Two Early Musical Manuscript Pages in Latin
These two large foglio-sized pages are orphan pages from a lengthly early modern (16th c.?) religious hymnal, i.e. a collection of music used at religious services. These pages represent excerpts of music that had been sung for centuries (and is still sung today) in monasteries and in traditional Catholic services. These pages were meant to be both functional and beautiful as they represent an intersection between sight and sound, and they were highly valued community possessions. The letters and notes (and the pages themselves) were writ large so that an entire choir group could stand around the book, see the pages, and sing from them. However, not seeing each note or word didn't matter much because the choir would have these songs committed to memory--so in the end these pages served as large-scale memory aids.

These two pages were created on vellum (calfskin) by a team of scribes, painters and bookmakers in a scriptorium of a European monastery. The pages include black lettering in Latin, some red lettering of decorative letters, black squares (musical notes), and red guidance lines.

One page features a song known as "tamquam ad latronem," a beautiful mournful song about how Jesus was apprehended with swords and cudgels as if he were a common thief. It is part of the Good Friday liturgy that brings singers and listeners along the tragic journey of the Passion to His Crucifixion. The second page features Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) who takes away the sins of the world; Ave Maris stella (Star of the Sea)--a medieval Marian hymn popular since the 9th c.; and Responsum accepit Simeon (it was revealed to Simeon by the Holy Ghost that he will not see death before seeing Christ).
each page is ca. 22" x 14". both are framed.

Good--but both pages are curled/ with cockling.