The Recompositions of Buus’(1547)RicercariFrom His Libro primo…in Manuscript P-Cug MM 242 and...

8/12/2019 The Recompositions of Buus(1547)RicercariFrom His Libro primoin Manuscript P-Cug MM 242 and the Didactic Pr

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History Research, ISSN 2159-550XJune 2013, Vol. 3, No. 6,423-440

The Recompositions of Buus(1547)RicercariFrom HisLibro

primoin Manuscript P-Cug MM 242 and the DidacticProcesses of the Friars of the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra.

Filipe Mesquita de OliveiraUniversidade de vora, vora, Portugal

The purpose of this articleis to address the presence of seven recomposed ricercariby Jacques Buus in the Music

Manuscript 242 from the Library of the University of Coimbra in Portugal (P-Cug MM 242). These recompositions,

probably copied in the third quarter of the 16th century, were made after the previously copied Buuss ricercari in

Music Manuscript 48 (P-Cug MM 48) of the same library, which were based on the Libro primo de ricercari a

quattrovoci, published in Venice in 1547 by Antonio Gardane. In this paper, the author intend to focus in two main

aspects of the research done on this subject. The first topic concerns the score-format of both manuscripts 48 & 242,

which testify the instrumental activity in mid-sixteenth century Portugal. The author will demonstrate that this

format served once, in the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra, as a didactic tool in the teaching of counterpoint

through the music of a northern European master such as Jacques Buus. The copies in the manuscripts were never

intended to be used as a performing supportthey contain many errors of vertical coordination between the voices

that make the performance impossible. The second topic focuses on Buus recomposed ricercari, which were the

object of many cuts, brief recomposed bridges, newly inserted sections, and written glosa figurations. Throughthese recompositions, the author will describe the theoretic assimilation of formal processes, of style, mode,

counterpoint and performing practice. The achievement of this paper is to offer historic musicology researchers a

new perspective about the enormous influence that Buus ricercari from his Libro primo had in the learning

processes of music composition and in the development of didactic and performing practices in the Santa Cruz

Monastery in Coimbra, during the mid-sixteenth century.

Keywords: Jacques Buus, P-Cug MM 242, Ricercare, Portuguese instrumental music from the 16h century,

Scoreformat manuscripts

IntroductionThe music manuscripts 48 & 242 of the Coimbra University Library (P-Cug MM 48 and 242) illustrate the

reality of instrumental music in Portugal in the mid-1500s. Comprising copies of motets, songs, madrigals and

instrumental pieces drawn from some of the most important Flemish and north-Italian prints of the mid-16th

century, both are in score format. One of the most significant aspects of these manuscripts is the fact that they

include the ricercarifrom theLibro primo of the Flemish composer Jacques Buus, published in Venice in 1547

by Antonio Gardane. In MM 48, which was copied during the 1550s and 1560s, are copies all ten

Filipe Mesquita de Oliveira, Ph.D., Universidade de vora, vora, Portugal

DAVID PUBLISHING

D


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THE RECOMPOSITIONS OF BUUSSRICERCARI FROM HIS LIBRO PRIMO424

ricercariincluded in the print. In MM 242, clearly copied later, already in the third quarter of the 16th century,

there is a series of recompositions of seven of these ricercari, made from the copies that appear in MM 48. It

was Santiago Kastner who drew attention to the importance of these two twin manuscripts from Coimbra, in the

preliminary source study that he made during the 1950s (Kastner, 1950). Not only were there identified

Buusricercari, but also a series of works by the Portuguese composer AntnioCarreira, which Kastner called

tentos and fantasias. Later on, in the 1990s, British musicologist Owen Rees in his study of the Coimbra

polyphonic sources from ca. 1530 to ca. 1620 analysed and reviewed Kastners inventories of music

manuscripts 48 and 242, identifying new works and also revising the notes and doing the concordance study of

all the works they contain (Rees, 1995). Rees Coimbra source study is still today the reference work in what

concerns Portuguese polyphonic practice during the 16th and the early 17th centuries. Two decades later, in the

2010s, the present author in his Phd. Thesis (Oliveira, 2011), identified in the first part of manuscript 242 seven

recompositions of Buus ricercarifrom hisLibro primoThis important fact was the main topic of the thesis,

which focused in the influence of Buus instrumental works in the didactic processes of music composition and

performance practice in mid-sixteenth century Portugal.In what concerns the study of Buusricerari, the main source used as a work tool in this paper was the

16th century print of Antonio Gardane:

Recercaridi M. IacquesBuus Organista di Santo Marco diVenetia[], Libro Primo, In

VenetiaapressodiAntonioGardane, M.D. XLVII.

