Priscilla Bunbury's Virginal Book
Encyclopedia
Priscilla Bunbury's Virginal Book is a musical commonplace book compiled in the late 1630's by two young women from an affluent Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

 family. It is important more for its 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 than for the quality of the music it contains.

The Manuscript

The manuscript is an upright volume measuring 11.5 in. by 8 in. in a tooled leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

 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:...

. The front cover bears the words PRISCILLA BVNBURY in tooled lettering, and the back cover the initials PB. It contains thirty two pages pre-ruled with 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,...

. There are thirty five neatly-written pieces of music, but the first and last pages, together with the pieces they bore, are missing. Apart from the music, there is a medicinal recipe and other scribblings. At least two different hands
Hand (handwriting)
A Hand, in calligraphy and palaeography refers to one of several historical varieties of formal, impersonal, generic and exemplary writing styles...

 can be discerned.

The Authors

The first owner of the book was Priscilla Bunbury (1615-1682), daughter of Sir Henry Bunbury of Little Stanney
Little Stanney
Little Stanney is a suburban village and civil parish on the Wirral Peninsula, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It has a population of 181, and is located between Chester and Ellesmere Port....

 in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

 and his second wife Martha. The second owner was also a Priscilla Bunbury (c 1675- after 1707), daughter of Sir Thomas Bunbury, a grandson of Sir Henry and his first wife, and goddaughter
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...

 of the first Priscilla.

Contents

Five pieces are attributed to Robert Hall, of whom nothing is known. Five are by Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...

, and three by Randall Jewett, a member of the choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 at Chester Cathedral
Chester Cathedral
Chester Cathedral is the mother church of the Church of England Diocese of Chester, and is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly St Werburgh's abbey church of a Benedictine monastery, is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary...

 and brother of the better-known Randolph Jewett, possibly a pupil of Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...

. The entire "Battle" sequence by William Byrd
William Byrd
William 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...

 is included as one piece (also found in My Ladye Nevells Booke
My Ladye Nevells Booke
My 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...

). Twenty one of the pieces are not attributed.

  1. [Untitled] Whoop, do me no harm, good man (Orlando Gibbons)
  2. The White Ribbin
  3. The freind's Good Night
  4. The Celebran (Orlando Gibbons)
  5. A jig
  6. Put up thy dagger Jemmy (unattributed, but also found in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
    Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
    The 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...

     by Giles Farnaby
    Giles Farnaby
    Giles Farnaby was an English composer and virginalist of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.-Life:Giles Farnaby was born about 1563, perhaps in Truro, Cornwall, England or near London. His father, Thomas, was a Cittizen and Joyner of London, and Giles may have been related to Thomas Farnaby , the...

    )
  7. Money is a Gallant thinge
  8. Rappaks jig
  9. The maukin
  10. George
  11. La holland
  12. Mrs Prissilla Bunburie hir Delight
  13. Almaine Mr Gibbons (Orlando Gibbons)
  14. [Untitled] (Randall Jewett)
  15. A maske (Orlando Gibbons)
  16. Berchen Greene Hollan
  17. A french Lesson
  18. Swinnertons Almaine
  19. A Maske
  20. A Coranto
  21. The Buildings
  22. Churtons farwell (Randall Jewett)
  23. Almaine (Randall Jewett)
  24. Grayes Inn Maske (Orlando Gibbons)
  25. The new Rant
  26. The parson of the parrish
  27. Captaine owens Delight
  28. A horne pipe (Robert Hall)
  29. The battle by mr:bird (William Byrd): The soldiers sumons: The foote march: The horse march: The trumpetts: Irish march: Bagpipe: fife and drum: march to the fighte: Tantara: [untitled]: [untitled]: The bells. (Also found in My Ladye Nevells Booke
    My Ladye Nevells Booke
    My 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...

     and Elizabeth Roger's Virginal Book
    Elizabeth Roger's Virginal Book
    Elizabeth Rogers Virginal Book is a musical commonplace book compiled in the mid-seventeenth century by a person or persons so far unidentified...

    )
  30. The buildinge
  31. Frogg gall[iard] (Robert Hall)
  32. The pleasing widdow (Robert Hall)
  33. Mock widdow (Robert Hall)
  34. My choyce is made and I desire no change. My choyce (Robert Hall)
  35. the nightingaill

The fingering

Pieces 1-28, corresponding to the hand of the first Priscilla Bunbury, contain full 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. As far as the right hand is concerned, these follow the modern system, with the thumb numbered "1" and the little finger "5". The system is however reversed for the left hand, where the little finger is numbered "1" and the thumb "5". It is evident that the author favoured the use of the third finger for the right hand and the third finger and thumb for the left hand on "strong" notes.

See also

  • The Mulliner Book
    The Mulliner Book
    The 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 Booke
    My Ladye Nevells Booke
    My 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 Manuscript
    Susanne van Soldt Manuscript
    The 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...

  • Clement Matchett's Virginal Book
    Clement Matchett's Virginal Book
    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...

  • Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
    Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
    The 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
  • Elizabeth Roger's Virginal Book
    Elizabeth Roger's Virginal Book
    Elizabeth 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 Book
    Anne Cromwell's Virginal Book
    Anne 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:...


Further reading

  • Priscilla Bunbury's Virginal Book, edited by Virginia Brookes. PRB Productions, Albany, California, 1993. ISBN 1-56571-052-5. Contains an introduction and transcription of the entire MS.
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