Old Psalter Pages - Curious How Old These Are?

[Jim_from_StM]

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Hey,
I bought these velum leaves from an old psalter at an antique shop several years ago, and was told they came from a monastery in Italy. The guy in the shop told me he thought they were 400-500 years old but who knows. I’m curious whether anyone can help me estimate the age of these based on the style of lettering and music notation. I notice that the staff has five lines instead of four, and the clef is strange. It doesn’t resemble a modern do clef or fa clef. Also curious about the funky thing that looks like a 9 that appears at the end of several words. Also the symbol after the word “Seculo” in the bottom photo.

Anyone able to explain this? It doesn’t look like modern square-note notation.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Jim

 

[BartholomewB]

What is the word that comes after “dom9” in the second picture? It starts with a capital D. If it is “Deus”, then that would suggest that “dom9” is “dominus”

 

[Jim_from_StM]

Yes, it’s Dei.

 

[BartholomewB]

Thank you! It turns out that “dom9” is not dominus (lord) but domus (house). The words on this page are from the story of Jacob’s dream in the Vulgate: “Non est hic aliud nisi domus Dei et porta caeli,” translated in the NABRE as “This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven” (Gen. 28:17).

Some of the other recognizable words on these pages are “sancta Dei Genitrix” (“holy Mother of God”) and “Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui sancto.” Below that comes the first half of Jacob’s words in Gen. 28:17, “Quam metuendus est locus iste, vere …” (“How fearsome is this place, truly …”).

Like you, I’m puzzled by the five-line staff rather than the usual four. I think you’ll need a plainchant specialist to explain that.

 

[midori]

The fancy patterned capitals are called “cadels”. They were popular in France in the early 15th c. (ie, Jean Flamel, c. 1409), but if it’s Italian, it might likely be from the late 16th c? Check out page 8 in this link.

Without any art to give extra clues, it’s a little hard to pin it down. The thing about handwriting, for example— suppose someone learned how to write when they were a kid. They preserve that handwriting into adulthood. Suppose they become a teacher, and they pass that hand on to their students. And then those students end up using the hand that was current when their teacher was a child— even though 30, 40, 50 years may have passed. (For example, consider your cursive “Q”. Does it look like a floppy “2”, or does it look like a print “Q”? Even 25 years ago, most of the people in my class were using Q-shaped cursive Q’s, but what if I teach my kids the floppy-“2” style of cursive Q? Even though that style of Q was phased out during the 1980’s-90’s, there’s a chance my kids will be using it in 2030, 2040, etc, if they choose to preserve it as part of the style of cursive they favor…)

So, rather than dating it by the handwriting, perhaps there’s something very distinctive about the style of musical notation?

Looking around, here’s a 15th c. Spanish page of sheet music at this link.

And you can compare it to a page of Spanish sheet music c. 1650.

I think yours has more elements in common with the later sheet rather than the earlier sheet— which is kind of apples to oranges, since the images I happened to pull up were Spanish rather than Italian-- but that’s just my impression.

 

[Jim_from_StM]

Thank you!

 

[OraLabora]

They are actually pages from an antiphonary used to chant the Divine Office.

I’m guessing 15th-16th century but I’m no expert in dating antiphonaries. I have, however, seen similar antiphonaries in our abbey’s library, at Monte Cassino and at a Benedictine abbey in France.

 

[Jim_from_StM]

Thank you!

 

[Jim_from_StM]

Thanks so much!

 

[BartholomewB]

You’re welcome! Though I realize, of course, that identifying the verse from the Bible that is shown here is no help at all in your effort to date your psalter pages!

If you’re still looking for help with this, here’s a name and email you might try (at the very end of this internet page about neumes):

Rick Kephart < >

http://www.lphrc.org/Chant/