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an unKnown organ manuscriPt with mainLy magnificat-settings by Lassus (1626) Eugeen Schreurs introduction Very few organ manuscripts from the Low Countries from before 1650 have been preserved.1 Among the rare exceptions of such manuscripts intended for church use are ‘Liège, Université, Bibliothèque, 153 (olim 888) (Liège Organ book)’ (Liber fratrum cruciferorum leodiensium), compiled for the Crutched Friars of Liege, and ‘London, British Library, Add.29486’(1618), of unknown destination, containing preludes in all eight modes and alternatim Mass and Magnificat settings.2 We know from numerous archival accounts that the organ was frequently used in church services, either alone or as accompanist of a vocal ensemble — often described in the archives as ‘het singen in het orgel’ [literally ‘singing in the organ’], sometimes alternating with plainchant.3 Improvisation may well have played an important role, and may in part explain the lack of sources on the one hand, and the abundant quantity of instruments on the other. The fact that such organ books were often produced by the organist himself, and therefore did not belong to the church fabric or a chapter or a monastic community, also helps to explain the dearth of surviving sources. For such manuscripts did not form part of the music library (see e.g. the numerous music inventories of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries).4 These organ manuscripts were usually kept near the organ and sometimes taken home. When a new organist took up his post it may be assumed that organ books with older music could enjoy less attention. In addition, such organ manuscripts rarely had any (visual) artistic value, as they lacked illuminations, unlike the 1 I wish to thank Peter Strauven for his critical comments and for providing examples. I am indebted to Peter Van Dessel for the English translation and Stratton Bull for advices. For keyboard manuscripts (harpsichord/virginals) see Godelieve Spiessens, Zuid-Nederlandse Klavecimbelmuziek . Harpsichord Music of the Southern Low Countries (Monumenta Flandriae Musica, 4), p. x. 2 See in this connection John Caldwell, art. ‘Sources of keyboard music to 1660, §2(iv): The Netherlands’, Grove Music Online (accessed 05 May 2007). Most of the manuscripts mentioned show English influence. 3 Guido Persoons, De Orgels en de Organisten van de Onze Lieve Vrouwkerk te Antwerpen van 1500 tot 1650 (Brussel, 1981), ex. 116. Kristine K. Forney, ‘Music, Ritual and Patronage at the Church of Our Lady, Antwerp’, Early Music History, 7 (1987), 21ff. 4 For an overview of music inventories from the Southern Netherlands see Bruno Bouckaert, ‘Muziek en repertoire te Gent. De 18de-eeuwse muziekinventaris van de Ekkergemse SintMartinuskerk als stille getuige van een veelzijdige muziekbibliotheek’, Musica Antiqua, 16/2 (1999), 75-6. eugeen schreurs 254 choirbooks belonging to the corpus of Petrus Alamire and his collaborators.5 Finally, the religious strife of the sixteenth century will not have contributed to the preservation of older manuscripts. However, it should be noted that the organ’s part in the liturgical services increased with time. Illustrative in this respect is the list of feast days on which the organ could be heard in the collegiate church of Our Lady in Tongeren.6 Festa que continentur in libro organi et in organisando consueta Andree Petri et Pauli Nicolai Visitationis B.M. Conceptionis B.M. Marie Magdalene Stephani Jacobi Joannis Laurentij Innocentium Assumptionis B.M. Circumcisionis Dni. Bartholomei Epiphanie Nativitatis B.M. Vincentij Exultationis S. Crucis Conversionis S. Pauli Lamberti Purificationis B.M. Mathei Annuntiationis B.M. Materni Vigilie Pasche Mauritij Pasche cum 3. ferijs Michaelis Octave Pasche SS. Omnium Philippi et Jacobi Martini Inventionis S. Crucis Catharine Dedicationis ecclesie Cecilie Ascentionis Domini Simonis et Jude Pentecostes cum 3. fer. In ultima commemoratione Trinitatis B.M.V. ante quadragesimam Nota in omnibus precedentibus festis duplicibus in primis et secundis vesperis organum Hm. pulsatur Omnibus Dominicis in secundis vesperis Hm. org. pulsatur Figure 1. ListoffeastsonwhichtheorganwasplayedinTongerenaccordingtoafragmentary mid-seventeenth century obituary7 5 See e.g. the collection of codexes of the Illustrious Confraternity of Our Lady of ’s-Hertogenbosch in Véronique Roelvink, Gegeven den sangeren. Meerstemmige muziek te ‘s-Hertogenbosch in de zestiende eeuw (’s-Hertogenbosch, 2002). See also Herbert Kellman, The Treasury of Petrus Alamire. Music and Art in Flemish Court Manuscripts. 1500-1535 (Gent and Amsterdam , 1999), 80-3. 6 The Tongeren Liber ordinarius of the fifteentth, early seventeenth and late eighteenth century also show that the role of the organ increased, so that in time the instrument could be heard daily, and even more than once a...

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