Squarcialupi Codex
Squarcialupi Codex
The largest anthology of Florentine music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Squarcialupi Codex is without equal in both content and ornamentation. “The Squarcialupi Codex documents a most ambitious undertaking on the part of early fifteenth-century Florentine compilers to assemble the native high-art music repertoire of the Trecento” (Reese). The largest contributor to this invaluable manuscript was Francesco Landini; he provided 145 pieces for the Codex and some of those pieces are only found recorded there.
“The manuscript contains over three hundred songs—madrigals, ballatas, and caccias—of which almost half are unique to this source. (Sadie) Pieces in the codex are arranged chronologically by composer with some pages left blank for the later addition of works. Each composer’s entry is accompanied by a full-color portrait of the composer, illuminated in gold accents (Harman).
The manuscript was almost certainly compiled in Florence at the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, probably around 1410–1415. The manuscript was owned by renowned organist Antonio Squarcialupi in the middle of the 15th century, then by his nephew, and then passed into the estate of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, who gave it to the Biblioteca Palatina in the early 16th century. At the end of the 18th century it was passed into the hands of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.
Works Cited
Abraham, Dom Anslem Hughes and Gerald, ed. Ars Nova and the Renaissance 1300-1540. London: Oxford Universtiy Press, 1960.
Harman, Alec. Man and His Music. New York: Schocken Publishers, N.D.
Reese, Gustave. Music in the Middle Ages. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1940.
Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd Edition. Vol. 18. London: Macmillian Publishers Limited, 2001.
Sternfeld, F. W. Music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. New York and Washington: Praeger Publishers,
The largest anthology of Florentine music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Squarcialupi Codex is without equal in both content and ornamentation. “The Squarcialupi Codex documents a most ambitious undertaking on the part of early fifteenth-century Florentine compilers to assemble the native high-art music repertoire of the Trecento” (Reese). The largest contributor to this invaluable manuscript was Francesco Landini; he provided 145 pieces for the Codex and some of those pieces are only found recorded there.
“The manuscript contains over three hundred songs—madrigals, ballatas, and caccias—of which almost half are unique to this source. (Sadie) Pieces in the codex are arranged chronologically by composer with some pages left blank for the later addition of works. Each composer’s entry is accompanied by a full-color portrait of the composer, illuminated in gold accents (Harman).
The manuscript was almost certainly compiled in Florence at the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, probably around 1410–1415. The manuscript was owned by renowned organist Antonio Squarcialupi in the middle of the 15th century, then by his nephew, and then passed into the estate of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, who gave it to the Biblioteca Palatina in the early 16th century. At the end of the 18th century it was passed into the hands of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.
Works Cited
Abraham, Dom Anslem Hughes and Gerald, ed. Ars Nova and the Renaissance 1300-1540. London: Oxford Universtiy Press, 1960.
Harman, Alec. Man and His Music. New York: Schocken Publishers, N.D.
Reese, Gustave. Music in the Middle Ages. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1940.
Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd Edition. Vol. 18. London: Macmillian Publishers Limited, 2001.
Sternfeld, F. W. Music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. New York and Washington: Praeger Publishers,