Leiden choirbooks

The Leiden choirbooks are six volumes of polyphonic renaissance music of the Franco-Flemish school preserved in the Pieterskerk, Leiden.

The books were compiled for the Pieterskerk's College of the Seven Liturgical Hours, a professional choir employed at the Pieterskerk, as at many large Dutch city churches during the 15th Century, to sing masses for the dead - or rather those of the dead rich enough to have had left bequests and endowments for masses to be sung for them. Leiden was the first city to acquire a professional college for these masses, c.1440. Rotterdam, Delft in both churches, Haarlem, Gouda, Alkmaar, and finally Amsterdam (as late as 1468) also set up dedicated "college" choirs.

The Liturgy of the Hours in major Dutch churches in the 15th Century was as follows:

• Matins
  • including Lauds (one combined service)
• Prime, early morning
• Terce, mid-morning
• Sext, midday
• None, mid-afternoon
• Vespers, evening service
• Compline, night service

Apart from the Leiden choirbooks almost no trace survives of the Seven Liturgical Hours repertoire. The Leiden books themselves were very nearly destroyed in the iconoclasm of 1566 when a mob burst into the Pieterskerk and ransacked it, but must have been securely locked away and survived.^[1]

Apart from works by renowned masters such as Clemens non Papa, Willaert, and Crecquillon, the books also include anonyma and compositions by less well-known Flemish and local composers.^[2][3]

The Egidius Kwartet is to record the major pieces from the 6 choirbooks in 6 annual 2CD releases from 2010-2015.^{[4][5] [6] [7]}

References

1. Musikalische Aufführungspraxis in nationalen Dialogen des 16. Jahrhundert Volume 1; Boje Schmuhl, Ute Omonsky, Monika Lustig - 2007 "The Leiden Choirbooks eluded further catastrophes, and have remained to this day in Leiden.
2. European Music, 1520-1640 - Page 249 James Haar - 2006 "This work, like many of Clemens' motets and Magnificats, has survived in the Leiden choirbooks, an important manuscript collection from the northern Netherlands that also includes works by Josquin, Willaert, and Crecquillon.
3. Musique des Pays-Bas anciens, musique espagnole ancienne: to 1450 Paul Becquart, Henri Vanhulst - 1988 "Or that between the Montserrat choirbooks and the six Leiden choirbooks, where resemblances of scribal hands, the virtually identical style of the cadellae, and the substantial representation of court composers seem to be connections ..."
4. Leiden choirbooks project homepage (in Dutch)
5. Leiden choirbooks project homepage (in English)
6. Browse a digitized copy of the choirbooks at the Leiden city archive website
7. A short Documentary about the Leiden Choirbooks project (Dutch with English subtitles)