Clement Matchett's Virginal Book
Encyclopedia
Clement Matchett's Virginal Book is a musical manuscript
from the late renaissance
compiled by a young Norfolk
man in 1612. Although a small anthology
, it is notable not only for the quality of its music but also for the precise fingering
indications that reveal the contemporary treatment of phrasing and articulation
. Moreover, the manuscript is unusual in that each piece bears the exact date of its copying.
quarto
measuring some 15 by 19 centimetres. It is in excellent condition and retains its original binding
formed from several sheets of rough paper folded, pasted and stitched to a strip of vellum
to form the spine
. The manuscript contains 32 leaves bearing two pairs of hand-ruled six-line staves
on which are twelve short pieces written in a neat hand
.
On the first of the two front flyleaves is the inscription: Clement Matchett ownes this booke 1613, with a table of contents on the verso. The second flyleaf bears a Guidonian hand
figuring the Gamut
. The end flyleaf bears some doggerel
rhyme. The manuscript is precisely dated on the inside back cover: Iste liber per me Clement Matchett eiusdem possessorem compositus fuit in Anno Domini 1612/mense augustaneo/1612.
The manuscript is now in the collections of Panmure House
in Aberdeen
(Scotland
), the seat of the Ramsays of Dalhousie
, under catalogue number En 9448. It is possible that the manuscript found its way to Scotland through one Duncan Burnett (circa 1590-1651), a Glasgow
musician whose own music book is also in the Panmure House collection, and who may have been related to another Duncan Burnett, physician of Norwich, birthplace of Clement Matchett himself.
, Norfolk
, in 1593, the son of a schoolmaster. He attended a local school and was subsequently admitted a scholar of Caius College
, Cambridge
, where he may have studied law
. From then on nothing more is known about him.
:
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
from the late renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
compiled by a young Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
man in 1612. Although a small anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
, it is notable not only for the quality of its music but also for the precise fingering
Fingering
In music, fingering is the choice of which fingers and hand positions to use when playing certain musical instruments. Fingering typically changes throughout a piece; the challenge of choosing good fingering for a piece is to make the hand movements as comfortable as possible without changing hand...
indications that reveal the contemporary treatment of phrasing and articulation
Articulation (music)
In music, articulation refers to the musical direction performance technique which affects the transition or continuity on a single note or between multiple notes or sounds.- Types of articulations :...
. Moreover, the manuscript is unusual in that each piece bears the exact date of its copying.
The Manuscript
The manuscript consists of a small oblongRectangle
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is any quadrilateral with four right angles. The term "oblong" is occasionally used to refer to a non-square rectangle...
quarto
Quarto (text)
Quarto is a book or pamphlet produced from full 'blanksheets', each of which is printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded two times to produce four leaves...
measuring some 15 by 19 centimetres. It is in excellent condition and retains its original binding
Bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...
formed from several sheets of rough paper folded, pasted and stitched to a strip of vellum
Vellum
Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...
to form the spine
Bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...
. The manuscript contains 32 leaves bearing two pairs of hand-ruled six-line staves
Staff (music)
In standard Western musical notation, the staff, or stave, is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch—or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending upon the intended effect,...
on which are twelve short pieces written in a neat hand
Hand (handwriting)
A Hand, in calligraphy and palaeography refers to one of several historical varieties of formal, impersonal, generic and exemplary writing styles...
.
On the first of the two front flyleaves is the inscription: Clement Matchett ownes this booke 1613, with a table of contents on the verso. The second flyleaf bears a Guidonian hand
Guidonian hand
In Medieval music, the Guidonian hand was a mnemonic device used to assist singers in learning to sight-sing. Some form of the device may have been used by Guido of Arezzo, a medieval music theorist who wrote a number of treatises, including one instructing singers in sightreading...
figuring the Gamut
Gamut (disambiguation)
Gamut may refer to:Arts and design:* Gamut, a complete scale in medieval music; see Guidonian hand, and Diatonic and chromatic* Gamut, a range of colors that can be reproduced by a particular printing process, display device, or set of paints...
. The end flyleaf bears some doggerel
Doggerel
Doggerel is a derogatory term for verse considered of little literary value. The word probably derived from dog, suggesting either ugliness, puppyish clumsiness, or unpalatability in the 1630s.-Variants:...
rhyme. The manuscript is precisely dated on the inside back cover: Iste liber per me Clement Matchett eiusdem possessorem compositus fuit in Anno Domini 1612/mense augustaneo/1612.
