The Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music

Volume 11 (2005) No. 1

Editing the Keyboard Music of Bull and Scheidemann

David Schulenberg*

Appendix: The Status of Attributions in MB 14

1 In my article, “The Keyboard Works of William Byrd: Some Questions of Attribution, Chronology, and Style” (Musica Disciplina 47 [1993]: 99–121), I offered lists of keyboard pieces that have been attributed to Byrd either in early sources or by modern scholars, sorted in terms of the status of the attributions. I do the same here for the works of Bull of the types published in MB vol. 14, that is, preludes, fantasias and related works, plainsong settings, and carols. Table 1 lists sources and manuscript sigla; attributions are divided between “safe” ones that seem beyond serious doubt (Table 2) and others whose status is less certain (Table 3).

2 The results here are somewhat different than for Byrd: fewer “safe” attributions in Table 2, and a great many more uncertain ones in Table 3. Moreover, the uncertainties attached to the latter are such that I have not attempted to distinguish various degrees of probability or improbability among the uncertain works. This difficult situation arises for several reasons. There are fewer sources for these works than for Byrd's, and the majority of the pieces are preserved in just four manuscripts. Two of these, Me and Vi, are of uncertain provenance, yet they transmit numerous unica whose attributions seem questionable, not only because of the presence of several conflicting attributions for other works, but, more importantly, because of the stylistic heterogeneity of the Bull attributions. A third major source, Bu, transmits most of the works thought to be Bull's in anonymous copies, although fortunately few of these are unica. The fourth of the major sources, the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, is currently undergoing re-evaluation and is no longer considered the work of the English recusant Francis Tregian, although the status of its attributions seems secure.

3 What, then, constitutes a fully reliable attribution for Bull? I have accepted attributions given by Tomkins and Cosyn, two composer-copyists who appear to have had access to reliable exemplars and who evidently took some care to preserve attributions. Unfortunately these are few in number. I have also accepted attributions given in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, even though the copyists and provenance of this source must now be considered unknown. Although this source transmits texts of variable quality, its attributions are rarely if ever contradicted in other sources, at least for Byrd and Bull. I have also accepted attributions found in any two extant sources, since no existing source appears to be copied from another one, suggesting that their attributions are independent of one another.

4 I have listed all other attributions in Table 3. Clearly the pieces listed here are of varying degrees of doubtfulness. The main point, however, is that students of Bull’s music risk circular reasoning if they assume any of these works to be his. I myself have been guilty of that, having previously pointed out a similarity between one of these and a work for which I named Bull as a possible composer. (The work in question, the Pavan no. 33a in MB, vol. 27, bears a questionable attribution to Byrd in one source; see “The Keyboard Works of William Byrd,” 108.)

5 In a few cases in which the style of a work seems particularly incongruous, previous commentators have proposed alternate attributions, as noted below. I share their doubts about Bull's authorship of these pieces, but I consider many other pieces in Table 3 to be equally doubtful. Barring new discoveries, these are best regarded as a repertory that was associated with Bull’s name. It doubtless contains compositions by him, but it also contains pieces by others that passed through his hands, sometimes with modifications, as well as some that may have had nothing to do with him, other than a perceived commonality of style.

6 Unfortunately, Table 3 includes every one of the pieces that have been posited as Bull’s work from after his departure for the Continent in 1613. Brown (p. xxiii) has described a few of these as possible instances of a “late style” that Bull adopted after his arrival; the hypothesis of such a style is necessary if one is to accept the attributions of these pieces, which differ considerably from the better-attributed ones. But the hypothesis rests almost entirely on the many unique attributions in Me and Vi, especially those attached to two rather different types of pieces: several long fantasias resembling those of Cornet and Sweelinck, and a few liturgical verse settings. Among the few factors common to both types of works seem to be a focus on fairly strict imitative counterpoint and an avoidance of the more flashy and mechanical types of figuration found in what are presumed to be Bull’s earlier works, written before his departure from England in 1613. This is plausible, but it would require Bull, at the age of about fifty and no doubt under considerable personal stress, to have undertaken a complete rethinking of his style while adopting elements of quite different music. It is not impossible, but it would represent a remarkable and perhaps unparalleled case in music history. In other instances, such as the two fantasias on subjects from Palestrina’s madrigal Vestiva i colli, a unique attribution in Me is somewhat more plausible on the basis of apparent echoes of Bull’s earlier style, especially a somewhat facile sort of melodic diminution.

