Music : Matthew Holmes, mixed consort recorder parts

Music

Introduction:In the 1960s, Ian Harwood established that nine music manuscripts in Cambridge University Library were all copied by Matthew Holmes, who is recorded as the Precentor at Christ Church in Oxford from 1588, a post with responsibility for instructing the choristers in singing and playing musical instruments (see Harwood (1963, 1964 and 2005)). In 1597, Holmes moved to London to take up the same job at Westminster Abbey, which he held until his death in 1621. Four of the manuscripts, with the shelf marks <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-00002-00011/1'>MS Dd.2.11</a>, <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-00005-00078-00003/1'>MS Dd.5.78(3)</a>, <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-00009-00033/1'>MS Dd.9.33</a> and <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-NN-00006-00036/1'>MS Nn.6.36</a>, form an overlapping chronological series largely devoted to tablature for the solo renaissance lute (MS Dd.2.11 is also a major source of tablature for solo bandora - over half of the music known for the instrument - and MS Nn.6.36 also includes music for lyra viol and keyboard). Facsimiles of all four of these manuscripts of lute music are available on the Cambridge Digital Library. A fifth manuscript of the nine that Holmes copied, with the shelf mark Dd.4.23, comprises 86 pieces for solo cittern copied c. 1595 that is the largest and most important surviving source of English music for this instrument. The remaining four manuscripts by Holmes are books containing parts for four of the six instruments of the mixed, or English, consort - which comprised lute, cittern, bandora, flute or recorder, treble viol and bass viol - probably copied when he was in Oxford. These part books bear the shelf marks MS Dd.3.18, MS Dd.5.20, MS Dd.5.21 and MS Dd.14.24 and include mixed consort parts for lute, bass viol, recorder and cittern, respectively. One of these - the recorder part - is reproduced here, and the others part books will be added to the Digital Library in the future.No part books copied by Holmes are known for bandora and treble viol, the other two instruments of the mixed consort, but they are presumed to have existed and are now lost. It has been assumed that Holmes used the consort part books in his teaching of the choristers at Christ Church and then possibly the choristers at Westminster. Alternatively he may have collected and copied the solo and consort music into the nine manuscripts as a reference collection and archive as a life-long preoccupation.Although housed together at Cambridge University Library and all copied by Holmes' hand, it is likely that not all the four part books are from the same set of consort parts. Two of the books match exactly in size and dimensions (275 x 210 mm) and were bound together at some stage, although they are currently bound separately. The verso of the first folio of each bears the related inscriptions 'The Recorder P[ar]te' in MS Dd.5.21 and 'The Base Vyall P[ar]te' in MS Dd.5.20, followed by a short list of the same ten items from amongst the contents of each (plus an eleventh item added to the list in <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(12);return false;'>MS Dd.5.21</a>). These similarities suggest that Dd.5.20 and Dd.5.21 are from the same set of consort parts, even though the music contained in them differ considerably and is not in the same sequence. Only three-quarters of the consort parts in Dd.5.21 are also in Dd.5.20.The ninety-four items in MS Dd.5.21 are all mixed consort parts with eighty-eight for recorder plus six parts for 'treble violan', a term probably referring to either treble viol or treble violin: five are headed 'Treble Violan' on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(14);return false;'>2v</a> that are presumed to have been copied into the recorder part book in error. The sixth is one of two parts for Nightingale on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(28);return false;'>9v</a>, probably one for treble viol and the other for recorder. The music for each item in MS Dd.5.21 is mostly preceded by a G2/treble clef and can be played on a tenor recorder. Sixteen items are preceded by a C clef [on middle C]: five on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(16);return false;'>3v</a>, one on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(21);return false;'>6r</a>, one on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(26);return false;'>8v</a>, one on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(27);return false;'>9r</a>, one on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(28);return false;'>9v</a>, three on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(30);return false;'>10v</a>, one on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(31);return false;'>11r</a>, two on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(32);return false;'>11v</a> and one on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(34);return false;'>12v</a>. In these cases, recorder and flute are given as alternatives in the inventory. The description of the contents of MS Dd.5.21 that accompanies the digital facsimile shows the range of genres of mixed consort music typical of the English repertory from the 1580s onwards and includes variations on Italian grounds and street songs [6], pavans [31], galliards [22], almaines [1], jigs [6] and ballad tunes [14], many also known from settings for lute or other instruments. Warwick Edwards commented on