Also important as bibliographical references for this study were the works of the various scholars that,

in late 19th century and in modern times,started to overview Buus instrumental production. In this respect, it

deserves mention the preliminary studies of Wasiliewski (1878) and Riemann (Riemann, 1921). As for the

composers biographical data, Hedwig Krauss made the first attempt to summarize it (Krauss, 1926). But it

was Gordon Sutherland that, in the 1940s, wrote a paper with a systematic analysis of all of the composersricercari and its resulting theoretical relevance (Sutherland, 1945). This study is still today a reference in

what regards this subject and its results have been summarized later on by WilliApel in his main work on the

History of Keyboard Music (Apel, 1972). In what concerns performing practice, Buus Libro primohave

been edited in modern notation in open score format by Beecher and Gillingham (Beecher&Gillingham,

1984). It is also important to quote one of the first transcriptions and critical studies of Buus ricercari,

namely, Santiago Kastners modern transcription of ricercari3rd and 4th based in an original organ tablature

(Kastner, 1957).

Finally, in what regards the study of the Iberian instrumental genres tentoandfantasiain relation with the

keyboard, it was precisely Santiago Kastner that started its discussion in the two main studies he made, the first

in the 1940s (Kastner, 1941) and the second one in the 1970s (Kastner, 1976). Both of them were fundamental

working tools in the research process of the present paper. In the Contribuicin al estudio de la msicaespaola

y portuguesa, Kastner treated early keyboard music in the Iberian peninsula. This topic was later on

circumscribed to the keyboard tentoin the Origenesy Evolucin del Tiento para Instrumentos de Tecla, a

study which presented the historical development of the genre in what concerns, both its composers and its

structural, formal and stylistic characteristics. It was Kastner who also drew attention to the importance of

AntnioCarreira, the leading 16th century Portuguese organ composer, in the first discussion of the two twin

Coimbra sources (Kastner, 1950). As he pointed out when he analysed and published some of this composers


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THE RECOMPOSITIONS OF BUUSSRICERCARI FROM HIS LIBRO PRIMO 425

tentosandfantasias(Kastner, 1969), it is not known what organ music in Portugal was like before Carreira, and

which composers had influenced him and in what terms. This two Kastners main studies together with another

one focussing in three Portuguese composers (AntnioCarreira, Manuel Rodrigues Coelho and Pedro de Arajo)

(Kastner, 1979), were our bibliographic basis in what regards the study of Carreirastentos and fantasias.

Following Kastners research on this subject, the present author wrote recently an article focussing on

Carreirastentosandfantasias(Oliveira, 2013).

The purpose of this paper is to address the presence of seven recomposed ricercariby Jacques Buus in the

Music Manuscript 242, to study the didactic processes of the friars of the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra,

and to relate the Flemish composers ricercari with AntnioCarreiras keyboard music. Focussing on two

topics, the score-format of both manuscripts 48 & 242and Buus recomposed ricercari, which were the object

of many cuts, brief recomposed bridges, newly inserted sections, and written glosa figurations, the main

objective of this paper is to offer historic musicology researchers a new perspective about the enormous

influence that Jacques Buushad in the musical learning processes and performing practices of the Coimbra

crziosin mid-sixteenth century Portugal.

Instrumental Music Practicein Portugal During the 16th Century

During the 1500s, the practice of instrumental music in Portugal was centred on the liturgy, whether

doubling polyphonic vocal repertoire, or acquiring autonomy little by little within the same liturgy.The

Monastery of Santa Cruz (the Holy Cross) in Coimbra was in this respect an important centre for instrumental

performance.There survive various written references to the participation of musical instruments in the

liturgical ceremonies, above all the organ.Ernesto Gonalves de Pinho, in his study on the musical activity of

the Monastery (Pinho, 1981), cites a number of chroniclers who opined on instrumental practice.One of them is

the recorder of the visit made by King John III in 1550 to the Monastery of Santa Cruz, who notes the

following with regard to the four organs that were played simultaneously at the Kings entrance, The great

organ, the regal, another royal instrument and the claviorgan... all made an agreeable music and

harmony(Pinho, 1981).The Iberian organ verso for psalms and canticles in the mid-16th century already

testifies to the practice of instrumental music within the liturgy.In discussing Iberian instrumental practice in

the 16th century, Klaus Speer mentions the role of the organ in alternatim practice as part of the liturgy,

specifically the verset, referring to the Obras de msica by Antnio de Cabezn, published by his son

