A fragment of the notated antiphonary as the copertina of the Statute of Buje from the 15th century

Abstract

The State Archives in Pazin keeps the Statute of Buje from the 15th century, whose copertina represents a curiosity from the musicological and liturgical aspect. Namely, the Statute is wrapped into a vellum written in neumatic notation both on the external and internal side. A first inspection of this well preserved copertina indicates a fragment of a notated antiphonary with choral square notation on a system of four red lines in the staff. Considering the contained antiphons and responsories, which are the constituent elements of almost every antiphonary in the Western Roman Church, it is difficult to exactly estimate where and for what church the codex was written. Namely, the text transliterated here relates to the Feast of Ascension.