Table 1

Source Sigla

Source sigla are those used in MB. Names in parentheses are those from which the MB sigla are derived; only in the cases of Co, El, and To are these confirmed as actual copyists or owners of the manuscripts.

Be	GB-Lbl Additional MS 31403 (“Bevin”)
Bu	F-Pn Rés. 1185 (“Bull”; actually two main hands, the first unidentified, the second Benjamin Cosyn)
C3	GB-Och Music MS 1207
Co	GB-Lbl Royal Music Library MS 23.l.4, Cosyn’s Virginal Book (“Cosyn”)
D2	US-NYp Drexel MS 5612
El	GB-Och Music MS 1113 (“Elway”)
Fa	Lost MS attributed to Vincentius de la Faille (1625); modern copy in B-Bc
Ki	William Kitchiner, The Loyal and National Songs of England (London: Hurst, Robinson, and Archibald Constable, 1823)
Ly	D-Bds MS Lübbbenau Lynar A1
Me	GB-Lbl Additional MS 23623 (“Messaus”)
P2	F-Pn Rés. 1186bis II
Pe16	Lost MS, in list as belonging to Johann Pepusch in John Ward, Lives of the Professors of Gresham College (London: J. Moore, 1740); reprint, New York: Johnson, 1967; facsimile in Cunningham, pp. 226–31
Pe18	Second lost MS of Pepusch
To	F-Pn Rés. 1122 (“Tomkins”)
Tr	GB-Cfm Mu. MS 168, the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (“Tregian”)
Tu	GB-Lbl Additional MS 36661 (“Tunstall”)
Vi	Wn Cod. 17771, the Vienna Bull Manuscript
Wr	GB-Lbl Additional MS 30485 (“Wray”; more recently supposed to be an autograph of Thomas Weelkes)

Table 2

Works with “Safe” Attributions

This includes all works with attributions to Bull in Tr, To, or Co, or in any two independent sources.

Sigla are given in italics for anonymous copies. A key, plus a figure (e.g., d1) is Cunningham’s symbol (I have added the figure “1” in cases for which he gives a letter alone; a letter alone signifies works that he does not list or to which he assigns no number).

No.	Short title	Sources	Comment
Preludes
2/1	Prelude G3	Me, Be, Pc	Pc gives altered version
30/1	Prelude d1	Tr, Bu
43/1	Prelude G	Tr (no. 197)
60	Prelude F1	Tr, Co	“Dor.” in source interpreted as “Doric” in MB
61	Prelude C1	Tr	“AD.” in source interpreted as “Doric” in MB
Fantasias and the Like
10	Fantasia d1	Tr, Be, Bu	Bicinium until the end
12	Fantasia d3	Co
17	Fantasia G	Tr, Vi, etc.	The modulating hexachord fantasia; additional anonymous copies associated with Poglietti
18	Fantasia G	Tr, To, Bu	Very long hexachord fantasia
Cantus Firmus Settings
20	In Nomine [1	Bu (twice), El, To
28	In Nomine [9	Tr, Bu, El	The “great” In Nomine, 11 beats per measure
29	In Nomine [10	To
30/2	In Nomine [11	Tr, To
31	In Nomine [12	Tr, To	Final d, unlike the other In Nomines (final a)
33	Christe redemptor	Tr
34	Miserere [1	Tr, Bu, El, D2, C3, P2
37	Salvator mundi [1	Tr, Bu
38	Salvator mundi [2	Bu, D2, P2, Be
42	Veni redemptor [1	Tr, Bu, Co, El, D2

Table 3

Works Lacking “Safe” Attributions

Sigla are given in italics for anonymous copies; in bold for copies with conflicting attributions. A key, plus a figure (e.g., d1) is Cunningham’s symbol (I have added the figure “1” in cases for which he gives a letter alone; a letter alone signifies works that he does not list or to which he assigns no number).

