Medieval Gregorian Chant

This is an original leaf from a 15th century Gregorian chant. This musical sheet was executed by hand in manuscript calligraphy on animal parchment. The music and text (six lines written in rounded gothic script) are written in black ink, on a five-line-stave, with headings and rubrics in red. This leaf is related to a series of choirbooks attributed to the Master of the Cypresses (Pedro da Toledo?) who illuminated 20 Choirbooks now in the Cathedral of Seville. The two illuminated initials extend the length of the five-line stave and are in burnished gold with an interior floral motif on blue ground, resting on an outer rectangular red ground with a delicate floral motif; then extending into the margin in an elegant rinceaux-style border of vines adorned with gold bezants! One calligraphic initial heightened with yellow. The illuminated R” begins Psalm 89:14: “Repleti?” ( We are filled in the morning with thy mercy: and we have rejoiced. Alleluia). The illuminated “E” begins John 15:5: ” Ego sum?” ( I am the vine, you are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit).

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