Illustration showing Francesco Landini playing a portative organ
The Squarcialupi Codex (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Med. Pal. 87) is an illuminated manuscript compiled in Florence in the early 15th century. It is the single largest primary source of music of the 14th-century Italian Trecento (also known as the "Italian ars nova").
It consists of 216 parchment folios, organized by composer, with each composer's section beginning with a portrait of the composer richly illuminated in gold, red, blue and purple. The manuscript is in good condition, and musical pieces are complete. Included in the codex are 146 complete pieces by Francesco Landini, 37 by Bartolino da Padova, 36 by Niccolò da Perugia, 29 by Andrea da Firenze, 28 by Jacopo da Bologna, 17 by Lorenzo da Firenze, 16 by Gherardello da Firenze, 15 by Donato da Cascia, 12 pieces by Giovanni da Cascia, 6 by Vincenzo da Rimini, and smaller amounts of music by others. It contains 16 blank folios, intended for the music of Paolo da Firenze, since they are labeled as such and include his portrait; the usual presumption by scholars is that Paolo's music was not ready at the time the manuscript was compiled, since he was away from Florence until 1409. There is also a section marked out for Giovanni Mazzuoli which contains no music.
The manuscript was almost certainly compiled in Florence at the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, probably around 1410–1415. Because the same unidentified family seal appears on the first folio of the manuscript and on the portrait page of Paolo da Firenze, it was long suggested that Paolo may have had some part in supervising the effort or have been part of the family that commissioned the manuscript. However, more recent evidence about the biography and in particular poor finances of Paolo has his connection to financing the manuscript unlikely. The manuscript was owned by renowned organist Antonio Squarcialupi in the middle of the 15th century, then by his nephew, and then passed into the estate of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, who gave it to the Biblioteca Palatina in the early 16th century. At the end of the 18th century it passed into the ownership of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.
The first folio in the codex states: "This book is owned by Antonio di Bartolomeo Squarcialupi, organist of Santa Maria del Fiore." On the following pages, added later, are humanistic poems in praise of Squarcialupi.
All of the compositions in the codex are secular songs in Italian: ballata, madrigals, and cacce: there are 353 in all, and they can be dated to the period from 1340 to 1415. Notably absent are Italian pieces by Johannes Ciconia, a northerner transplanted into Italy, and the more innovative compositions of Antonio Zachara da Teramo.
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The SquarcialupiCodex (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Med. Pal. 87) is an illuminated manuscript compiled in Florence in the early 15th century...
Squarcialupi may refer to one of two items: Antonio Squarcialupi, Florentine organist and composer to Lorenzo de' Medici The Squarcialupicodex, the richest...
in its Codex Laurentianus. The library conserves the Nahuatl Florentine Codex, the Rabula Gospels, the Codex Amiatinus, the SquarcialupiCodex, and the...
Antonio Squarcialupi (27 March 1416 – 6 July 1480) was an Italian organist and composer. He was the most famous organist in Italy in the mid-15th century...
became a Benedictine around 1380, and the portrait of him in the SquarcialupiCodex shows him in a Benedictine black cassock. On March 8, 1401 he took...
around 1420; seven songs appear in the SquarcialupiCodex (probably compiled 1410–1415) and 12 in the Mancini Codex (probably compiled around 1410). Three...
single source is the SquarcialupiCodex. He was probably also a priest, and the picture that survives of him in the SquarcialupiCodex shows him in the robes...
his madrigals are also noteworthy. He is well represented in the SquarcialupiCodex, the large collection of 14th-century music long owned by the Medici...
for many of his works. His output, preserved most completely in the SquarcialupiCodex, represents almost a quarter of all surviving 14th-century Italian...
be established, it seems that his earlier music, surviving in the SquarcialupiCodex, is related to the style of Landini and Jacopo da Bologna; his later...
with prevailing idioms of the mid-14th century. His portrait in the SquarcialupiCodex shows him without priestly garments. Nineteen of Giovanni's compositions...
retained for the rest of his life. Lorenzo is represented in the SquarcialupiCodex, the illuminated manuscript which is the most comprehensive source...
it to a name similar to his. The main source for his work is the SquarcialupiCodex, which also includes, in the section containing Andreas's music, a...
early 15th centuries, and were widely copied and disseminated. The Rossi Codex, which is the earliest surviving source of secular Italian polyphony and...
French virelai. Surviving Italian manuscripts include the SquarcialupiCodex and the Rossi Codex. For information about specific Italian composers writing...
century SquarcialupiCodex, although several other manuscripts, all from Tuscany, contain works of his. A portrait on the pages of the Codex devoted to...
wealthy aristocrats. Examples include the SquarcialupiCodex of Italian Trecento music and the Chantilly Codex of French Ars subtilior music. The use of...
motet writing. He is featured in the SquarcialupiCodex, the British Library manuscript Add MS 29987 and the Modena Codex (often known with the sigla ModA)...
Rossi Codex included music by Jacopo da Bologna, the first famous Trecento composer. The Ivrea Codex, dated around 1360, and the SquarcialupiCodex, dated...
by wealthy noblemen. Examples include the SquarcialupiCodex of Italian Trecento music and the Chantilly Codex of French Ars subtilior music. Hand copying...
represented in major Florentine sources of the period; for instance, the SquarcialupiCodex contains nothing by Ciconia. But on the other hand, many of his motets...
The Rossi Codex is a music manuscript collection of the 14th century. The manuscript is presently divided into two sections, one in the Vatican Library...
presence, of his musical compositions. There is a large section of the SquarcialupiCodex, an important source of early Italian music, which is marked out under...
is a probable place of birth or employment. He is depicted in the SquarcialupiCodex as a Benedictine monk. Scholars have proposed that he was at a Benedictine...
Publishers. Nádas, John L., and Agostino Ziino (eds.). 1990. The Lucca Codex: Codice Mancini: Lucca, Archivio di Stato, MS 184; Perugia, Biblioteca Comunale...
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