Seventeenth-century British keyboard sources

Musical Times, Autumn 2003 by Smith, David J

At source DAVID J. SMITH Seventeenth-century British keyboard sources Candace Bailey Harmonie Park Press (Warren, Michigan, 2003); xviii, 151pp; $42.50. ISBN 0 8999113 1.

This is the latest in a number of source studies of early British keyboard music to have appeared in recent years, including John Harley's two-volume British harpsichord music (Aldershot, 1992 and 1994) and Virginia Brookes's British keyboard music to c.1660 (Oxford, 1996). As with all studies of manuscript sources, it is important to define the terms of reference. The title suggests that printed sources are included, but in fact this is primarily a manuscript study. Candace Bailey is not so much interested in listing the contents of her sources, which are covered by the inventories in Brookes, but in describing them and placing them in context. She aims to provide information about the sources for which there was insufficient room in Brookes and Harley.

The difficulty with this kind of work is determining exactly what to include. Bailey's title stresses her interest in British sources of keyboard music rather than sources of British keyboard music which may have been copied elsewhere. The focus is more on manuscripts with a British provenance than on British music from the period. She limits herself to the chronological span of manuscripts copied after 1600 and before 1700. This is perhaps a little too restricting when dealing with sources for which we cannot be certain of the date: it is a pity that she did not include detailed information about manuscripts which she dates to the late sixteenth century and c.1600 in Table 2 (p.8).

Part 1 comprises a general survey of British keyboard music and its sources, beginning with a brief account of printed keyboard music and manuscripts copied before 1600. She identifies three periods. Sources from 1600-1630 tend to be large, containing a variety of music (liturgical and secular, organ and harpsichord), with technically demanding works by named composers rubbing shoulders with simpler pieces. They tend also to be retrospective, containing works by the virginalists from the previous century. In the second transitional period (1630-1670) there is a lack of attributions in the manuscripts, most pieces are much simpler, and there is a preponderance of popular tunes arranged probably by the scribes. The third period is characterised by sources which contain music either for organ, or for harpsichord, but rarely mix the two. Curiously, the periods she outlines in her introduction are slightly different (1600-1640, 1640-1660 and 1660-1700). Bailey identifies two types of manuscript: those intended for professional use, and household manuscripts compiled for educational use. This is an important distinction, since it helps to explain the change in repertory from the complicated, technically demanding pieces of the virginalists to the simpler, more straightforward works found in many of the later sources. The remainder of Part 1 is taken up with general observations about the format, notation and repertory of the sources under discussion.

Part 2 contains details of each source listed by city, library and shelfmark (though not by country, as stated in the introduction). Basic information about each source is given in tabular form, which is followed by further comment. Some sources are discussed in more detail than others, according to the extent of the current literature.

Sometimes the basic information is inconsistent: for example, information on the ruling of the staves is sometimes given (Och 1113, Och 47, Lbl Add. Ms 63852), though more often it is not. For some reason, no dimensions are given for Cnl 2.3 E58r, and there is no indication of its size. Although a general survey of sources such as this cannot hope to give a thorough description of each source, it would have been valuable to have had even more information. For example, the list could have been extended to include a summary of all physical attributes such as collation, rastration and ruling, the binding, and any inscriptions. Sometimes interesting points can be made succinctly about an aspect of a source: for example, it would have been worth noting that the five-line staves ruled on the paper in the Fitzwilliam virginal book have had an additional sixth line added. The list of composers whose works appear in a manuscript is useful, but could have contained in parenthesis the number of works each contributed to the source. This would give some indication of the importance of a manuscript to the output of an individual composer. Of course it should be said that sometimes additional information is contained in the ensuing discussion.

Bailey conveniently places a bibliography for each manuscript with its entry, and this is one of the great strengths of the book. As with any bibliographical work, the book is out of date before it is published, so there is, for example, no mention of the most recent articles on the Fitzwilliam virginal book. However, this is inevitable, and the lists of literature for these manuscripts will prove to be a valuable asset to scholars working on seventeenth-century British music manuscripts.