What is Old Hall Manuscript?

The Old Hall Manuscript (British Library, Additional MS 57950) is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of English sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for English music of the late Medieval era. It is named for its prior location in the Old Hall at the College of St Edmund (near Ware), and rather miraculously survived the destruction of manuscripts carried out by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. The manuscript was sold to the British Library after an auction at Sotheby's in the mid-twentieth century.

The manuscript is in three volumes, the third of which contains revisions of material in the first, and the manuscript contains 148 compositions overall. 77 of them are written in score rather than in separate parts. Most of the pieces are settings of parts of the ordinary of the Mass, and are grouped by section, in other words the settings of the Gloria are together, as are the settings of the Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. Between these grouped settings are some motets and pieces related to the conductus.

The Old Hall Manuscript was compiled in the early 15th century, probably over a period of at least 20 years. The hands of several copyists are identifiable, and some of them may be those of the composers themselves. Recent research has suggested that work on the manuscript ended with the death of Thomas, Duke of Clarence, in 1421, a somewhat later date than was previously suggested. This date allows the fitting into the chronology of the latest piece in the manuscript, the wedding motet by Byttering which was almost certainly written for the marriage of Henry V and Catherine of Valois on June 2, 1420, as well as a group of motets by several composers, the titles of which closely match written accounts of the music played at the celebration of the victory of Agincourt in 1415.

Various musical styles and techniques are represented including English descant, treble-dominated works, isorhythmic compositions, and canons. One of the canons, No. 75 in the manuscript, is a three-voice mensuration canon of extraordinary complexity. The Old Hall Manuscript is significant for confirming the existence and character of specifically English musical traits, the extent of the development of English music, as well as the influence of continental practices. In particular it shows a tendency in England to focus on musical complexities, such as canons, at a time when music on the continent was increasingly tending towards simplicity. Whether this trend generally continued in the 15th century in England is hard to determine because of the poor survival of manuscripts from that time, but it was well-established by the middle of the 15th century, for example at the Burgundian court, that there was a style which was identifiably English — "la contenance angloise", according to Martin le Franc in his massive poem of 1441-1442 Le Champion des Dames. On the other hand, the Old Hall Manuscript is an impressive example of French influence in England. Manfred Bukofzer, writing in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music (1950) wrote: "The greatest surprise of the Old Hall Repertory is unquestionably the prominent role of isorhythmic technique, which is irrefutable proof of a strong French influence." ^[1] As English musicians were well-known at the Burgundian court, French musicians may also have been known in England. It has been suggested ^[2] that Pycard, the likely composer of the huge Credo (No. 75), was actually French.

Another historically significant development is the occasional use of divisi, the earliest certain evidence of polyphony being sung by a choir of two or more voices per part.

Composers with works in the Old Hall Manuscript include Leonel Power, Pycard, William Typp, Thomas Byttering, Oliver, Chirbury, Excetre, John Cooke, Roy Henry (probably King Henry V, but possibly King Henry IV), Queldryk, John Tyes, Aleyn, Fonteyns, Gervays, Lambe, Nicholas Sturgeon, Thomas Damett, and others. The manuscript also contains a few works by foreign musicians including Antonio Zachara da Teramo. John Dunstaple is among a handful of composers whose work was added in a later hand, probably in the period immediately before 1420.

External links

• British Library catalogue entry
• High-resolution colour digital images of the entire manuscript

Sources

• ^  Manfred Bukofzer, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music. New York, 1950. p. 56.
• ^  Richard H. Hoppin, Medieval Music. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6
• Margaret Bent, "Old Hall MS"; "Sources, Medieval, England"; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
• Harold Gleason and Warren Becker, Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Music Literature Outlines Series I). Bloomington, Indiana. Frangipani Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89917-034-X