Hernando in 1578 as proof of this fact(Speer, 1958).In a later study, in discussing musical practices current in

the context of liturgy in Spain in the 17th century, and based on a number of sources of the time (CeroneEl

melopeo y maestroand NasarreEscuelamsica,amongst others), Bernadette Nelson continued research into the

integration of the verso for organ into psalms and canticles by means of alternatim performance (Nelson,1994).The longer moments during which the clergy moved from one place to another were also accompanied

by instrumental music.In discussing the particularities of the situation in Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries,

Kenneth Kreitner emphasized, apart from the organ, the presence of groups of instrumentalists in the

performance of sacred music, whether in processions or inside the cathedral. During the course of the 16th

century various instrumental ensembles were established in some of the main Spanish cathedrals (Seville,

Toledo, Huesca and others).In many cases in his study, Kreitner stresses the important roles of the winds

(shawms, sackbuts, recorders, curtails,and other instruments)(Kreitner, 1992).


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Music Manuscripts 48 & 242-The Instrumental Works of Jacques Buus and

AntnioCarreira

In what regards the research on music manuscripts 48 and 242 from Coimbra Library, through the study of

concordances and copying processes, Owen Rees has been able, in many cases, to locate the prints that wereused for many of the pieces that were copied in both of them (Rees, 1995).The Table 1 gives a list of the chief

prints used by the copyists in manuscripts 48 and 242, based on Rees(1995)work (see Table 1).

Table1

List of Some of the Main Prints Used in the Copying of MM 48 and MM 242

Netherlandish publications Italian publications Spanish publications

Publisher Date Publisher Date Publisher Date

MM 48 Susato1546

1546GardaneScotto

153915471543

MM 242

PhalseSusatoWaelrant&Laet

1554

15541555

15551547

1547

[1556]

[1556]

Dorico15531553

Juan de Len 1555

In what concerns music manuscript 242, the recomposed versions of Buusricercari from his Libro

primoare interspersed with tentosandfantasiasby the Portuguese composer AntnioCarreira and tientosby

Antnio de Cabezn.As regards MM 242, it was Kastner who chose and applied both terms to the several

pieces attributed to Carreira transcribed and published in his Antologia de organistas. The reasons for this

terminological difference are underlined in this edition, in which he explains his method of transcription, notingthat, for a period of time, he believed in the difference between the two genres, pointing out that the tentowas a

polythematic genre and thefantasiaa monothematic one. However, later, as a result of further research on 16th

century iberian instrumental sources, he rejected this distinction, arguing that, as regards keyboard music: the

Fantasiaand the Tentoare nearly always the same thing (Kastner, 1969).Later, in discussing this same subject,

Almonte Howell Jr. raised the question of performance, arguing that:

There is in fact no essential structural difference between the works called fantasiaby Sancta Maria and tientoby

other keyboard composers: perhaps the difference in terminology arose from whether the work was a model for

improvisation or a composition to be played as written. (Howell, 1967)

It should also be borne in mind that there are no stylistic and formal differences between the tientoand the

fantasiain the instrumental works included in VenegassLibro de Cifra. In fact, this distinction is only made in

the titles of the works, given that in Venegass book the term fantasia is always associated with the term

vihuela (fantasia de vihuela) (Angls, 1984).It should be noted the attribution of some of the works in MM

242to specific composers is problematic, given the abbreviated forms of the authors names found at the

beginning of them. That is to say, in only four cases in which the name Carreira,or its convincing abbreviated

form, is given (A car; carreira;Acarreira) do we know that these pieces are by the Portuguese composer (see

Table 2). The others have merely ca or A. c., which couldapply to either AntnioCarreiraor Antonio de

Cabezn. Only once, through concordance, is it certainly known that a work is by Cabezn(piece n 13see


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Table 2), since it appears also in HenestrosasLibro de Cifra Nueva attributed to Antonio (Antonio de

Cabezn). All the instrumental pieces in the initial part of MM 242 associated with the abbreviations ca or

ac therefore deserve further analytical study.As a result of his analytical studies of the music, Kastner

suggested that, with the exception mentioned above, all the works with the inscription ca were very probably

by AntnioCarreira. In his study and edition of the music he even attributed some of them to this composer

(Kastner, 1969).In 1992, through the study of Carreiras family genealogy Rui Vieira Nery established the

difference between three composers with the name AntnioCarreira. In the first place there is AntnioCarreira,

O Velho, supposedly the composer under discussion. Then there is Frey AntnioCarreira, his son, and

AntnioCarreiraMouro, O Moo, supposedly O Velhos nephew (Nery, 1992).Finally, Joo Pedro

dAlvarenga has discussed the attributions to the two Carreiras, father and son, based on a set of sacred vocal

polyphonic works in the manuscript sourceLivro de S.Vicente(P-Lf FSVL 1P/H-6)(Alvarenga, 2005).Further

comparative analysis of these works could throw much light on the question of authorship.

