D-LEu MS Thomaskirche 49/50
Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS Thomaskirche 49. 4 partbooks: D A T B in MS 49; the associated MS 50 has an additional partbook.
Provenance: Copied in Leipzig by many scribes, ca. 1558
Published inventory: Wolfgang Orf. Die Musikhandschriften Thomaskirche Mss. 49/50 und 51 in der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig. Quellenkataloge zur Musikgeschichte. Wilhelmshaven, 1977. DIAMM entry
Sources of pieces in Choralis Constantinus II: Introit 1 (verse only) was probably copied from RISM 15455 or a copy of it, since it joins Isaac's verse with a different antiphon from RISM 15455. Alleluia 1 shares a distinctive variant with RISM 15455, and is probably traceable to the same source. Alleluia 14 and Sequence 14, which appear as a pair under the label of "Sequentia," appear to be descended from pre-print copies in the Nuremberg line (see below).
Choralis Constantinus II contents:
- Mass 1
- Introit-Puer natus (verse only; appended to the antiphon by Sixt Dietrich from RISM 15455 (D-fol. 35v; A-fol. 32v; T-fol. 33r; B-fol. 33v)
- Alleluia-Dies sanctificatus (D-fol. 137r; A-fol. 133r; T-fol. 107v; B-fol. 134v)
- Mass 14
- Alleluia-Haec est illa (D-fol. 113v; A-fol. 126v; T-fol. 101v; B-fol. 101v)
- Sequence-Laus tibi, Christe (D-fol. 113v; A-fol. 127r; T-fol. 102r; B-fol. 102r)
Character of variants in Choralis Constantinus II repertoire:
Verse 20 of the Sequence 14 features a complex array of signs of duple, quadruple, and subduple proportions. These signs were probably imposed on Isaac's notation by Sebald Heyden in the course of editing the music for the print. D-LEu MS Thomaskirche 49 has a reversed semicircle in the bass in m. 16 and the tenor in m. 20. These are the signs that appear in H-Bn MS Bártfa Mus.8 and Heyden's Musicae. They are replaced in the Choralis print with cut versions of the sign, probably because Heyden realized after the publication of his treatise that the signs he had used there did not agree with his theory. This detail suggests that the sequence in D-LEu MS Thomaskirche 49 was copied from a manuscript based on a pre-print source in the Nuremberg line. D-LEu MS Thomaskirche 49 also includes a resolution in cut-C of the passage with the complex notation.
The verse of Alleluia 14 has a rhythmic variant in mm. 10-14 that makes the passage one semibreve longer than it is in the print (by replacing two minims with semibreves in the D and extending rests in the other voices). The major cadences and the end of the piece are misaligned with the breve initia in all other sources from m. 14 on. Similar misalignments occur occasionally in other Isaac verses. The print version is therefore not necessarily incorrect, but someone in the course of transmission of the piece apparently felt that the anomaly required correction.