Period Sources of Manuscript Music for Cittern, Bandora, & Orpharion
Last updated
Sunday, April 02, 2023.
The following is a table of period manuscript (as opposed to printed and published)
sources of music for cittern, bandora, and orpharion. Currently, clicking on a title in blue will display the contents
for that manuscript in a separate window.
I hope eventually to have links to the contents for all extant manuscripts.If there are any other sources you know of that I have missed
or if you have a correction, please contact me, and I will be
more than happy to include them.
Mostly keyboard music; f.118-127 contains two pieces for gittern,
and eight pieces for four-course and one piece for five-course cittern in French tuning. [Full manuscript available online through the British Library.]
Contains music for lute and cittern
(eight pieces, French & Italian tuning),
and one keyboard piece. Cittern is chromatic, despite the use of French tuning.
MS leaves in Aristotle's De moribus, quae etica
(Paris, 1576)
France, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
F.C. Rés. 1109
post-1576
4-course
French tab
Contains music for lute, eight pieces for cittern,
and five guitar pieces.
(Grove. 2005)
Dallis Lutebook
Ireland, Dublin, Trinity College
D.3.30/I
post-1583
4-course diatonic
French tab
Contains music for lute; one untitled piece (and tuning table/fragment)
for cittern in French tuning.
Italian tuning, mostly solo pieces for 4-course, plus 3 pieces for 6-course from P. Virchi's
Il Primo Libro di Tabolatura di Citthara.
Concordance list compilied by Rainer aus dem Spring.
Mathew Holmes's cittern partbook
Great Britain, Cambridge, University Library
Dd.14.24
pre-1597
4-course chromatic
French tab
One of 4 exisiting partbooks copied by Mathew Holmes;
includes 5 solo cittern pieces, the remainder for consort. Italian tuning
Manuscript formerly (currently?) of the collection of Baron von Rothschild. A manuscript collection of song texts, songs in mensural notation, and cittern pieces (mostly allemandes), including a few 5th apart duets.
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United States of America, Chicago, Newberry Library
Case M Vm1734.5/G37
late 16th c.
6-course
French tab
Tuning identical to that used in Kargel's Toppel Cythar.
Cited in the 2001 edition of Grove as being of German provinence;
other indications (including the original notes on the MS) suggest a Silesian
provinence.
["Tablatur Buch auff der Cythar. Johannes Giorgius Hertzogk u Sachssen"]
[Germany, Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitäts-Bibliothek, Musikabteilung]
[Mus.J.3 7]
c.1592-1605
6-course
French tab
(destroyed, 1944). Updated information from the 2001 edition
of Grove. Previous edition of Grove listed the
call number as Mus.2.307.
-
Czech Republic, Brno, Státní Oblastní Archiv
Ms. G. 10,1400
late 16th c.
6-course
French tab
Listed in the 2001 edition of Grove as cited in Wolf, 1919,
p. 146 as in the library of Fürst in Dietrichstein, Mikulov. MS also contains
lute music.
Complete inventory in: Sources Manuscrits en Tablature, vol. III/2, edited by Christian Meyer (Baden-Baden & Bouxwiller: Editions Valentin Koerner, 1999) pp. 11-14.
According to the inventory, the MS contains three pieces for citterns tuned e'-d'-g-d-B-G (!) and f'#-c#-a-e-A-G (!). [These tunings are otherwise unknown and have not been verified.]
"Tablature Buch auff dem Instrument, Christianus Hertzogk zu Sachssen"
Germany, Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitäts-Bibliothek, Musikabteilung
J.307m
late 16th c.
6-course
French tab
Not listed in previous editions of Grove.
Matthew Otley's cittern book
Cambridge, Massachusettes, USA, Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library (formerly: United States of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts, library of John Ward)
MS Mus 181
begun c.1600; added to post-1650
4-course chromatic
French tab
Italian tuning. Owned in the 17th century by Matthew Otley. 39f. (73p.)
Contains compositions by John Dowland, Anthony Holborne, William
Lawes, Robert Prime, Thomas Robinson, Robert Springnell, Thomas Sturgin and
Captain Winne.
Notes by Arthur Ness:
"Purchased at Sotheby's sale of 27 June 1977. Formerly in the
possession of Lord Braye at Stanford Hall, Rugby (1887), and later acquired
for the Bibliotheca Phillippica of Sir Thomas Phillipps (d. 1872). Also
see Boetticher, p. 325, and Ward, pp. 142-58 (list of contents with
tablature incipits)."