Table 2

Works by AntnioCarreirasWith the InscriptionCa/A.cin MM 242 and Authorship Attributions by Rees and

Kastner1

Folios N* Inscription in ms. Work title given by KastnerAuthorship attributionby Rees

Authorship attributionby Kastner

5v-6 4 A. car. Tento a Quatro em F AntnioCarreira AntnioCarreira

6-7v 5 Ca. Primeiro Tento a Quatro em Sol attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

7v-8v 6 Ca. Segundo Tento a Quatro em Sol attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

8v 7A. c. sobrec que la

lavarej

Tento a Quatro sobre o Vilancico

Conqu la lavarattrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

9-9v 8 CarreiraPrimeira Fantasia a Quatro de 8

TomAntnioCarreira AntnioCarreira

9v-10 9 secunda pars da salve docego(Cabezn?) docego(Cabezn?)

10-11v 10 Ca. Tento a Quatro em R attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira11v-12v 11 Ca Terceiro Tento a Quatro em Sol attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

12v-3 12 Ca Tento a Quatro de 2 Tom attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

13-13v 13 Ca. Tiento a cuatro de primero tono Antnio de Cabezn Antnio de Cabezn

14-14v 14 Cano Cano a Quatroglosada Carreira?

15-6 15 Ca.Tento a Quatro sobre um Tema de

Canoattrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

16-18 16 Carreira?

28v-9 23Segunda Fantasia a Quatro de 8

TomCarreira?

29-29v 24 Ca. Fantasia a Quatro em L-R attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

29v-30v 25 Ca. Quarto Tento a Quatro em Sol attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

30v-31v 26 Ca Outro Tento a Quatro de 8 Tomsobre um Tema de Cano

attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

31v 27 Ca. Fantasia a Quatro em R attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

39v-40v 34 CaTerceira Fantasia a Quatro de 8

Tomattrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

40v 35 Ca Fantasia a Quatro de 1 Tom attrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

1The numbering (*) and authorship attributions (Rees) are from the Inventory by Owen ReesRees, Polyphony in Portugal326-337; the authorship attributions (Kastner) and title attributed are from the Inventory by Santiago KastnerKastner, LosManuscritos Musicales ns 48 y 242 de la Biblioteca General de la Universidad de Coimbra in Anuario Musical V (1950), 87-93.


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(Table 2 continued)

Folios No. Inscription in ms. Work title given by KastnerAuthorship attributionby Rees

Authorship attributionby Kastner

111v 117 Fantasia a Quatro de 4 Tom Carreira?

112 118 A. carreira Tento com CantusFirmus a Cinco AntnioCarreira AntnioCarreira

112v-3 119 Ave Maria Ave Maria, a Quatro Carreira?

113-4 120Sextitoni.

A. car.Sexti Toni, Fantasia a Quatro AntnioCarreira AntnioCarreira

114v-5 121 Tento a Quatro de 7 Tom Carreira?

131-4 140 Ca atrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

135-6v 141 Carreira?

139v 147 Quartus tonus. ca. QuartusTonus, Fantasia a Quatro atrib. Carreira AntnioCarreira

140 148 Carreira?

140-40v 149 Carreira?

The Score-Format and the Function of Music Manuscripts 48 & 242

The function of these two Coimbra manuscripts in score format is one of their most intriguingaspects.Both Kastner and Rees, in their respective studies, and also Bernadette Nelson, have made suggestions

in this regard(Kastner, 2005). The opinions of Kastner and Rees are different, in that the former erroneously

took into account the possibility of performing the music from the manuscripts, while the latter rejects this,

considering instead that they were made for the purpose of study.Although they do not refer specifically to

musical performance, Kastners words on this subject imply a practical purpose for the score:The whole book

is in organ score format, with four or more staves, in accordance with Spanish and Portuguese use. Both this

book and the other one contain works already known from their printed tablature versions, which leads one to

suppose that the musicians at Santa Cruz preferred, perhaps for ease of reading, the music to be in organ score

rather than tablature. It is a merely practical question as to whether one finds the simultaneous reading of fouror five different clefs easier than that of tablature with its dots and dashes2. For his part, Owen Rees points out

the imprecision in the copying of both manuscripts, a fact that makes the instrumental performance of these

