choirbook
File:Chigi codex.jpg, showing the Kyrie of Ockeghem's Missa Ecce ancilla Domini. Cantus and tenor are on the left page, contratenor and bassus on right.]]
A choirbook is a large format manuscript used by choirs in churches or cathedrals during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The book is large enough for the entire choir to read from one book and may contain either monophonic gregorian chant or polyphony, with voice parts laid out individually across an opening's facing pages.
Choirbooks were generally put on a stand with the smaller boy sopranos in front and the men in back. As the printing of music became easier and paper replaced vellum, choirbooks fell out of favour, replaced by smaller, cheaper, and easier to handle partbooks and octavos. A kind of choirbook format is still prevalent in music for piano four hands.
A choirbook was a major investment. Many of them were stark and utilitarian and show signs of heavy and constant use. At larger cathedrals, choirbooks were sometimes lavishly decorated and illuminated. Since they represent an important expense, they were rarely owned by single people, but rather by families or institutions.
Major choirbooks
Cantoral-san-millan-256.jpg|Choirbooks at San Millán de la Cogolla
Ávila, Cathedral of the Saviour 075.jpg|The gregorian introit for Easter, "Resurrexi" illuminated by Juan de Carrión (15th century). Museum of the Cathedral of Ávila, Spain
LeidenChoirBook.jpg|Leiden Choirbook
(16th c.)
Koorboek.jpg| Circa 1500 woodcut
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External links
- [http://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/Search.do?destacadas1=Cantorales&home=true&languageView=enEn Digitized choirbooks] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130823205919/http://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/Search.do?destacadas1=Cantorales&home=true&languageView=enEn |date=2013-08-23 }} at Spanish National Library
- [https://www.bsb-muenchen.de/einblicke/die-chorbuecher/?fbclid=IwAR1rHCt1iKd_BHt5WHodPPmbfkEppPx-QFYGY4kID7yx5Ob2Le8A8dmSuy8 Die Chorbücher der BSB] introduction to Bavarian State Library digitalization project with videos of conservation work. (German)
Further reading
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- {{cite book |author=Boehm, B| title= Choirs of angels : painting in Italian choir books, 1300-1500 | location=New York | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=2008 | url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/189770}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Ilko |first1=Krisztina |title=Forging the Augustinian Past: The Rule-Giving of St Augustine in a Duecento Gradual |journal=Gesta |date=2023 |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=95–126 |doi=10.1086/723217}}