vdm16 
Susanna comoedia tragica.

Cologne: Johannes Gymnich the Elder, 1539, vdm: 826

BASICS
Title page:

❧ SVSAN⸗||NA COMOEDIA || TRAGICA.|| PER XYSTVM BETVLIVM || AVGVSTANVM.|| [printer’s mark] || Coloniæ, excudebat Ioannes Gymnicus.|| Anno. M. D.XXXIX.||

Author:
Sixt Birck
Printer:
Johannes Gymnich the Elder
Printer's mark:

Heraldic seahorse with banderole inscribed: “DISCITE IVSTITIAM MONITI” (on title page).

Place of printing:

Cologne

Year:
1539
Further information on dating: from title page
Type of source:

Humanist book

Catalogue references:
USTC 695225
VD16 B 5558
vdm
826
Further details:

Woodblocks for music are reused from the earlier edition of 1538 (vdm 820).

Paratexts:

A1v-3r: Pueri in laudem Agrippinae urbis in qua repetita est actio. The text is printed in full (“Agrippina tibi laudibus inclytæ, || Germani imperii quæ decus omnium || …”), and then set to music.

Format:
8º
Printed area: 82 x 125 mm
Number of leaves:
48
Collation: A-F8 (last folio blank).
Autopsy copy:

D-W P 1692 Helmst 8°

Online facsimile:

D-Ju, D-Sl


D-Sl HBK 49, A1r
DETAILS
Technique for printing music:

woodcut

Text font:

Italic, Antiqua (Roman)

Remarks on printing:

Antiqua used as display font.

Musical layout:
choirbook
Notation:

Mensural notation

Number of staff lines:
5
Number of voices:
4
Measurements:

full-length staff: 80 x 13.5 mm

Comments on notation:

The music is set out in an awkward way: the four voice parts simply run one after the next (discantus, tenor, altus, bassus) in such a way that it is impossible for them to be sung at the same time from the same copy.

Repertoire:

This edition contains only one piece: a four-voice setting in praise of “Agrippina urbs” (Cologne), which comes before the start of the play.

Copies:

D-BMm, D-FRu, D-Gs, D-Ju, D-Sl, *D-W, GB-Lbl

Related editions:

Susanna comoedia tragica.

Cologne: Johannes Gymnich the Elder, 1538, vdm: 820


Susanna comoedia tragica.

Cologne: Johannes Gymnich the Elder, 1541, vdm: 1191


D-Sl HBK 49, A2r
COPIES
D-BMm (Bremen, Stadtbibliothek)
D-FRu (Freiburg im Breisgau, Universitätsbibliothek)
Shelfmark: D 9295
D-Gs (Göttingen, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek)
Shelfmark: 8 P DRAM I, 3100
D-Ju (Jena, Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek)
Shelfmark: 8 Art.lib.IX,13(3)
Link to online scan:

D-Ju

D-Sl (Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek)
Shelfmark: Fr.D.oct.5530
Link to online scan:

D-Sl

D-W (Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek)
Shelfmark: P 1692 Helmst 8°
Condition:

Good.

Classification of binding:
contemporary binding
Description of binding: White pigskin with rolling stamps as a frame; „1551“ blindstamped on the bottom. On the spine is written „104“ in brown ink. Rolling-stamps show the crucifixion, the divine man (symbol of Matthew the Evangelist), St Paul, eagle of St John the Evangelist, resurrected Christ. Blindstamping has floral motifs.
Content of composite volume:

2. Macropedius, Hecastus, fabula non minus pia quam iucunda, Köln: Gymnich 1540
3. Samaritus, Samarites Comoedia de Samaritano, Köln: Gymnich 1539
4. Schnepper, Voluptatis ac virtutis pugna, Köln: M. Gymnich 1546
5. Goerinus, Epistola ac Libellus eruditione gratoque lepore festivissimus, Köln: Soter 1534

Provenance:

Cancelled inscription on the title page from the University of Helmstedt.

GB-Lbl (London, British Library)
Shelfmark: Music Collections Hirsch III.655