St Gall neumes (Early German neumes)
A leaf from a Missal, in Latin, manuscript on vellum [Germany, 10th century]
A fragment from a 10th-century German Missal.

A partial leaf, c.182 x 130mm, 22 lines written in brown ink in Carolingian minuscule, ruled in blind, 3 lines of early linear staffless St Gall neumes (Early German neumes), rubrics and 3 large capitals in red (stained and worn, text faded, especially on verso, red initials darkened, a few wormholes). Bound in grey buckram at the Quaritch bindery.

Provenance:
(1) Antiquariat J. Voerster, Stuttgart.

(2) Bernard Quaritch, acquired in 1993 by:

(3) Schøyen Collection, MS 1663.

Text:
The text of the fragment is the mass for the Monday after the 3rd Sunday in Lent, beginning at the end of the postcommunion for the 3rd Sunday in Lent: 'A cunctis nos, Domine, reatibus & periculis [...]' followed by the sung mass 'In Deo laudabo'; the Psalm ('Miserere mei'); the prayer 'Cordibus nostris' and the reading 'In diebus illis'.

Script and Music:
The script is a regular 10th-century minuscule, with open bowl on 'g', dotted Caroline 'y', rounded 's'. The sung portions are written in a smaller script, with early linear staffless neumes. Neumes of this period from the East Frankish territories convey many nuances and small details of inflections for the singer, without giving precise details of pitch.