Dating an Old Book

We even held hands on the first date!

Just thought I'd get that joke out of the way before any of you did.

I came into possession of an old looking music book as a sixteen year old in the early nineties. For a while I tried to date it, but didn't have the resources of the Internet at my disposal. Couldn't read French either. Since then I've tucked it away as a hidden treasure and haven't looked at it very often.

Recently I decided to dig it out and try to find out a bit more about it. Thought some of you might be interested in reading about my adventure or even help me out.









I believe it to be a copy of the Genevan Psalter. While it's probably getting a bit long in the tooth, I doubt that it's either rare or valuable.

In order to determine its age or edition I'll examine the following:

1. Musical notation used
2. Method of printing
3. Fronticepiece
4. Binding
5. Any errors I can find in the setting of the blocks/type

Please let me know if you have any ideas!

 

There's a Genevan Psalter Resource Center with a number of articles and links: www.genevanpsalter.com
Might be helpful.

 

Seems like it was printed in Avignon from that page.

Just a general search for this type of book looks like it could be from 1569 all the way to 1850.

Odd that the year isn't printed anywhere though. If you could take higher rez pictures of the title page I would appreciate it.

 

I couldn't find this exact copy, or any that mention Avignon or the publisher at the bottom. Is there any text on previous pages or the pages before the content starts?

 

A Consideration of the Pitch Notation

Musical notation has changed through the ages, so a clue as to the date could be the notation system used. This post is deals with notation relating to pitch. I might consider rhythmic notation at at later stage.

Even if you're not a musician you probably know that music is written on five lines (a "stave") and have heard of the "treble clef" and "bass clef". Each of these clefs is a particular implementation of the older system of "G-clefs" and "C-clefs" respectively. Basically, whichever line of the stave was enclosed by the letter was given that pitch name. For example, if the letter F were written around the bottom line, this became "F". The space above was "G", the next line "A", the next space "B", the next line "C" etc. You can read more about this here.

Let's take a look at the First Psalm from my old book:



After the big "H" is a symbol that was unfamiliar to me. As it occurs at the start of every verse of each psalm it seemed logical to consider it a clef, but it's not one of the modern standard four (treble, bass, alto & tenor). Through a simple process that would take a while to explain to non-musicians I determined that the top line of the stave was "G".* Interestingly this isn't like any form of the "G" clef I've seen before. I've never seen a "G" clef used on the top line either.

In order to confirm my understanding of the pitch I compared my interpretation of the notation to modern harmonised transcriptions from this excellent resource (thanks @Kunlun). Restricted this to the first ten psalms. In all but one example they were entirely consistent. The exception was Psalm 4. The difference between my interpretation and the transcription of this Psalm was the mode used. In case you're interested, my old book suggested it was the dorian mode, whereas the transcription was in the aeolian mode. In a future post it would be cool to look at "modes" (from which we derive modern "major" and "minor" keys and scales).

Four questions have come from this morning's work:

1. What's the origin of this form of the "G" clef?
2. When was it in use?
3. Are there other examples of this form of the "G" clef being used on the top line
4. What's the reason for the anomaly re Psalm 4?

Boy this research is fun. Very happy to hear your insights and comments.



*As an aside, viola players could easily play this music as it is functionally the same as writing it with an alto clef.

 

By 1600, you have musical notation that is essentially the same as today. So the source is definitely earlier than that. However, whether it was printed prior to that is a different story.

I'd have no idea how to play the rhythm, although it seems there is a system to denote basic rhythm, as I see stems and measure lines. No time signature though.

Googling "Genevan Psalter" I see they were written between 1500 and 1600, so you have notation that is very similar to modern, but not quite there yet.

You are right about it being alto clef. If you look at the third symbol after the "H", it's basically pointing out middle C, which is the same as what the "B" symbol for alto clef does. The first symbol also points out "G" which is interesting. In between those two symbols is the key signature, either F major or d minor, unless it's modal.

 

Thanks for your comments. Which instruments do you play?

Re the third symbol, I think it's not actually a clef but something related to meter. As you'd know, a "C" with a vertical line through it is interpreted these days as a 2/2 time signature.

 

I play viola and violin (fairly out of practice though.) At one point I wanted to to be a professional and even was accepted at New England Conservatory, but in the end I didn't have the motivation for it.

I stand corrected on the time signature. That symbol does indeed indicate "cut time".

 

I thought this was about Macron at first glance.

 

I've done a little background reading on the history of music printing and then skimmed through copies of the Genevan Psalter I found in Google books. Here are some observations and hypotheses:

1. That the book was printed in Avignon at the press of "Peyrie"

2. Despite being printed in a form of rhythmic notation that became outdated during the seventeenth century, it uses a movable type consistent with other examples of the Genevan Psalter from as late as the mid nineteenth century.

3. Although my copy is undated, there is a date of printing on every other printing I could find.

4. Neither the type-setter nor the editor were musicians.

4.1 Almost every other printing I could find used the alto clef. The exception was a 4-part arrangement which used soprano clef for the top line. In order to save room in the 4-part edition the C-clef was shortened. If you were to rotate this version of the C-clef by 180 degrees you'd end up with something remarkably similar to the clef used in my copy. In other words, I think it's an upside down C-clef and not a weird form of a G-clef.

4.2 There are some simple musical exercises at the start of most copies with a didactic purpose. Most copies have a B flat key signature in these exercises, as they should, but this is missing entirely from my copy.

4.3 My copy only has a clef at the start of each verse. This is inconsistent with the long-established practice of having a clef at the start of every line. While I considered this to be odd, I assumed it must have been some archaic or conservative musical convention. Based on the two points above, it's more likely that the printer just didn't know what he was doing!

I suspect that I have a cheap knock-off printed in the first half of the nineteenth century by non-musicians for non-musicians who wouldn't know any different. It's the equivalent of a pirated DVD full of glitches!

 

Are you still holding hands, then? Or did you scream things like "Fake! Knock off! Cheap!" and stomp out leaving your book in tears?

 

You should bring it to the Antiques Roadshow

 

I still love her. My grandfather had her first and she was then passed on to me by my grandmother.

And.... cue sniggering

 

Your family sounds. Hmmm... unusual!