the accuracy of the consort parts suggesting they were difficult to perform because 'The recorder parts are ... of poor quality, and are sometimes downright corrupt'. One explanation would be that the parts were arranged from originals by the student choristers who played them and Holmes collected and copied them into his recorder part book. The music in MS Dd.5.21 is mostly anonymous, although some items bear composer ascriptions, or ascriptions are found in the parts for the same music in other Holmes part books, or in other sources. The major figures of the second half of the sixteenth century represented are: Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder, Nicholas Strogers, John Johnson, Richard Allison, Anthony Holborne and John Dowland, presumably indicating that they were the composers of the original compositions rather than the mixed consort settings (apart from Richard Allison, who published a book of consort lessons in 1609 - see below). In addition, twenty-two items are ascribed to 'R Read'/'R R' (plus two more in the other Holmes part books as well as four orpharion trios; see Spring (2000)) and three ascribed to 'R Nicolson'/'Nic'/'N' in Dd.5.21 (plus one more in another Holmes part book). These are presumed to have been composed or arranged for mixed consort by Richard Read, a singingman at Christ Church, Oxford between 1588 and 1617, graduating as B. Mus at Christ Church on 7 July 1592 - and Richard Nicholson, organist of Magdalen College, Oxford from 1595 until 1638. Both were at Christ Church at the same time as Holmes, and may have participated in the performance of the mixed consort music in Holmes' part books.Four other sets of part books for mixed consort are known, all incomplete, and all with parts designated for a flute instead of recorder. Three are printed collections: The First Book of Consort Lessons by Thomas Morley, published in 1599 [parts for cittern, bandora, flute, treble viol and bass viol survive], with a revised edition in 1611 [parts for bandora, flute and treble viol survive], and Lessons for Consort by Philip Rosseter, published in 1609 [parts for cittern and flute, and fragments of five items for lute survive]. The only manuscript set is the Walsingham Consort manuscripts, copied around 1588 by a young Daniell Bacheler. Only one other mixed consort part book is known, a book of bandora mixed consort parts interspersed with solos for lyra viol inscribed 'T B' on the cover, probably indicating Thomas Browne (d. 1641) as the original owner, and in recent times in the library of Lord Braye but now in the The Robert Spencer Collection at the Royal Academy of Music. In addition, a number of orphan consort parts for lute are found in a variety of sources for solo lute.John H. Robinson, Lute SocietyNote on the description of contents:Each item is accompanied by a list of references to manuscripts containing identical or closely similar settings of the music, for another instrument. Items, classmarks or lists preceded by 'cf.' refer to manuscripts that contain settings for solo instruments that are not part of the mixed consort. Classmarks for Cambridge University Library classmarks (either 'Two-letter' or 'Additional') are given in short form; all others are given in full. Where an online catalogue record or digital facsimile exists, a link is embedded in the classmark. References in these notes to Morley, Rosseter and Walsingham relate to the surviving parts of the other three mixed consort sources (some of which are now available online), as follows: <ul><li>Morley: Thomas Morley, The First Booke of Consort Lessons (London, 1599; 2nd ed. 1611), for mixed consort <ul><li>cittern part (1599): Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce MM 410</li><li>bandora part (1599): <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ReverseLookup/278903'>Oxford, Christ Church, MS Mus 806</a></li><li>flute part (1599): <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ReverseLookup/278904'>Oxford, Christ Church, MS Mus 805</a></li><li>bass viol part (1599): <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ReverseLookup/278902'>London, British Library, MS K.1.i.21</a></li><li>bandora part (1611): San Marino (CA), Huntington Library, MS RB14227 </li><li>flute part (1611): London, British Library, MS K.1.i.7</li><li>treble viol part (1611): <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://rcm.koha-ptfs.co.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=22848'>London, Royal College of Music, MS II.E.40</a> and New York, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Music Division, MS Drexel 5433.5</li><li>[no copy of lute part known]</li></ul></li><li>Rosseter: Philip Rosseter, Lessons for Consort (London, 1609) <ul><li>cittern part: <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://rcm.koha-ptfs.co.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=22861'>London, Royal College of Music, MS II.E.43</a></li><li>flute part: New York, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Music Division, MS Drexel 5433.5</li><li>incomplete lute parts for nos 5-9: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Mus. 157.b.1</li><li>[no copies of treble viol, bass viol or bandora parts known]</li></ul></li><li>Walsingham: Walsingham consort books copied by Daniel Bacheler, c. 1588: <ul><li>flute, bass viol and treble viol parts: Hull, Brynmor Jones Library, MS DD HO 20/1-3</li><li>cittern part (lacking nos 25-6, 28): Oakland, Margaret Prall Music Library, Parton MS</li><li>[no copies of lute or bandora parts known]</li></ul></li></ul>