The chants of the 'Pontifical de Coimbra' (P-Pm Ms. 353): a preliminary survey.

Pontificals are liturgical books with the texts – prayers, lectures, rubrics, and chants – for specific services performed exclusively by a bishop: e.g., at the dedication of a church, confirmations, sacred orders, consecrations, sacring of monarchs. This diversity of ritual purposes is reflected in the structure and contents of medieval pontificals – albeit some main traditions exist, discrepancies among the sources are common. From a musicological standpoint, pontificals provide an important field of research, since they contain a significant set of chants: antiphons, responsories, and even some Mass propers. Although most of these items have concordances in antiphoners and graduals, the autonomous relevance of the pontifical versions is not diminished. On the contrary, the notated pontificals allow a broader consideration of the transmission process. Until now, only five pontificals have been identified among Portuguese medieval sources. The earliest two (late 12th century) belonged to the Augustinian Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, although uncertainty remains about their precise provenance and use. Developed as part of the Portuguese Early Music Database project to index liturgical manuscripts with musical notation, this paper will focus on the so-called Pontifical de Coimbra, manuscript 353 of the Public Library of Porto. Apart from a brief survey of Ms. 353’s structure and main features, the paper will consider the notated chants sung in the ordo ad dedicationem ecclesiae in the broader context of the transmission and dissemination of the repertoire.