Drexel 4180–4185 is a set of six manuscript partbooks copied in Gloucester, England, containing primarily vocal music dating from approximately 1615-1625. Considered one of the most important sources for seventeenth century English secular song,Peter Le Huray, Music and the Reformation in England 1549-1660 (New York: Oxford University Press), p. 99. the repertoire included represents a mixture of sacred and secular music, attesting to the partbooks' use for entertainment and pleasure, rather than exclusively for liturgical use.
When rebound in 1950, it was discovered that the pastedown endpapers from the original bindings had been created from 16th century English music manuscripts. These fragments have become an additional source of study.
Belonging to the New York Public Library, the partbooks are part of the Music Division's Drexel Collection, located at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Following traditional library practice, their name is derived from their call numbers.Resource Description and Access, rule 6.2.2.7, option c (access by subscription).
John Merro, copyist Although it is known that John Merro copied the manuscript known today as Drexel 4180–4185, little biographical information about him has surfaced. First mentioned in a passing reference in 1609, it is known that he was a singer at Gloucester Cathedral. Based on inscriptions in the two manuscripts in the British and Bodleian libraries, Pamela Willetts observed that Merro had an interest in theology. Other references identify him as witness to the will of Ann Tomkins (wife of Thomas Tomkins, step-mother of famed composer also named Thomas Tomkins, and mother of John, Robert and Giles) as well as having taught viol to children. (He is probably not the John Merro who married Elizabeth Hiam on April 26, 1627.) Merro's will is dated December 10, 1638, giving bequests to various family members. He died March 23, 1639, with his will going into effect on April 20, 1639. The will of his wife Elizabeth is dated September 9, 1645. In addition to giving bequests, she asked that she be buried next to her husband in the Cathedral. She died November 13, 1645, and her will was enacted in December of that year.
General information on Merro's manuscripts Three manuscripts can be identified as coming from Merro's hand: Drexel 4180–4185 (New York Public Library) Additional 17,792-6 (British Library) Mss. Mus. Sch. D.245-7 (Bodleian Library)
Drexel 4180–4185 is the largest of the three collections and has the most diverse repertory. Based on its contents, Monson estimated the date of Drexel 4180–4185 to be between 1615 and 1625, making it the earliest of the three manuscripts attributed to Merro. Both Add. 17792-6 and D 245-7 contain inscriptions by Merro indicating the manuscripts belonged to him. Such an indication is lacking in Drexel 4180–4185 suggesting that the partbooks were not part of Merro's personal collection but used by the cathedral, "made for informal use of choirmen and their friends." However, they are not listed on the Gloucester Cathedral's inventory, indicating either that they were not part of that collection, or were removed before the inventory was made.
David Fallows hypothesized that the partbooks might have been the possession of Gloucester organists. At the cathedral it was the organist's responsibility to copy music for use by the choir. Merro, who received an annual salary, might have been commissioned to do the copying because of his legible hand, though not necessarily in an official capacity. Unfortunately he was not accurate as many errors exists in the partbooks.
Physical details
The original covers to the partbooks were lost when the volumes were rebound in 1950. However, Rimbault, who printed some of the works in his A Collection of Anthems for Voices and Instruments by Composers of the Madrigalian Era, included the following note observing the now-lost bindings in that volume's preface:
This valuable set of ancient Part-books consists of six small oblong volumes in the original binding, and with the Arms and Badge of Edward the Sixth stamped on the sides … The writing commences in the reign of Edward the Sixth, and ends in that of Charles the First, the last composition entered being an Ode composed by Orlando Gibbons for the marriage of that king with the princess Henrietta Maria.
Even without seeing the covers Ashbee noted several obvious errors in Rimbault's account. Rimbault said the final work is an ode composed by Gibbons, but Ashbee noted it is a fantasia. Ashbee notes that the coat-of-arms could not have been that of Edward VI, although it suggests one from Gloucester, as well as ownership subsequent to that of Merro.
Although Monson suggested the dates of 1615-1630, Fallows felt the earliest part of the span is the more correct. Based on his study of the paste-down flyleaves, he felt that the collection was bound no later than 1620 in Oxford. Ashbee suggests dates of 1615-1625 and agrees that the earliest dates are more likely.
The physical layout of music resembles that of the manuscripts Christ Church MSS 984-8 (The Dow Partbooks) and British Library Add MS 22597. This might have been a conscious decision on Merro's part to acknowledge the music's historic nature by maintaining the appearance of an archaic manuscript. In the cantus partbook (Drexel 4180), this archaic style can be seen on folios 1-16v, 18v-38v, 40-43, 54v-57 and 64v-68. To Monson this represents the oldest layer of the partbooks.
Dating Monson notes that the group of madrigals by Tomkins (leaves 124v-138) apparently come from Tomkins's 1622 publication. The inclusion of Byrd's "O Lord make thy servant James" indicates it was entered before 1625. Thus Drexel 4180 suggests dating of 1622-25 for its final entries.
