UC Libraries Put 16th-Century Spanish Antiphoner Online

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Spanish AntiphonerThe University of Cincinnati Libraries have made available via the Digital Projects Web site the Spanish Antiphoner, a 16th-century Gregorian chant choir book handwritten on vellum pages approximately 16 by 24 inches in diameter with neumatic notation and illuminated capitals.  Pages 65 through 72 of the choir book are missing, but 242 pages remain intact. 

Available online at http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/spanishantiphoner/index.asp, the Spanish Antiphoner can be viewed in its entirety as both PDF (download Adobe Acrobat Reader) files or by using Book Reader software. When viewing the Spanish Antiphoner through the Digital Projects database option, viewers can view thumbnails and large versions of the images, and then can rotate, zoom in and out, magnify particular areas, download, and print the images.

The Spanish Antiphoner is located in the Albino Gorno Memorial Music (CCM) Library where it is displayed in a walnut case made specifically for it by the College of Music Alumni Association in 1971. The supports for the case were constructed from carved walnut panels from the old Cincinnati Conservatory of Music building. The Spanish Antiphoner was donated to the CCM Library by the late Martin G. Dumler, a Cincinnati composer, artist, and businessman.

Digitization of this rare illuminated manuscript was made possible by a grant from the Tangeman Sacred Music Center at the university’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) with the assistance of Dr. Matthew Peattie, Assistant Professor of Musicology in CCM.

“I am so pleased that this beautiful, rare musical work is now available to researchers everywhere in digital form thanks to the Tangeman Sacred Music Center and to Linda Newman of University of Cincinnati Libraries Digital Projects department. The Antiphoner itself is a focal point at the entrance to the newly relocated CCM Library on the 6th floor of Blegen Library,” said Mark Palkovic, Head of the CCM Library.

The Spanish Antiphoner joins several other library digital collections online, including:

  • Cooperative Engineer: issues of the quarterly publication produced from 1921 to 1975 by the students and alumni of the College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati.
  • The Architecture and Urban Planning Collection: over 2,500 architectural and urban planning images from China, Africa, Europe, and the United States, with an emphasis on Cincinnati.
  • The News Record: issues of the University of Cincinnati’s independent student newspaper, September 1960 through July 1970. 

For more information, or to view other digital collections, see http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/.