works unviable: Study of the vocal transcriptions in MM 242 and MM 48 suggests, however, that the scribes

who copied them did not have performance in mind. Quite simply, a great deal of the music in the two books is

copied in so inaccurate a fashion as to make the copies all but useless to a player. Very often the scribes

committed rhythmic errors, as a result of which the parts are unsynchronised, often for substantial sections of a

piece. Further than this, the way in which the principal scribe reacted to such errors when he noticed them

provides clear evidence regarding his concerns-which were certainly not those of a keyboard player-while

compiling the books(Rees, 1995). For her part, following Rees path and as a result of her study on the

chansonsof Crecquillon and Clemens non Papa, Nelson reinforced even more the study aspect of these twosources, based on the importance that Franco-Flemish models had in the formal and stylistic assimilation of the

music by the friars.As I will show further on, the didactic conception of Rees and Nelson are complemented by

the possibilities I will suggest, arising from the fact that a large part of this study of form and language is based

2 Kastner, Los Manuscritos Musicales, 80 Todo el libro est en partitura de rgano a cuatro o ms pautados,segnusanzaespaola y portuguesa. Tanto este tomo como el otrocontienen obras que yaconocemos de suversinen cifra impresa,lo que nos hacesuponer que los taedores de Santa Cruz preferan, quiz para mayor comodidad de lectura, la solfa en partituracorriente de rgano a la tabladura de cifra. Es una mera cuestin de prctica encontrar ms fcil la lecturasimultnea de cuatro ocinco claves distintas que la de la cifra con sus puntos y rasguillos.


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onthericercariof BuusLibro primo.

It is first necessary to consider the relationship between score format and the idea of the study of

counterpoint in the 16th century.One of the musicologists who worked most on this subject was Edward

Lowinsky, especially in his two essays On the Use of Scores by Sixteenth-Century Musicians(Lowinsky,

1948)and Early Scores in Manuscript (Lowinsky, 1960).Beginning from the research carried out by Otto

Kinkeldey(1968), Lowinsky points out the fact that the use of score format was a relatively usual practice

during the 16th century, intended principally for study (Lowinsky, 1948). To this may also be added the fact

that the gradual freeing of musical composition from the use of a cantus priusfactus, allowing the use of free

counterpoint, made the task of the composer, while usingcartelle (erasable tablets), much more difficult

(Owens, 1997) 3 , indispensable for the composition of polyphony as they had been.In fact, imitative

counterpoint in the absence of a cantus priusfactusis not so obvious a procedure, in that a reference melody as

a basis is lacking.If, on the other hand, the voices are arranged in score format, it is much easier for the

composer to relate vertically the imitative points.As Lowinsky pointed out, this method was also used, both as a

means for the exercise of compositional techniques, or as a transitional phase, preceding the intavolatura, or asa help in musical direction (Lowinsky, 1948). Its function was, thus, similar to that of a study

score.Nevertheless, all the copies in both the manuscripts from Coimbra contain numerous errors of all kinds,

most of them arising from the incorrect vertical alignment of the voices, which makes performance from them

impossible. As we observed, many copies are truncated or contain indications that the copyists include as they

continue their work.The fact that they were intended for study and the desire to intervene directly in the

compositions being copied is clear.From our research, this occurs above all in the seven ricercariby Buus,

which are recomposed in the first part of MM 242.

The Recompositions of SevenRicercariFrom the libro primoby Jacques Buus in Music

Manuscript 242It is important to note, as aone of our research results, that not all the ricercarifrom theLibro primoare

recomposed in MM 242.Of the ten extant in MM 48 and which make up the entirety of Gardanes original

publication, only seven appear in the second source, namely ricercarinos. I, II, IV, VI, VIII, IX, and X, there

being no obvious reason for only these having been copied.Indeed, whether motivically or modally, there are

no real differences between the three ricercari, nos. III, V, and VII, which are not recomposed, and the other

seven which are. The positioning of these seven ricercariis another matter of note.It should be borne in mind

that these works are found amongst the first 21 copied in MM 242, a source that, according to Reess inventory

(Rees, 1995), includes 266 pieces.As we observed, there isa didactic character in these copies and

recompositions, found at the beginning of the manuscript. In reality, MM 242 is a kind of laboratory ofmusical experiments, especially as regards the learning of counterpoint and the theoretical assimilation of the

stylistic rules concerning instrumental performance.