No.	Short title	Sources	Comment
Preludes
—	Prelude G7	Tr	follows preludes G5 and a2
1/1	Prelude d2	Vi	fragmentary “Fantasia” in source
16	Prelude g	Vi	“Fantasia” in source
57	Dorick prelude a4	Bu, El	Shortened version (no. 57a) is by Gibbons?
58	Dorick prelude a5	Bu, El
59	Dorick prelude c	Bu	Proposed composer: Cosyn
Fantasias and Similar Pieces
—	Fantasia a	Me	a 3; “Chappel”
—	120 canons	Vi	blanket attribution
1/2	Fantasia d	Vi
2/2	Fantasia G1	Me
3	Fantasia a	Me	On a subject from G. Guami, “La Guamina”
4	Fantasia a1	Me	On chromatic subject attributed to Sweelinck
5	Fantasia a2	Vi	subject = ascending chromatic tetrachord
6	Fantasia C1	Me	quinti toni
7	Fantasia C	Me	sexti toni, intabulation of “A Leona” (?)
8	Fantasia a	Me	On Palestrina, “Vestiva i colli” (no. 1)
9	Fantasia d	Me	On Palestrina, “Vestiva i colli” (no. 2)
11	Fantasia d2	Tu	Bicinium
13	Fantasia F	Me	sexti toni; proposed composer: Cornet
14	Fantasia G2	Me (twice)	octi toni; proposed composer: Sweelinck
15	Fantasia g1	El	low E-flats raise questions of medium
—	Ricercar d	Me	primi toni a 4
—	Ricercar d	Me	altra primi toni a 4
—	Ricercar C	Me	quinti toni a 4
19	Fantasia G	Me	Arrangement of hexachord fantasia by Du Caurroy
32	God save the King	Ki, Ly	Ly (with alternate ending) attributes to Sweelinck
50	Canon 4 in 2	Be
51	Canon 2 in 1	Be, Wr	Proposed composer: Tallis
Cantus Firmus Settings
21	In Nomine [2	Bu, El, To	Grouped in mss with nos. 20, 22–25
22	In Nomine [3	Bu (twice), El, To	Grouped in mss with nos. 20–21, 23–25
23	In Nomine [4	Bu, El	Grouped in mss with nos. 20–22, 24–25
24	In Nomine [5	Bu, El	Grouped in mss with nos. 20–23, 25
25	In Nomine [6	Bu, El, To	Grouped in mss with nos. 20–24
26	In Nomine [7	To
27	In Nomine [8	To
35	Miserere [2	Vi
36	Miserere [3	Bu
43/2	Veni redemptor [2	Tr
Verses
—	Aurora lucis rutilat	Bu (no. 79)	Follows a series of dances; ed. in MB vol. 66
39	Salvator mundi [3	Me
40	Salve regina [1	Vi	5 verses
41	Salve regina [2	Vi	2 verses
44	Vexilla regis	Me	4 verses
45	Jam lucis	Me	2 verses on different melodies
46	Te lucis	Me
47	Telluris ingens	Me	7 verses on three different melodies
48	Alleluia per te	Me
49	Alleluia post partum	Me
Carols
52	Den lustelijken Meij	Me	2 settings
53	Een kindeken [1	Fa	2 settings
54	Een kindeken [2	Fa	2 settings
55	Een kindeken [3	Fa, Me	Bicinium
56	Laet ons met herten	Me	Prelude and carol based on same melody

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