An illuminated opening from the Chigi Codex featuring the Kyrie of Ockeghem's Missa Ecce ancilla Domini. Late 15th century. Vatican Library, Chig. C. VIII 234, music09, NB.03, ff.19v–20r.
The Chigi codex is a music manuscript originating in Flanders. According to Herbert Kellman, it was created sometime between 1498 and 1503, probably at the behest of Philip I of Castile. It is currently housed in the Vatican Library under the call numberChigiana, C. VIII. 234.
The Chigi codex is notable not only for its vivid and colorful illuminations, which were probably done in Ghent in the workshop of the Master of the Hortulus Animae, but also for its very clear and legible musical notation. It contains a nearly complete catalogue of the polyphonic masses by Johannes Ockeghem and a collection of five relatively early L'homme armémass settings, including Ockeghem's.
Several folia, comprising eight works, were added to the original codex at some point after the manuscript's original creation. These are indicated as such in the list below.
The two coats of arms in the page from Missa Ecce ancilla Domini refer to the Fernández de Córdoba family.[1]
A facsimile of the Chigi Codex in seven parts is available to view online,[2] in the International Music Scores Library Project, or IMSLP. The Petrucci Music Library/IMSLP is run by Project Petrucci LLC in the U.S.A.[3]
Contents
The manuscript contains the following works (this list is distilled from that found in Kellman's article):
^The Cardona and Fernández de Córdoba Coats of Arms in the Chigi Codex. Emilio Ros-Fábregas. Early Music History Vol. 21, (2002), pp. 223-258. Published by: Cambridge University Press.
Herbert Kellman (Spring 1958). "The Origins of the Chigi Codex: The Date, Provenance, and Original Ownership of Rome, Biblioteca Vaticana, Chigiana, C. VIII. 234". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 11/1 (1): 6–19. doi:10.2307/830135. JSTOR830135.