3 Jessie Ann Owens, Composers at Work-The Craft of Musical Composition 1450-1600 (New York-Oxford, 1997), 75-77: Aworking definition of a tablet is an object with a smooth surface on which something can be written and then erased. The terms forthe tablets give valuable clues about their appearance While some are simply called tablets ( tablets, tabella, tavola, tabula),others are known by their substance (ardoyse, schiffer stein, slate) or by the property of erasability. Lippius term (later used alsoby Walther) was palimpsestuscompositorius; a palimpsest is a surface from which the original writing has been erased and newwriting added. In fact, all of the surviving tablets with either blank staves or musical notation are made of stone, specificallyslate.


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Another important result arising from this investigation has to do with the possibility of knowing which

source was used in order to make the copies of the ricercariin MM 242.It is very probable that it was MM 48,

through certain data that may be further refined, especially a particularity of the copy of theRicercareOttavo.In

MM 242, in the first system of f.23v in the first bars of the piece, recomposing the music and preparing for a

cut of 10 bars which occurs already in bar 9, the copyist transferred the beginning of the Tenorvoice to the

Altus(see Figures 1 and 2, pp. 10-11).

Figure 1.MM 48, f.70r (beginning ofRicercareottavo).


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Figures 2.MM 242, f.23v (beginning of the recomposition ofRicercareottavo).

This is, therefore a piece whose recompositionoccurs right from the beginning, with a section cut from bar

9 (see Figures 1 and 2).


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Figure 1.Ricercareottavo: MM 48, original version, bb. 1-19

(beginning, with excised section between bold bar lines)

Figure 2.Ricercareottavo: MM 242, recomposed version, bb. 1-9

(beginning, with the point of excision indicated by a bold bar line)

A similar process, related to the recomposition of the opening part of the ricercareterzo, occurs in MM 48.

This fact reinforces the argument that MM 242 was very probably copied from MM48 and not from the print,

in separate parts.Owen Rees analysed it in detail. Ricercareterzobeing found at ff. 77r-79v of MM 48, it is

curious to note that it was at the end of this last folio that the copyist proceeded to attempt his recomposition of

the beginning of the work.It would seem, to judge by similar facts, that he did so on the basis of its previous

copy in score format. This reinforces the argument that MM 48 was with great probability the source for the


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recompositions of Buusricercariextant in MM 242 (Rees, 1995). As occurs in the remaining six ricercariby

Buus in MM 242, the version of the Ricercareottavois a truncated variant, abbreviated and with recomposed

sections, as may be seen by comparison with the original version found in MM 48.We may thereforesuggest

that the versions found in MM 242 arose from copies made on the basis of MM 48 that were in the meantime

cut and recomposed so as to shorten them.This hypothesiscan also be supportedby the didactic function

associated with both manuscripts.

Let us now look at the recompositions of the ricercariin MM 242, which, in different ways, are the object

of two kinds of alterations with regard to the originals copied in MM 48.It should be noted immediately that

none of these seven pieces is found in MM 242 in exactly the same version as in MM 48, all of them being

modified essentially in order to shorten their duration.The two kinds of changes are added written glosas, and

cuts and recomposed small sections.As far as glosas are concerned, the instrumental character of the

manuscript is immediately confirmed by them.However, this is not a performing manuscript, taking into

account the occasional vertical misalignment of the parts, which obviously precludes their performance from

the manuscript.But the glosa, which is written and is in itself an essential point worthy of analysis, does notattempt to cover the entire musical discourse, but occurs occasionally as an instruction to counterpoint students

concerning the stylistic nature of a hypothetical instrumental performance of the music.In spite of the

impossibility of instrumental performance directly from these manuscripts, one cannot ignore the fact that the

art of the glosais, essentially, evidence of the complementary nature of composition/study and performance4.

Stylistically, the written glosa follows the theoretical-practical precepts of some of the main 16th-century

Iberian musicians and theoreticians, such as Fray Juan Bermudo (1555), LuysVenegas de Henestrosa (1557),

Fray Thomas de Sancta Maria (1565), and Diego Ortiz (1553). In general terms, according to this theoretical

corpus, in an instrumental performance the glosa should be distributed in a measured fashion, without

exaggeration, in order not to alter excessively the original musical text.And in the specific case of Bermudo, the

practice of glossing is expounded in theory with several restrictions, such as it only being able to gloss old

works as a way of lightening their antiquity.

El taedor sobre todas las cosastengaunaviso: y es, que al poner la Musica no heche glosas, sino de la manera que esta

puntado: se ha de poner. Si la Musica de la leyvieja por supesadumbre avia menester glosar: la de estos tiempos no

tienenecessidad.(Ortiz, 1553)

The author even adds that glossing works by composers of his time, such as Morales or Figueroa, would

be the daring act of an ignorant or mediocre person wishing to correct that which it is not possible to correct.