The manuscript is now in the collections of Panmure House
Panmure House
Panmure House was a 17th-century country house in the Parish of Panbride, Angus, Scotland, to the north of Carnoustie. It was the seat of the Earl of Panmure. It was rebuilt in the 19th century, and demolished in 1955....
in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
(Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
), the seat of the Ramsays of Dalhousie
Earl of Dalhousie
Earl of Dalhousie, in the County of Midlothian, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, held by the Chief of Clan Ramsay.-History:This family descends from Sir George Ramsay, who represented Kincardineshire in the Scottish Parliament in 1617. He received a charter of the barony of Dalhousie and also...
, under catalogue number En 9448. It is possible that the manuscript found its way to Scotland through one Duncan Burnett (circa 1590-1651), a Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
musician whose own music book is also in the Panmure House collection, and who may have been related to another Duncan Burnett, physician of Norwich, birthplace of Clement Matchett himself.
The Author
Clement Matchett was born in NorwichNorwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, in 1593, the son of a schoolmaster. He attended a local school and was subsequently admitted a scholar of Caius College
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, where he may have studied law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. From then on nothing more is known about him.
Contents
Most of the pieces are known from other sources, but numbers 3, 8 and 12 are unique to this manuscript, the last being the only known piece of keyboard music by John WilbyeJohn Wilbye
John Wilbye , was an English madrigal composer. The son of a tanner, he was born at Brome, Suffolk, near Diss, and received the patronage of the Cornwallis family. It is thought that he accompanied Elizabeth Cornwallis to Hengrave Hall near Bury St...
:
- My Ladyes left hande (August 13, 1612)
- Nans thinge (August 13, 1612)
- Tille valle Monye growe (August 14, 1612)
- The whislinge Carman (Mr. ByrdeWilliam ByrdWilliam Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard and consort music.-Provenance:Knowledge of Byrd's biography expanded in the late 20th century, thanks largely...
, August 14, 1612) - Mounsiers Allmayne (Mr. Byrde, August 16, 1612)
- Farwell delighte: Fortune my Foe (Mr. Byrde, August 19, 1612)
- The Ghoste (Mr. Byrde, August 20, 1612)
- My Choice I will not Change (Mr. BullJohn Bull (composer)John Bull was an English composer, musician, and organ builder. He was a renowned keyboard performer of the virginalist school and most of his compositions were written for this medium.-Life:...
, August 24, 1612) - Preludium (August 24, 1612)
- A Grownde (August 24, 1612)
- Pegge Ramsye [John Bull] (August 25, 1612
- The Frogge John DowlandJohn DowlandJohn Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...
, [set by] Mr. WilloughbyeJohn WilbyeJohn Wilbye , was an English madrigal composer. The son of a tanner, he was born at Brome, Suffolk, near Diss, and received the patronage of the Cornwallis family. It is thought that he accompanied Elizabeth Cornwallis to Hengrave Hall near Bury St...
, August 25, 1612
See also
- The Mulliner BookThe Mulliner BookThe Mulliner Book is a historically important musical commonplace book compiled, probably between about 1545 and 1570, by Thomas Mulliner, about whom practically nothing is known, except that he figures in 1563 as modulator organorum of Corpus Christi College, Oxford...
- The Dublin Virginal Manuscript
- My Ladye Nevells BookeMy Ladye Nevells BookeMy Ladye Nevells Booke is a music manuscript containing keyboard pieces by the English composer William Byrd, and, together with the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, one of the most important collections of keyboard music of the renaissance.-Description:My Ladye Nevells Booke consists of 42 pieces for...
- Susanne van Soldt ManuscriptSusanne van Soldt ManuscriptThe Susanne van Soldt Manuscript is a keyboard anthology dated 1599 consisting of 33 pieces copied by or for a young Flemish or Dutch girl living in London...
- Fitzwilliam Virginal BookFitzwilliam Virginal BookThe Fitzwilliam Virginal Book is a primary source of keyboard music from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods in England, i.e., the late Renaissance and very early Baroque. It takes its name from Viscount Fitzwilliam who bequeathed this manuscript collection to Cambridge University in 1816...
- Parthenia
- Priscilla Bunbury's Virginal BookPriscilla Bunbury's Virginal BookPriscilla Bunbury's Virginal Book is a musical commonplace book compiled in the late 1630's by two young women from an affluent Cheshire family. It is important more for its fingering indications than for the quality of the music it contains.-The Manuscript:...
- Elizabeth Roger's Virginal BookElizabeth Roger's Virginal BookElizabeth Rogers Virginal Book is a musical commonplace book compiled in the mid-seventeenth century by a person or persons so far unidentified...
- Anne Cromwell's Virginal BookAnne Cromwell's Virginal BookAnne Cromwell's Virginal Book is a manuscript keyboard compilation dated 1638. Whilst the importance of the music it contains is not high, it reveals the sort of keyboard music that was being played in the home at this time.-The Manuscript:...