The date when Merro began the collection is more difficult to determine. The publication of Amner's "Sacred Hymns" suggests a date no earlier than 1615.John Amner, Sacred Hymns. Of. 3. 4. 5. and 6. parts for Voyces and Vyols (London : Edw. Allde, 1615). Although Brett thought Merro might have begun copying his collection around 1600, 1615 is the more likely date for when the collection was begun.
Provenance
Possibly once having been in the possession of its copyist, John Merro, the whereabouts of the partbooks is unknown until the 19th century. Philip Brett mentions annotations he attributed to Matthew Hutton, but Monson believed Brett was mistaken, for the only annotations appear to be by a contemporary librarian. The first indication of the partbooks comes from a nineteenth-century owner and musicologist Edward F. Rimbault. From whom he obtained the partbooks is revealed by the title of the publication in which he printed a few of the selections: A Collection of Anthems for Voices and Instruments by Composers of the Madrigalian Era Scored From a Set of Ancient M.S. Part Books Formerly in the Evelyn Collection. The opening line of Rimbault's preface reads:
The following collection of anthems by Este, Forde, Weelkes, and Bateson, have been scored from a manuscript set of part-books formerly in the possession of the celebrated John Evelyn, and now forming one of the many musical rarities in the library of the Editor.
Despite Rimbault's acknowledgement of John Evelyn in the title and in the first line of the preface, Monson and Ashbee had problems with Rimbault's account, possibly because of the previously mentioned errors. Monson observed Rimbault said that the books were "formerly in the possession of the celebrated John Evelyn." Yet they didn't appear in Evelyn's own manuscript catalog nor do they carry Evelyn's ownership mark.Evelyn's catalog is located at Christ Church, cataloged as Catalogus Evelynianus 1687, MS 20a. Ashbee admits the possibilities that the partbooks might have been given away prior to the creation of Evelyn's catalog, but noted that no mention of Evelyn is in the auction catalog of Rimbault's library.
Since Merro was living in Gloucester, Fallows hypothesized that the partbooks were probably acquired by Edward F. Rimbault from someone living in that region. He views John Stafford Smith as the likely candidate since his father, Martin Smith, was organist at Gloucester Cathedral from 1739 to 1781. Ashbee notes that after his death, Smith's library was sold piecemeal which would have simplified acquisition. (Rimbault acquired other works from Smith, such as Drexel 4175.)
After Rimbault's death in 1876, the partbooks were sold as part of his estate.Catalogue of the Valuable Library of the Late Edward Francis Rimbault, Comprising an Extensive and Rare Collection of Ancient Music, Printed and in Manuscript ... which will be sold by auction, by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge ... on Tuesday, the 31st of July, 1877, and five following days (London: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 1877), p. 86, lot 1337. They were one of about 600 lots purchased by Philadelphia-born financier Joseph W. Drexel (through his agent Joseph Sabin), who had already amassed a large music library. Upon Drexel's death, he bequeathed his music library to The Lenox Library. When the Lenox Library merged with the Astor Library to become the New York Public Library, the Drexel Collection became the basis for one of its founding units, the Music Division. Today, Drexel 4180–4185 is part of the Drexel Collection in the Music Division, now located at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
Notation Monson notes that while some of Merro's scribal characteristics remain consistent through the six partbooks (the writing of treble, bass and c-clefs), other details differ both in music and in text underlay and the way in which they are written. For music, he ranges from the more old-fashioned square notation to the more contemporary use of rounded noteheads. In writing of text, his handwriting ranges from a stiff secretarial hand to a florid italic. The square music notation combined with the secretarial hand of text appears mostly in older works, the four- and five-part sacred works by Tallis and his generation. Monson remarks on the appropriateness of such notation applying to an older generation of Elizabethan composers. He notes that works by Byrd included in the collection appear to be written in a more archaic style, describing it as "a gesture towards decorum in penmanship and towards a historical sense which he [Merro] seems to possess."
In the last hundred leaves Monson observes a preponderance of rounded notation and less use of the secretarial script. This is most obvious in the annotations of "5 voc" and "6 voc." Monson believes these to be the "latest layer" in Drexel 4180–4185. Based on the last few vocal entries, Monson suggests they may have been completed in conjunction with work commencing on Merro's next work, Add. 17792.
Despite variances, Monson felt that Merro was the sole copyist of the six partbooks and that the changes are due to his writing the books over the course of a dozen years.
Both Willetts and Ashbee noted many errors in Merro's musical text.
Music content
Monson hypothesized that Merro's intention was compiling a collection of serious vocal music. He based this conjecture on the presence of more than 70 full anthems in four and five parts, quite a large number. Of the modern entries (aside from those written by local composers), most are composed by John Amner and Thomas Tomkins whose style relates more to the older composers (such as Thomas Tallis and John Mundy) than of contemporaneous ones (such as Michael East). Monson deduces that Merro's curation can be seen as an act of preservation since the repertory he favored was quickly falling out of favor.