Thomas Robinson's New Citharen Lessons, 1609 - manuscript additions
Great Britain, London, British Library
K.2.d.2
post-1609
4-course chromatic
French tab
Italian tuning; two manuscript additions: "Qui passa" and and untitled piece
Nauclerus MS
Germany, Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek
Mus. 40141
c. 1607-20
4-course
French tab
Contains music for lute and four pieces for cittern.
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Italy, Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S Pietro a Majella, Biblioteca
7664
1607-23
6-course diatonic
Italian tab
Contains music for lute and six (or seven?) pieces for "cetra".
Not listed in the older editions of Grove.
The entire ms. is inventoried in: Dinko Fabris, "Prime Aggiunte Italiane al Volume RISM B/VII - Intavolature mss. per Liuto e Chitarra" in Fontes Artis Musicae vol. 29/3, July/Sept. 1982, pp. 114-115. An article specifically on the cittern pieces in it is: Dinko Fabris, "Composizioni per 'Cetra' in uno Sconosciuto Manoscritto per Liuto del Primo Seicento" in Rivista Italiana di Musicologia, vol. XVI/2, 1981, pp. 185-205.
"Hexachord" tuning (e'-d'-g-b-c'-a)
R. Spencer's private collection, Woodford Green, Essex (England)
Not listed in Grove. A small collection of sacred and secular pieces as part of a larger diary or commonplace book belonging to Jacob Berchter.
A full facsimile edition of the Chronik is available. Please see the Modern Editions and Facsimiles page. For a downloadable facsimile of just the cittern portion, see the Music Files page.
Thomas Robinson's New Citharen Lessons, 1609 - manuscript additions
Japan, Tokyo, Nanki Music Library
BM-4540-ne
c.1629?
4-course chromatic
French tab
Italian tuning; manuscript additions. Contents dated by writing on title page verso:
"George Baker his hand and book 1629." Contains twenty-two additional pieces.
Ms. of misc. music and treatises: contains tuning charts
and 2 works for cittern, Italian tuning. See Ward, p.171-2
Boteler cittern book
Cambridge, Massachusettes, USA, Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library (formerly: United States of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts, library of John Ward)
MS Mus 179 (formerly: D.D.TW.1174 olim D.D.TW.7/2)
mid-17th c.
4-course chromatic
French tab
Italian tuning. Compiled by Sir William Boteler (d. 1656).
49f. (50p.)
Pagination includes table of contents on wrapper.
Additional notes by Arthur Ness:
"Ward purchased this manuscript at Christie's auction of 2 April
1982. Formerly Bedford, County Record Comittee, Library of the Bedfordshire
Archeological Society, Ms. D.D.TW.1174. Also see Wolfgang Boetticher,
Handschriftlich überlieferte Lauten- und Gitarrentabulaturen des 15. bis
18. Jahrhunderts, RISM B/VII (Munich, 1978), pp. 15-16, and John M. Ward,
'Sprightly & Cheerful Musick: Notes on the cittern, gittern and guitar in
16th- and 17th-century England', Lute Society Journal, 21 (1979-81), pp.
173-81 (list of titles and some tablature incipits)."
Robert Edwards' Commonplace Book
Great Britain, Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland
Ms. 9450, formerly Panmure 11
mid-17th c.
4-course diatonic
French tab
French tuning; Ms. contains works for voice,
var. instruments, keyboard, and twenty-three cittern pieces.
Online PDF edition available. See the Music Files page.
John Ridout's commonplace book
Cambridge, Massachusettes, USA, Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library (formerly: United States of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts, library of John Ward)
MS Mus 182
mid-17th c.
4-course chromatic
French tab
Italian tuning. Commonplace book owned/compiled by John Ridout,
(1608-after 1665). 166f. (311p.) Includes medical and kitchen recipes, moral observations, etc.
Ff.65-80 contain cittern tablature.
Notes by Arthur Ness: "Purchased at Sotheby's sale of 15 June 1971; formerly in the
Bibliotheca Phillippica. Boetticher, non est; Ward, pp. 183-95 (list of
titles with complete tablatures). In the hands of Ridout ("A[utograph].MS")
and others."
Millar/McAlman Ms.
Great Britain, Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland
Ms. 9477
mid-17th c.
4-course chromatic
French tab
Contains vocal music and six cittern pieces.
French tuning; pieces to be played finger-style(?).
