Fifteenth-century Antiphonal Fragment

[Antiphonal. Use of Rome. Fragment].
[Italy, ca. 1450].
Manuscript fragment on parchment.
(BRMS 39)

An antiphonal is one of the liturgical books intended for use in the choir, originally characterized by the call and response elements, or antiphons, utilized in various parts of the Roman liturgy. This illuminated single leaf from a fifteenth-century Italian antiphonal includes four-line staves, six lines of text, and musical notation in black. The large, colorful historiated initial “P” with gold leaf depicts the Blessing Christ situated above the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist. The music and text is the beginning of the first antiphonal response “Post Passionem” performed on Ascension Sunday.

BRMS39-r-1000.jpg
Manuscripts
Fifteenth-century Antiphonal Fragment