Antiphonal Bifolium of Lamentations

The Antiphonal Bifolium

Music describes the attitudes and values of a culture. One form of music during the Renaissance was an antiphonary. Antiphonaries were not only pieces of music, but beautiful works of art that required much attention and dedication to create. The time it took to create the parchment, ink, and artistic design of antiphonals caused it to be expensive and of great value. The notation of the Utah State University Antiphonal Bifolium is incomplete and reminiscent of earlier times in human history. It claims to have been a piece from the sixteenth century, but examining the handwriting and notation begs for further analysis. 

An antiphonary is a choral book used during the early modern era to “provide religious orders with the musical portions of their daily observances, which are organized around the canonical hours of the day and the yearly cycle of feasts”.^[1] In short, they are religious books with a ritualistic function.  Antiphonals were a simplified type of religious music, which was used in place of motets. The words in this antiphonal were based on verses of scripture found in chapters 2 and 3 of Lamentations.

Antiphonals were also a simplification of a music type called motet. Motets were an extremely intricate form of music that was very hard to learn, requiring “lengthy rehearsal, even for performers of exceptional skill..."^[2] This caused problems in frequency at which motets could be sung, therefore they were sung for the most important celebrations. Antiphons were used in place of motets for the lesser celebrations. Antiphons being typically written in a simple style with only one vocal range were sometimes enhanced by other voices using the method called "Sighting...the chant or pitches that, either sung were placed or transposed up or down by an appropriate interval (a fifth, octave, or twelfth)"^[3] This would allow harmonies and descants to take place, causing a simple song to sound more ornate or motet-like.

Antiphons were the sung portions of a liturgy, which is a word that describes the schedule as well as the worship services during this period of time.^[4] Antiphons however were not just for one period of time. An antiphonary manuscript could be created and then used regularly for hundreds of years. This could be the reason that our antiphonary dates as printed during the fifteenth century (1400’s) in Italy but is also logged as Spanish document from the sixteenth century (1500’s). There is record of antiphonaries like the Gottschalk Antiphonary, produced in the second half of the thirteenth century (1200’s), being used for 300 years.^[5] Our particular manuscript was likely used all the way up to the eighteenth century (1700’s).

The document we are analyzing is in remarkably good shape considering it was printed 600 or more years ago. If it was used in a manner similar to the Gottschalk Antiphonary, it was used consistently for at least 300 of those years. Throughout the life of a document created at this time, it was not uncommon to have rats, worms, or other pests that would eat away at a text like this because it was printed on animal skin. With no nibble marks or worm damage, evidence suggests that great precaution was taken to ensure that this document was taken care of. There is evidence of a repair made with carefully stitching up a tear in the document. To guard it against rats, human error, or any other harm that may befall this valuable document, this antiphonary must have had a covering of some kind, such as a cloth, wood or stone box to shelter it. 

Another question that the condition brings up is what this document must have meant to these individuals. Because owners cared for these pieces, they took great lengths to protect it. The ritual nature of antiphonaries says something about the people that used them regularly; they were religious. Evidence indicates that because of the nature of the document it was treated with reverence. One of the reasons that it has survived all these years was that it was treated as something sacred.

Historical analysis also indicates that people made a show of their piety and monetary means by the items they had made for their religious observance, shown through the dignitas or dignity of the Family. The more expensive the religious articles the more pious the patron.