Manuscript 11

Syracuse University Library, Department of Special Collections

Detailed Multilevel Description

Shelfmark	MS 11, Syracuse University Library, Department of Special Collections.
Nickname	Weiss Antiphoner; Syracuse Gradual
Composite MS?	No. Except there are folio additions added at a later period.
Total Folios	ff. iii + 148 + vii.
Outer Dimensions	55 x 39.5 cm.
Physical Issues/Binding	Not the original binding, based on evidence of the pages which were trimmed to fit into this binding, but may be contemporary or even older. Boards, measuring 62 x 40.5 cm., are covered with vellum and spine is covered with suede. Clasps, corner guards, bosses ornament binding. Brass plates were added at a later date to attach clasp binds to bindings. Manuscript shows evidence of repair elsewhere in sewn patches, etc.
Provenance	Barbara Weiss.
Bibliography	Catalano, George. "A Dominican Gradual of Saints, circa 1500." The Courier 27, no. 2 (fall 1992): 3-31. -- Catalano, George. "A Dominican Gradual of Saints in the George Arents Research Library of Syracuse University." Master of Music in Musicology Thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, [sic] 1991 [correct date is 1993]. -- Harden, Jean. "The Weiss Antiphoner." Paper for IST 509, History of Recorded Information, Syracuse University, July 17, 1990.
Notes (Manuscript Level)	Inside the front cover is a bookplate of the Syracuse University Libraries, George Arents Research Library (Department of Special Collections) indicating that this MS was a gift of Barbara. Coat of arms appearing three times in the MS provide evidence of original ownership belonging to a Dominican institution in Spain. Dimensions based on the largest folio size (main text). Boards actually measure 62 x 40.5 cm.
Source(s)	Catalano, George. "A Dominican Gradual of Saints, circa 1500." The Courier 27, no. 2 (fall 1992): 3-31. -- Catalano, George. "A Dominican Gradual of Saints in the George Arents Research Library of Syracuse University." Master of Music in Musicology Thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, [sic] 1991 [correct date is 1993]. -- Additional information from catalog description and observations of Jennifer Casten.
Inputter/Reviser	Jennifer Casten
Part Number	Pt. I, paste-down, front flyleaf with "Ave stella matutina", paper bifolio; Pt. II, main text; Pt. III, seven added leaves.
Support	Parchment/Paper. (156 parchment leaves, 2 paper leaves).
Span of Folios for Part	Pt. I, i-iii; Pt. II, 1r-72v , [+ 2 unmarked folios] , 73r-146v; Pt. III, 147r-154v (f. 152=blank; f. 153 is a fragment).
Country	Spain. Based on coat of arms, presence of St. Leander of Seville in the Sanctorale and celebration of his feast in the Mozarabic usage, and its similarity to a mid-sixteenth-century antiphonal sold at Sotheby’s of London, 1980.
Region	Probably Castile.
Document?	No.
Dated?	Yes.
Date	1484 -ca. 1524. The earlier date is based upon the inclusion of St. Leonard de Noblac whose feast was approved by the Dominican order in 1484. The later date is based upon the feast of St. Antoninus, canonized in 1524, whose feast does not appear in the original text of the MS but was added later in the margin.
Layout	Single column, six staves of music per page. Lettering in black and red (for rubrics or enlarged capitals). Liturgical divisions appear at the bottom margins of rectos.
Script	Gothic.
Music	Black square Gregorian notation on 5-line red staves.
Representational Decoration	This MS consists of decorative initials and marginal design employing abstract and geometric detailed pattern and interlace work, using red and blue colors. The more elaborately decorated initials are set in a square background of a tile-like pattern. Examples of major decoration can be found on f. 3v, "Dominus secus mare galile"; f. 55r, "In medio ecclesie aperuit"; f. 81v, "Mihi aute[m] nimis honorati sunt amici tuis"; and f. 145r, [a large initial, the size of which is about _ of the whole page, and in a style different from the other artwork]. Decoration appears to be the artwork of more than one artist.
Other Decoration	Ornamentation is primarily around capitals. Abstract designs or floral/foliage/vine designs extending slightly into the margins. Capitals may be blue and red painted with interlace patterns and flourishes, may be set in a square frame or background with or without flourishes, or may be black with some calligraphic enhancement.
Notes (Part Level)	The manuscript is foliated in lowercase Roman numerals and was probably done not by the main scribe(s) but was added by a different hand contemporaneous with the rebinding and cross-indexing. Foliation begins with "i" which corresponds to actual folio number 4. (The folios referred to in this document follow the Roman numeral assignation, but present them as arabic numerals instead, e.g. i=1. Other lowercase Roman numerals refer to flyleaves. For example, Catalano assigns "1v" to the folio beginning with "Ave stella matutina," a flyleaf and later addition that has been referred to as folio "i" herein. See "Span of Folios for Part."). The folio assigned as "i" in this MS was not originally at the beginning of the Gradual in its complete form. This MS may have been originally one part of a complete Gradual that contained both the Gradual of Saints and Temporale, which was later divided into two volumes, the Gradual (now the present volume) and the Temporale. Glosses appear in the margins either as explanatory comments or notes, or later additions for observances of the saints’ feast days (e.g., St. Cajetan, f. 55v). The primary descriptive information on this manuscript, including dating and localization, are derived from the Catalano sources cited above.
Span of Folios for Text	Ave stella matutina: ff. i; Gradual: 1r-146v; Later additions: 147r-152v (+ blank page and fragment).
Supplied Title	Dominican Gradual of Saints.
Incipit	"Alleluia" on f. 1r; and "Asperges me domine..." on f. 1v.
Language(s)	Latin; with marginal notations in Spanish.
Notes (Text Level)	Text as it now appears consists of Sanctorale, commons of the apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, and votive masses. The liturgy for the text contains elements from the Mozarabic rite, the Roman/Gregorian use, and the Dominican tradition. The chant represents an intermediate stage between the original Gregorian tradition and the revisions made under Humbert de Romans.