Online PDF edition available. See the Music Files page.
The MS is mentioned briefly in Stevenson, Robert,
Music in Mexico: A Historical Survey, 1952.
More complete details are provided in Gabriel Saldívar's work,
Bibliografía Mexicana de Musicología y Musicografía, 1991.
From the few facsimiles in the latter volume, it appears that the music is for
an Italian-tuned, but diatonically fretted cittern.
According to the liner notes from the recording Aguirre,
the illustrations in the MS call for a 4-course, triple(!)-strung cittern
with a tuning in A—a fourth higher than the standard tuning
in E.
MS is not listed in the 2001 edition of Grove.
Elias Walther's music book
Germany: Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek
Mscr. Dresd. App. 1548
c. 1660
4-course chromatic
French tab
This manuscript of music was compiled by "Elias Walther, Arnstadia Thuringus" (i.e. of Thuringia).
The music is for a cittern (or gittern? or cithrinchen?) of 4 courses tuned nominally d'-g-b-e' (intervallically the same as Praetorius's second tuning for the Klein Englische Zitterlein).
Stefano Allegrini's manuscript
[private collection?]
-
1720
8c. diatonic(?)
Italian tab.
Manuscript discovered in 1975 in a chest of drawers at a monastery at Marcassu, in Balagna; associated with the Corsican cetera. While the manuscript contains the date 1720, the repertoire might be much older. The Corsican monk Stefano Allegrini compiled the manuscript to record old Corsican melodies for posterity. (Delgrossi)
Collection of the Moravian Music Foundation, Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA.
BMB 4
c. 1750
6c. chromatic
French tab
Manuscirpt is a collection of four-voice chorales and simple secular instrumental pieces for a 6-course instrument (cittern / lautenzister?) tuned (low to high) Gcegbe'. The manuscript is associated with the Moravians who came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century and may possibly belonged to the prinicipal of the girls' school (J.A. Huebner).
Online PDF facsimile available. See the Music Files page.
"Evangel Choral Buch"
Poland: Krakow, Biblioteka Jagiellonska (f
ormerly: Germany, Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek)
PL Kj Mus. Ms. 40145
1765
13 course "German cister"
-
Contents are entirely psalms and devotional items. There is an inventory in: "Berliner Lautentabulaturen in Krakau" edited by Dieter Kirsch and Lenz Meirott (Mainz: Schott, 1992) pp. 79-101 and a music sample in Wolf - "Handbuch II" 1919, pp. 143-144.
(Listing removed from the 2001 edition of Grove because it did not pertain to Renaissance cittern.)
Unica manuscript copy of Ramillete florido, 1743.
[private collection?]
-
early 18th c.
4-course
Italian tab inverted
Spanish tablature with playing instructions, sold at Sotheby's, London, 1973.
Listed (without title) in the 2001 edition of Grove as being item no.592 in catalogue
956, Maggs Bros. Ltd, London, 1974.
Manuscript is for a "cítara" with a tuning (low to high) of b a d' e'.
-
Belgium, Brussels, Conservatoire Royal de Musique
5622
18th c.
-
-
Not listed in the 2001 edition of Grove.
Sources for Bandora:
MS Title
Current Location
Library Call Number
Approx. Date
Type of Instrument
Type of Tablature
Notes
Marsh lute book
Dublin, Ireland, Marsh's library
Z.3.2.13
mid/late 16th century
7-course(?) bandora
French tab.
For details and concordances, see Nordstrom 1992. For a complete inventory of the manuscript, see John M. Ward, "The Fourth Dublin Lute Book ." LSJ XI (1969), p. 28-46.
Dallis lute book
Dublin, Ireland, Trinity College Library
D.3.30
post-1583
7-course(?) bandora
French tab.
Works for "pandora." For details and concordances, see Nordstrom 1992. For a complete inventory of the manuscript, see John M. Ward, "The Lute Books of Trinity College, Dublin: I: MS D.3.30/I. The So-Called Dallis Lute Book." LSJ IX (1967), p. 19-20 and Ward, "Additions to the Inventory of TCD Ms. D.3.30/1," LSJ XII (1970), p. 43-44.
Mathew Holmes's lute book
Great Britain, Cambridge, University Library
Dd.2.11
c. or pre-1590
7-course(?) bandora
French tab.
"Over half of the total solo works and almost all of Holborne [sic] works for bandora come from this collection." (Nordstrom 1992). For details and concordances, see Nordstrom 1992.
