Hymns from the Franciscan Antiphonary 2035 from the Enrique Larreta Museum (Buenos Aires). The Particularities, Variants and Notational Uses of a Spanish Pre-Tridentine Source of Plainchant

Abstract

The Enrique Larreta Spanish Art Museum in Buenos Aires holds a Spanish Antiphonary (record number 2035) associated with the Franciscans and of probable pre-Tridentine origin. Barring passing mention, this codex has never previously been the subject of published musicological studies. This article analyses the codex’s composition, with particular emphasis on its collection of 78 hymns, 48 of which are given in mensural notation. This group, which can be reduced to 34 melodies, has been cross-checked with a group of Spanish manuscript and printed sources from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries to establish a general description. Particular cases of local and extra-local melodic features intersecting are examined in greater detail, as well as those characteristic of the order. Certain aspects of the mensural notation of the hymns have also been linked to the theories of rhythmic notation of the period.