is corrupted in many places by a later hand which altered the rhythms and added inappropriate rests.

The exact date of the manuscript remains uncertain; estimates range from the late fourteenth century to about 1425. The music dates from 1340–1400; one piece, number 118, is clearly of later date, and numbers 115–117 may also be somewhat later than most of the others. The geographical origin of the manuscript is equally uncertain; it is thought to be either Tuscany or Umbria. The titles of two of the instrumental pieces, "Isabella" and "Principio di virtù" may suggest a connection to Perugia, which was ruled between 1400 and 1402 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti; Visconti was, through his marriage to Isabelle of Valois, the comte de Vertus, or, in Italian, the Conte di Virtù. However Visconti was also Duke of Milan, and the manuscript may thus be connected with that city.

The works

Add MS 29987 contains 119 pieces of music; however, three of them are copied twice, so there are 116 different pieces. Of these, 45 are ballate, 35 or 36 (if a fragment is counted) are madrigals, 15 are instrumental pieces under the general title of "istampitta" or estampie, 8 are cacce and 3 are virelais. There are also a motet and a "Chançonete tedesce" or canzonetta tedesca, and 7 liturgical works, kyrie, gloria, credo, antiphon, two sequences and a hymn; the last piece is untexted, but may be a madrigal. Forty-three of the pieces, including all the instrumental works, are unica.

Eighty-two of the pieces, all but one of them polyphonic, can be attributed to their composers, either because the composer's name is given in the manuscript or by comparison with other sources. Half of these are by either Francesco Landini (29) or Niccolò da Perugia (12 and a fragment). There are seven works by Jacopo da Bologna, five by each of Bartolino da Padova, Giovanni da Cascia and Lorenzo da Firenze, and three by each of Bonaiuto Corsini, Donato da Cascia, Gherardello da Firenze and Vincenzo da Rimini. Andrea da Firenze, Jacopo Pianelaio da Firenze, Paolo da Firenze, Rosso da Collegrana and Thomas de Celano are each represented by a single piece. There is one ballata by Guglielmus and Egidius de Francia, and a madrigal by Guglielmus alone.

The codex is one of the most important sources around the Trecento and is primarily dedicated to secular polyphony. All parts are of Italian origin, with the exception of three French compositions, although two of the latter, are composed by Italian composers Francesco Landini and Donato da Firenze.

The manuscript contains 15 monophonic instrumental dances: 8 istanpitte (Ghaetta, Chominciamento Gioia, Isabella, Tre Fontane, Parlamento, Belicha, In Pro and Principio di virtù), 4 saltarelli, a trotto and two other pieces titled Lamento di Tristano and La Manfredina. All of these dances, by an unknown author, are among the few examples of the instrumental repertoire of Italian music of the fourteenth century that survived. The dances of the collection are structurally similar to the older French instrumental dances (called estampie and contained in Chansonnier du Roy).

Although most of the pieces in the manuscript are secular, the codex also contains some sacred pieces as an erased Credo, on what is now the first page of the manuscript, and a grouped Kyrie - Gloria - Credo present on the penultimate page of the manuscript.

List of contents of the manuscript

The 119 pieces in the manuscript are:

Selected discography

The following discs contain some of the instrumental pieces taken from this manuscript: