Quattro frammenti inediti del disperso laudario di Pacino di Bonaguida

Abstract

Four fragments of the great musical laudario illuminated by Pacino di Bonaguida and his assistants in the early years of the XIV century have been discovered due to research carried out in several public and private art collections. The works of this distinguished painter, who worked in Florence between 1303 and 1330 and who is considered the leader of the so-called school of miniaturists, turned out to be the only possible common denominator of the collection, which was unfortunately broken up during the 19th century and sold, piece by piece, because of its intrinsic value.
The recognition of this material made possible by an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York at the end of 1994 and the beginning of 1995, following attributions by art historians.
The first fragment from the Heinz Kisters collection, on the verso – from which the part set to music has been cut away – is a the scene of the Adoration of the Magi. The recto offers the text of the chorus and three verses of the pseudo-Iacoponic lauda Tutor dicendo.
The second fragment, preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge (Marlay Cutting It. 83), also consists of a large central miniature of rectangular shape cut out of its original setting. The miniature (verso) shows the Martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul. It is possible on the recto to read, at least in part, the text of the lauda Sancto Iovanni Baptista exempro della gente, also to be found in BR 18, BR 19, Fior and Ars.
The third fragment, previously part of the Lehman Collection of New York, contains on the recto the last two lines, set to music, of the first verse of the Sancto Bernardo amoroso lauda together with three more verses hitherto unknown. The beautifully miniatured verso contains the text and the music of the four lines of the refrain of the Appostolo beato lauda, whose music –in D – is written a tone higher than the BR 18 version, which has until now been considered unique.
The fourth and last of the miniatured fragments in question, preserved in the Free Library of Philadelphia (J.F. Lewis Collection, M. 25:8), bears on its recto – which is still glued to a protective piece of cardboard and can only be read by means of an ultraviolet photograph – the explicit of the Appostolo beato lauda examined above. Of its verso only the picture has been spared, a miniature which has until now been identified by art historians as representing Saint John at Patmo.
Following the discovery of these sources – which greatly enriches our knowledge of this important pacinian laudario – an attempt has been made for the first time to reconstruct the order in which these fragments appeared in the codex.