Musical manuscript collection of 23 anthems and other liturgical vocal music including Purcell's Te Deum

England, 1740. Folio (226 x 316 mm). Full dark brown calf dos-à-dos binding. 170 pp. in total: Part I, 93 pp.; Part II, 77 pp. On Dutch paper with watermark of a crown at head, a lion holding a staff in one paw and a sheaf of paper in the other within double oval (similar to Heawood) with words "Libertate Propatria Vryheyt," countermark "VI."

23 liturgical vocal works for 2-3 voices and occasional continuo plus 41 pp. of monophonic psalmody.

Of special note are the presence of two works by Purcell including his Te Deum (Part II, item 6 in the list below) and one work by Giacomo Carissimi (Part I, item 9), adapted for performance by English scholar, composer, and music collector Henry Aldrich (1648-1710).

Titles and first lines of text, complete with archaic spellings, as follows:

PART I
1) A[!] anthem taken out of [?]ye Psalm "O How amiable are thy dwellings," pp. 1-2
2) An [!] Hymn Counter, "Our greatful Songs," pp. 6-7
3) An anthem taken out of The 7[th] Chapter, "I Beheld and Lo," pp. 12-15
4) An anthem taken out of ye 177[th] Psalm, "O praise ye L[ord]," pp. 16-17
5) Anthem Ps[alm] 30 set by Mr Grayin, "I will magnifie thee," pp. 18-19
6) Anthem Set by Mr. Wise Isayah ye 52[nd] Chap[ter], "Awake awake pot on thy Strenght o Sion," pp. 22-27
7) Anthem for Christmas Day Taken out of Luke Chapter ye 2[nd] vers[e] ye 10[th], "Geather ye west pleaes of Jerusalem," pp. 28-30
8) Anthem taken out of ye 48[th] Ps[alm], "Great is the Lord," pp. 31-33
9) Carissimi, Giacomo 1605-1674. Anthem Ps[alm] 116, "I am well pleas'd", pp. 34-46.
"On the misattribution to Purcell see: Finney P1969. Watkins Shaw (TNG, Vol. 1, p. 235) lists the piece among adaptations of works by Italian composers (Carissimi)." RISM Online, note to record 900011420, concerning a manuscript of the piece at US-LAuc.
10) Church, John 1674-1731. An Anthem Taken out of the 145:3 voices, "I will magnifie thee," pp. 47-50. Another copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, RISM ID no. 806629772
11) Anthem Ps 23: 2 voices, "The Lord is my Sheperd," pp. 45-49
12) Anthem Psalms ye 57[th], "Awake up my Self," pp. 50-53
13) Wise, Michael 1647-1687. An anthem taken out of ye 133 Ps[alm] set by Mr Mickell Wise, in 3 voices, "Behould how good and joyfull," pp. 54-59
14) An Anthem Ps[alm] 103, "The L[ord] is full of Compation," pp. 60-65, with a stave designated for the bass line but lacking it.
15) 23 psalm tunes (monophonic psalmody), pp. 66-71
16) [Untitled]. "I will praise ye," pp. 72-74
17) [?]Broderip, William 1683-1727. Anthem for ye 122d by Mr. Broadrip, "O pray for ye peace," pp. 74-81. Not in RISM.
18) Croft, William 1678-1727. An Anthem out of the 104 Ps[alm], "Praise ye L[ord]," pp. 82-84, single vocal line
19) Anthem Ps[alm] ye 18, pp. 86-87
20) Croft. An Anthem out of the 104 Psalm Set by Mr. Crofts, pp. 87-89, single vocal line (identical to item 18 above)
21) Anthem ... ye 145, "I will magnifie," pp. 92-93

PART II
1) Psalmody, mostly monophonic, with several in four voices, pp. 1-41
2) Anthem Psalm 66th by Lake, "O come hither," pp. 42-49. Not in RISM.
3) Anthem Ps[alm] ye 86 by Smith, "Lord thou art become gracious," pp. 49-53
4) Nunc Dimmitis, "Lord now Lettest thou thy Servant," pp. 54-57
5) Purcell, Anthem Ps[alm] ye 106, "O give thanks unto ye L[or]d]," pp. 58-67, without ascription in source, but Purcell's anthem "O give thanks unto the Lord." Zimmerman P33.
6) Purcell Te Deum by Henry Purcell, "We praise thee," pp. 68-77. Zimmerman P232.

Contemporary signature ("John Wales") to upper margin of free front endpaper.

Binding very worn, with portions of leather lacking to both boards and spine; free front endpaper to Part I partially lacking, both pastedown endpapers and free front endpaper to Part II lacking. Slightly worn and soiled; several leaves frayed and creased at outer margin; some leaves loose and signatures split; occasional small stains; pp. 93-94 with loss to blank lower inner portion. "[Purcell] was one of the most important 17th-century composers and one of the greatest of all English composers. ... Te Deum and Jubilate in D major, performed on 22 November 1694 in the service at St Bride's Church that preceded the main St Cecilia's Day celebrations at Stationers' Hall. The latter is scored for soloists, choir, two trumpets, strings, and continuo, and was the prototype for the settings of the text by Blow, Croft, Handel, and others." Peter Holman and Robert Thompson in Grove Music Online

"The most important composer in mid-17th-century Rome, Carissimi established the characteristic features of the Latin oratorio and was a prolific composer of motets and cantatas. Through his pupils and the wide dissemination of his music he influenced musical developments in north European countries." Andrew V. Jones in Grove Music Online

"Carissimi's church music was guarded by the authorities of the German College and very few contemporary Italian manuscript copies survive. Occasional motets appeared in anthologies, but it took until 1666 before a collection was published. ... The apparently restricted circulation of Carissimi's music requires his popularity in Restoration England to be reconsidered. Carissimi was indeed held in high regard by aristocrats and intellectuals, his reputation fuelled by Kircher and enthusiastic travellers like Francis Mortoft and Thomas Killigrew. Still, ... his music was fundamentally inaccessible. ... although Roman vocal music was highly appreciated in Restoration England, being performed at court and copied with interest in Oxford musical circles, it remained the music of a small elite." Lebedinski: The Magnificence of the Sublime: Carissimi's Music in Restoration England in Wainwright, Knowles, and Cheetham, eds.: Reappraising the Seicento: Composition, Dissemination, Assimilation, pp. 172-73. The adaptation of Carissimi's "I am well pleas'd" (Part I, item 9 in the list above) was made by Henry Aldrich (see Shay: "Naturalizing' Palestrina and Carissimi in Late Seventeenth-Century Oxford: Henry Aldrich and his Recompositions" in Musical Quarterly, 1996. (Inventory #: 39427)