No se yo como puede escapar untaedor (poniendo obras de excelentes hombres) de mal criado, ygnorante, y atrevido:

si las glosa. VieneunChristobal de Morales, que es luz de Espaaen la Musica, y un Bernardino de Figueroa, que es nico

enabilidades, y sobre estudiogastanmuchotiempoencomponerun motete, y uno que no sabe canto llano (porque un dia supoponer las manosen el organo) se lo quiereenmendar.

5

As we observed, MM 242 provides us, then, with written instructions that allow the scribe to exercise

4Nelson, The Chansons of Thomas Crecquillon and Clemens non Papa, 176: This process of intabulation and ornamentedadaptation would have continued to have existed as an essential part of the keyboard players training schedule, influencing bothhis compositional and his improvisatory practices.5 I do not know how a performer, playing the works of excellent men, could not be called rude, ignorant and daring if he variesthem. There is Cristobal de Morales, who is the light of Spain, or Bernardino de Figueroa, who stands alone in skill, and theywork for a long time on the composition of a motet, and someone comes along not knowing chant (because one day he decided toplay the organ) and decides to amend them.[RISM, 1555] f. Lxxxiiii v.


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himself in the secrets of musical composition.On the other hand, these instructions suggest what the stylistic

processes in instrumental performance would have been. In particular, in the context of these ricercariby Buus,

the occurrence of examples of written glosasis tiny if we take into account the huge length of the works.One

might, without stretching very far, interpret this restraint on the part of the scribe as the slow blossoming of a

course of study in strict observance of the precepts put forward by the theoreticians.In analysing the various

stylistic types of glosaover the course of these works, one stands out,the most common (see Figure 3).It is a

rhythmic figuration in smaller note values (quarter-notes) which is variation on a melodic progression by

conjunct steps.

Figure 3.Ricercareottavo: system from the left: MM 48, original version, b. 57;

system from the right: MM 242, recomposed version, b. 47 (glosavariation by conjunct steps)

This is one of the most basic glosaformulas proposed by Sancta Maria (1565).It is also found repeatedly,

whether in the glosadosand other works of the Libro de cifranueva,or in the style of writing in the pieces in

the Obras de msicaby Antonio de Cabezn(1578).Another glosatype that occurs in these copies is the

ascending melodic progression to join two notes at the distance of a perfect fourth or a perfect fifth (see Figure

4, p. 13).

Figure 4.Ricercareottavo: system from the left: MM 48, original version, bb. 607-608; system from the right: MM 242,

recomposed version, bb. 360-361 (glosaperfect 5th in an ascending melodic progression)

There occur at times in the copies of the ricercari, though far less, examples of glosasof greater extension, covering

two, three or even more bars. This is always an exception to the rule which nonetheless shows how aware the scribe was of

extended glosaformulas as a basic principal of instrumental performance (see Figure 5, p. 17).

Many of the examples of glosasin these recompositions are found within cadences, once again with the

same stylistic formats proposed by Sancta Maria in hisArte de taer fantasia(see Figure 6, p. 17).

With regard to the cuts made in the versions of Buusricercariin MM 242, we noticed that they increase as

the pieces are copied from MM 48 (see Table3, p. 18).


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Figure 5.Ricercaredecimo: upper system: MM 48, original version, bb.

112-114; lower system: MM 242, recomposed version, bb. 105-106 (glosa)

Figure 6.Ricercarenono: upper system: MM 48, bb. 37-9; lower system: MM 242,

bb. 37-39 (glosawithin a cadence)

Table3

Position of the Copies in MM 242, Cuts and Composed and Recomposed Bars

Ricercare Number (inRees Inventory)

folios n. bb.MM 48

n. bb.MM 242

n. cuts Total of bb. cut Total of bb. composed &recomposed

Nono 3 ff. 3r-5r 381 387 0 0 6

Decimo 16 ff. 16r-18r 497 463 2 50 16

Primo 17 ff. 18v-20r 454 348 1 115 9

Secondo 18 ff. 20r-21v 517 380 5 143 6

Quarto 19 ff. 21v-23v 437 334 4 111 8

Ottavo 20 ff. 23v-25r 639 392 12 258 11

Sexto 21 ff. 25r-26v 645 339 11 314 8


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Finally, as one of our last research data, one must also take into account the smaller number of bars that

were composed during the course of the making of these seven copies, in comparison with the rather large

number of bars that were cut (see Table 3).The nature of these recomposed passages is very clear.They are

short bridges placed in a cut point, joiningtwo excerpts of music.They also merit analytical attention.In the first

place it is important to note their clearly instrumental quality, an undeniable characteristic, already present in

the only composed section of theRicercaredecimo(see Figure 7).

