Period Sources of Manuscript Music for CitternLast updated Thursday, January 10, 2008. |
The following is a table of period manuscript (as opposed to printed and published) sources for cittern music. The list is derived mostly from the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians article on citterns and Sprightly and Cheerful Musick (Lute Society Journal XXI, 1979-81) by John Ward. Additional information on the three ex-Ward MSS which are now at Harvard was provided kindly by Arthur Ness, to whom I am indebted. 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.
N.B. A title in brackets denotes a lost source.
| MS Title | Current Location | Library Call Number | Approx. Date | Type of Cittern | Type of Tablature | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulliner Book | Great Britain, London, British Library | Add.30513 | post-1558 | 4c. & 5c. chromatic | French tab | Mostly keyboard music; f.118-127 contains two pieces for gittern, and eight pieces for four-course and one piece for five-course cittern (French tuning). |
| Lord Middleton's Lutebook a.k.a. Willoughby Lutebook | Great Britain, Nottingham, University Library | mi LM 16 | post-1560 | 4c. chromatic | French tab | 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 | 4c. | French tab | Contains music for lute, eight pieces for cittern,
and five guitar pieces.
Work cited in the 2005 edition of Grove. |
| Dallis Lutebook | Ireland, Dublin, Trinity College | D.3.30/I | post-1583 | 4c. diatonic | French tab | Contains music for lute; one untitled piece (and tuning table/fragment) for cittern (French tuning) |
| Walsingham consort partbook | United States of America, Oakland, Mills College | - | c.1585 | 4c. | French tab | consort partbook; Italian tuning. |
| Sammenhammer MS - "Schone Psalm und Geistliche Lieder auf der Cither" | Poland, Torun, Ksiaznica Miejska im. M. Kopernika | J.40.342-102682 | c.1590 | 4c. diatonic tuning; chromatic fretting | Italian tab | This MS was listed as lost in older editions of Grove. Although possibly for diatonic (French) tuning, the tablature indicates a chromatic fretting. For a sample page, see the following image at Andreas Michel's site, http://www.studia-instrumentorum.de. |
| Mathew Holmes cittern book | Great Britain, Cambridge, University Library | Dd.4.23 | c.1595 | 4c. & 6c. chromatic | French tab; Italian tab | Italian tuning, mostly solo pieces for 4c., plus 3 pieces for 6c. from P. Virchi's Il Primo Libro di Tabolatura di Citthara. Concordance list compilied by Rainer aus dem Spring. |
| Mathew Holmes cittern partbook | Great Britain, Cambridge, University Library | Dd.14.24 | pre-1597 | 4c. chromatic | French tab | One of 4 exisiting partbooks copied by Mathew Holmes; includes 5 solo cittern pieces, the remainder for consort. Italian tuning |
| - | ? | - | 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. |
| - | United States of America, Chicago, Newberry Library | Case M Vm1734.5/G37 | late 16th c. | 6c. | 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 | 6c. | 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 | - | late 16th c. | 6c. | 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. |
| "Tablature Buch auff dem Instrument, Christianus Hertzogk zu Sachssen" | Germany, Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitäts-Bibliothek, Musikabteilung | J.307m | late 16th c. | 6c. | French tab | Not listed in previous edition of Grove. |
| Anthony Higgin's Commonplace Book | Great Britain, Ripon Cathedral, Chapter Library | Ms. 36 (XVIII G22) | early 17th c. | - | 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.) |
| 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 | 4c. 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 | 4c. 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 | 4c. | French tab | Contains music for lute and four pieces for cittern. |
| - | Italy, Naples, Conservatorio di Musica S Pietro a Majella, Biblioteca | 7664 | 1607-23 | 6c. | Italian tab | Contains music for lute and six pieces for "cetra".
Not listed in the older edition of Grove. |
| - | R. Spenser's private collection, Woodford Green, Essex (England) | - | c.1620 | 6c. diatonic | Italian tab | - |
| Thomas Robinson's New Citharen Lessons, 1609 - manuscript additions | Japan, Tokyo, Nanki Music Library | BM-4540-ne | c.1629? | 4c. 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. |
| - | Great Britain, London, British Library | Add. 4388 | post-1653? | 4c. chromatic | French tab | 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. | 4c. 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. | 4c. 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. | 4c. 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. | 4c. 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. |
| manuscript additions to copy of J.T. Freigius, Paedagogus, 1582 | Great Britain, Cambridge, St. John's College | G.13.28 | mid-17th c. | 4c. chromatic | French tab | Italian tuning; six pieces copied from Playford 1652, except for "rock ye cradle" and "dulcina" (both prev. unknown) |
| "Método de cítara," Mexican cittern manuscript by Sebastían de Aguirre | private collection of Gabriel Saldívar | "Codice Saldivar II" | mid-17th c.? | 4c. diatonic(?) | Italian tab | 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. |
| - | Germany, Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek | Mus. 40145 | 1765 | - | - | Not listed in the 2001 edition of Grove. |
| - | - | - | early 18th c. | 4c. | Italian tab | Spanish tablature with playing instructions, sold at Sotheby's, London, 1973. Listed in the 2001 edition of Grove as being item no.592 in catalogue 956, Maggs Bros. Ltd, London, 1974. |
| - | Belgium, Brussels, Conservatoire Royal de Musique | 5622 | 18th c. | - | - | Not listed in the 2001 edition of Grove. |