Königsberg manuscript
Vilnius, Lithuania, Central Library of the Lithuanian Academey of Science (formerly Preussisches Staatsarchiv, Königsberg, Msc. A 116. fol.)
285-MF-LXXIX
c. 1592-1620
7-course(?) bandora
French tab.
For details and concordances, see Nordstrom 1992.
A modern facsmile reprint with an introduction, inventory and index by Arthur Ness and John Ward is available from Editions Orphée. (Note: The "Monsieurs Allemande" on fol. 1 is misidentified as being for bandora but is actually for bass lute.)
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Great Britain, British Library
Add.31392
c.1595
7-course(?) bandora
French tab.
Contains 5 pieces. For details and concordances, see Nordstrom 1992.
Browne (formerly Braye) bandora and lyra viol book
private collection of Robert Spencer
-
c. 1600?
7-course(?) bandora
French tab.
Contains thirty-three consort lessons and seven solos. For details and concordances, see Nordstrom 1992.
Mathew Holmes's lute book
Great Britain, Cambridge, University Library
Dd.9.33
c. 1600
7-course(?) bandora
French tab.
Mostly simple settings of pieces and ballads. For complete and concordances, see Nordstrom 1992.
-
Great Britain, British Library
Add. 15117
c.1614
7-course(?) bandora
French tab.
Contains one bandora song. For details and concordances, see Nordstrom 1992.
Sources for Orpharion:
MS Title
Current Location
Library Call Number
Approx. Date
Type of Instrument
Type of Tablature
Notes
Mathew Holmes's lute (part?)book
Great Britain, Cambridge, University Library
Dd.3.18
c.1595
orpharion(s)
French tab.
Folios 54-55 and 56 contain parts for four different ensembles likely comprised of three viols and three orpharions, as evidenced by the titles "Paven orphar" (f. 54) and "W & V" (most likely "W(iers) & V(iols)," f. 55) and matching parts in Dd.5.21 ("T. orphar" and "for iij wier") and in Dd.5.20 ("for iij v and 3 orph"). None of the parts are complete; Nordstrom notes that the third (missing) orpharion part "might be in the missing bandora book and would certainly double the bass and perhaps fill out the rather sparse harmonies." (Nordstrom 1972)
Misattributed Sources:
MS Title
Current Location
Library Call Number
Approx. Date
Type of Instrument
Type of Tablature
Notes
Anthony Higgin's Commonplace Book
Great Britain, Ripon Cathedral, Chapter Library
Ms. 36 (XVIII G22)
early 17th c.
gittern (previously thought to be cittern)
French tab
(Although listed in the older edition of the Grove article,
Ward notes that the music is probably for gittern, not cittern. MS is not listed in
the 2001 edition of Grove.)
-
?
-
late 16th c.
-
-
English commonplace book, sold at Sotheby's, London, 1972.
What this MS is remains somewhat of a mystery. It is not mentioned in
the 2001 edition of Grove.
According to Tyler, Harwood claimed he had mistaken it for a cittern manuscript. (Tyler)
Bibliographical Sources:
Delgrossi, Damien. "Cetera corsica in Malta." Personal e-mail. 29 February, 2008.
Harwood, Ian and James Tyler. "Cittern." New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.
Ness, Arthur. "Ward's MSS given to Harvard." Personal e-mail to the author. 24 February, 2001. (Information also available as "Shelfmarks of some cittern and lute manuscripts at Harvard and at Mills College." LSJ XLI, 2001.)
Nordstrom, Lyle. “The Cambridge Consort Books.” JLSA V (1972), p.70-103.
Nordstrom, Lyle. Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography, No. 66: The Bandora: Its Music and Sources. Harmonie Park Press (1992). ISBN 0-89990-060-7
Tyler, James. Personal e-mail. 3 June, 2009.
Waldbauer, Ivan. The Cittern in the Sixteenth Century and its Music in France and the Low Countries. Dissertation. Harvard University (1964).
Ward, John. "Sprightly and Cheerful Musick: notes on the cittern, gittern and guitar in 16th- and 17th-century England." LSJ 21 (1979-81).
Source Citation: Hartig, Andrew. "Period Sources of Manuscript Music for Cittern." Renovata Cythara: The Renaissance Cittern Site. Ed. Andrew Hartig.
02 April 2023.
14 October 2024.
<http://www.cittern.theaterofmusic.com/manuscript/index.html>.