An Editorial Transnotation of the Manuscript Capella Sistina 51 [1]: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Città del Vaticano: Liber Missarum

Abstract

This edition of the Vatican manuscript Cappella Sistina 51 (hereafter Vat CS 51) is the end product of an editorial process in text underlay which is founded on the view that a performance and scribal nexus existed in the MS tradition of the period. The present work, therefore, does not claim to be a modern-notation derivative of composers' intentions with these being determined by comparative textual criticism. While this rigorous scholarly apparatus is an important element in establishing, for example, genealogical relationships between concordant readings, our efforts to establish prototypal meanings sometimes fail to acknowledge an apparent variable performance practice. The focus of this edition, therefore, is concerned specifically with Vat CS 51 as one representation of possible performance conventions. The present edition is one interpreted version of these realised in the broader context of scribal process rather than assumed compositional practice - albeit substantially removed in time and place. The very act of representing choir-book transmissions in score format, or with measure lines drawn either through or between staves, for example, is indicative of this historical separation. The present volume contains the first four items in Vat CS 51, and seeks to disseminate the repertoire of the MS more widely and in a notated form more accessible to modern musicians. It is hoped that this repertoire will be thus opened to wider investigation and performance - this being the ultimate purpose of this publication.