The Old Hall Manuscript (British Library, Additional MS 57950) is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of English sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for late Medieval English music. The manuscript somehow survived the Reformation, and until 1873 belonged to St. Edmund's College at a place called Old Hall Green (hence its name) in Hertfordshire. It was sold to the Briti...
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The Old Hall Manuscript (British Library, Additional MS 57950) is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of English sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for late Medieval English music. The manuscript somehow survived the Reformation, and until 1873 belonged to St. Edmund's College at a place called Old Hall Green (hence its name) in Hertfordshire. It was sold to the British Library after an auction at Sotheby's in the mid-twentieth century.
The manuscript contains 148 compositions overall, 77 of which are written in score rather than in separate parts. Most of the pieces are settings of parts of the ordinary of the Mass, and are grouped by section, in other words the settings of the Gloria are together, as are the settings of the Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. Between these grouped settings are some motets and pieces related to the conductus.
The Old Hall Manuscript was compiled in the early 15th century,...
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