Ecclesiastical Music - Circa 16th Century

Ecclesiastical Music - Circa 16th Century

The paper is thick cartridge without watermark, and the music is printed on the four-line staff with square-headed notes. The text is in black letter, the staff lines and rubrics being in red thus involving two printings.

This is one of the fragments discovered by A. H. Millar when he was examining the Protocol Books in the Dundee Burgh Charter Room. These books were the first drafts of charters and records of sasines. The music sheets in question were in the books thought to have been created by Robert Wedderburne during the periods 1575-76 and 1580-85.

The first sheet is a portion of the Office for the Twelth after Pentecost. The page fragment contains the concluding phrases of the Offertory. As the other side of this sheet continues the service with the omission of four lines, it is possible to deduce that the page originally measured 30 cms. by 30 cms. The fragment begins with a portion of the Office for the Thirteenth after Pentecost.

Back to image gallery

Click image to enlarge