December 17th 2024.
In Scotland's first full-length printed book, a small but significant fragment of 'lost' music has been discovered. This rare find, containing only 55 notes, has given researchers a glimpse into the musical sounds of five centuries ago in pre-Reformation Scotland.
The musicologists who made this discovery were examining the origins of the musical score, which they believe to be from the early sixteenth-century. This particular piece is a unique example of music from Scottish religious institutions 500 years ago, and it is the only surviving piece from the northeast of Scotland during this time period.
The musical score was found in a copy of The Aberdeen Breviary of 1510 – a collection of prayers, hymns, psalms, and readings used for daily worship in Scotland. This book also contains detailed writings on the lives of Scottish saints. Known as the 'Glamis copy', as it was once held in Glamis Castle in Angus, it is now housed in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Despite the lack of text, title, or attribution, the researchers were able to identify the musical score as a unique harmonization of Cultor Dei – a hymn traditionally sung during Lent. According to David Coney, a musicologist from Edinburgh College of Art, identifying a piece of music is a thrilling experience. Even more exciting is the fact that this tenor part can be reconstructed to reveal the other missing parts, allowing us to hear a hymn that has been silent for nearly five centuries.
The Aberdeen Breviary was a project initiated by King James IV, who issued a Royal Patent to print books containing orders of service in accordance with Scottish religious practices. This was a significant development as it allowed Scotland to break away from relying on imported texts from England and Europe.
Upon further investigation, the researchers determined that the composition is from the Aberdeenshire region and is likely connected to St Mary's Chapel, Rattray, and Aberdeen Cathedral. The discovery was made while examining numerous handwritten annotations in the margins of the Glamis copy.
The fragment of music was found on a blank page in a section of the book dedicated to Matins, an early morning service. The team was puzzled by its presence, as it was not part of the original printed book and yet was written on a page bound into the structure of the book. This suggests that the writer intentionally wanted to keep the music and the book together.
Since there were no textual annotations on the page, it was initially unclear whether the music was sacred, secular, or even meant to be sung at all. However, the researchers eventually deduced that it was a polyphonic composition, a common technique used in Scottish religious institutions at the time. Unfortunately, very few examples have survived to the present day.
Upon closer examination, one of the team members realized that the music perfectly fit with a Gregorian chant melody. Specifically, it was the tenor part of a faburden – a three- or four-voice musical harmonization – of the hymn Cultor Dei.
In addition to uncovering lost sounds within the pages of the Aberdeen Breviary, the researchers were also able to trace its history and how it may have been used. At one point, it was the private service book of the illegitimate son of a high-ranking chaplain at Aberdeen Cathedral, who was also a rural priest. Later, it became a treasured family heirloom for a Scottish Catholic who traveled from post-Reformation Scotland to the capitals of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires.
Lead author, Dr. Paul Newton-Jackson of KU Leuven, described the significance of this discovery, saying, "The conclusions we have been able to draw from this fragment underscore the crucial role of marginalia as a source of new insights into musical culture where little notated material survived. It may well be that further discoveries, musical or otherwise, are waiting to be found in the blank pages and margins of other sixteenth-century printed books held in Scotland's libraries and archives."
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