Figure 7.Ricercaredecimo, MM 242: recomposed version, bb. 65-80 (composed section).

One notes the figurative rhythmic articulation in crotchets,which contrasts with a musical discourse that

develops uniformly on the basis of a minim-based tempo. The semibreve tactuswith a rhythmic movement

regulated by the minim is, moreover, a characteristic common to the 10 ricercariof BuusLibro primo.If one

takes into account the stylistic question, one notes that this section is a bridge of notably instrumental

characteristics, originating from someone who, in composing it, was thinking of the practical aspect of its

performance, leaving implicit a rhythmic articulation prefiguring the glossed style.One may also state that, as

Rees noted in relation to the greater part of the compositional processes of the copyists of MM 48 and 242, thegrasp of counterpoint displayed is poor, resulting in some serious errors (Rees, 1995).For example, in the first

two beats of bar 31 of the recomposed version of the Ricercaresexto, there are parallel fifths between the

Superiusand theAltus.This error in counterpoint in the small recomposed bridge passage of only three bars bb.

30-32 is the more serious in that the two lower voices stop in bar 31, resulting in greater prominence for the

parallel fifths (see Figure 8).

Others amongst the basic characteristics of the compositional stance of the copyist have to do with his

position as a student with regards to the pieces by Buus.In this regard, he does not only insert original material,

but also recomposes and repeats certain bars which are, therefore, used again.Such a situation occurs, for


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example, in the only addition to the final part of theRicercarenono(see Figure 9).

Figure 8.Riceraresexto, MM 242: recomposed version, bb. 30-32 (parallel fifths).

Figure 9.Ricercarenono:MM 242: recomposed version, bb. 369-376 (composition, recomposition and repetition).

Note that the sub-section between bars 375 and 377 of the insertion between bars 372 and 377 is a

repeated version with a recomposed bar (375) of the three bars immediately preceding the cut, that is, bars

369-371 (see Figure 9).

Conclusions

Music Manuscripts 48 & 242 are living testimonies of instrumental practice in Portugal during the

mid-sixteenth century. All the aspects considered in this analysis of the compositional processes reinforce the

very particular identity of these manuscripts, i.e., its functions as written records of the consolidation ofinstrumental formal models on the basis of the intensive copying of polyphonicworks.The ricercariof theLibro

primo(1547) of Jacques Buusare precisely at the centre of this process. Copied all ten ricercariin manuscript

48, and seven of them recomposed in the first part of manuscript 242, they served as models for both, the music

composition learning processes and performing practice didactic, of the friars of the Santa Cruz Monastery in

Coimbra.Buus recomposed ricercariare also related to the development of the Portuguese keyboard tentoand

fantasia(as Kastnerwould christen these works) testified by the instrumental works of AntnioCarreira, the

leading Portuguese organ composer of the 16th century.

In particular, manuscript 242 is also a living witness to the use of score format as a didactic tool, by means


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of which sections were cut from works, small excerpts recomposed and written variations added. In this sense,

MM 242 reinforces the knowledge we have today about the use of the score format during the 16th century as a

study support for composition, music theory and instrumental performing models, and not a written tool which

could be used as a direct instrumental performing support. The vertical unsynchronised alignment of the parts

of several pieces in these manuscripts testifies to this idea, given the fact that, as a result,keyboard performance

would be practically impossible to achieve.

Finally, the seven recomposed versions of Buusricercarifrom hisLibro primoin the first part of MM

242, served as a kind of experimental composition laboratory. Following the theorists precepts, principally

Bermudo and Sancta Maria, the friar(s) applied glosapatterns to these recomposed sections, as well as reduced

the gigantic size of the original ricercari, turning them more close to the keyboard tentodimensions. The short

bridges they composed are stylistic exercises in bringing together different sections of music and examples of

the use of pre-existent music material.

Continued research into the content and specificity of the function of music manuscripts 48 &242 will

certainly bring to light in the future new facts, essential for the study of instrumental music in Portugal duringthe 16th century.

References

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Beecher, D.,&Gillingham, B.(Eds.). (1984).Jacques BuuRicercari a quattrovoci Libro primo 1547(Vols. 1-2). Ottawa,

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Bermudo, J. (1555),Declaracin de instrumentos musicales. Osuna. [RISM, 1555].

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The Recompositions of Buus’(1547)RicercariFrom His Libro primo…in Manuscript P-Cug MM 242 and...

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