Description
Provenance: Part of the collection of Antonino Reggio (1725-1780), a Sicilian priest and composer. After Reggio’s death, the Münster volumes likely belonged to an intermediate collector, after which they were acquired by Fortunato Santini (1777-1861). They were in Santini’s collection by 1820 as Santini reports their presence in the catalogue of his collection which was published in Rome in 1820.
Description: Oblong volume, 225x295mm (spine height 28mm). Folio size: variable; smallest 210x265mm; largest 215x290mm. The index (likely in the hand of an intermediate collector) states that there are 59 sonatas; however, at least one quire has been lost, and several sonatas are not included in this index. Currently, the volume contains sixty-three sonatas by Scarlatti and one most likely by Alberti (KS18) which was previously hidden by Reggio.
Rastrum: At least ten different rastra are used.
Watermarks: A large number of different watermarks can be found in Münster 5:
- Index: lily in single circle with letter V below (circle diameter: 47mm)
- Quires 1-2: tre lune motif (selenometry 68/13)
- Quire 7: corner mark letters G_B;
- Quires 8-9: circle with four-legged animal/letters VG (see Milan 1)
- Quires 10-11: lily in double circle with letter V above (see Münster 1)
- Quires 16-17: double circle with unknown element inside (circle diameter: c51mm), below letters P (or R?) and A?/also lily in double circle
- Quires 21-22: lily in double circle with letters CB (see Münster 2)
Titles: The sonatas were originally numbered by Reggio. A later hand – presumably that of an intermediate collector – marked the sonata numbers on each page of each sonata (often making mistakes in the process). Several intermediate title pages are present, presumably in the hands of the original copyists.
Copyists: Sheveloff 1970 refers to the copyists of this volume as M1-M9. Hart 2011 reports that Klaus Kindler discovered that M2 was Antonino Reggio, the owner and compiler of the Münster volumes. Van der Klis 2026 discusses the identity of the copyists M1 and M6. At this point, nothing is known about the other copyists, except for the following:
- M3, M8, M9: likely Italian copyists
- M4: possibly a Portuguese or Spanish copyist
- M5: possibly a copyist based in Naples based on watermark evidence
- M7: the same hand as M2 (Antonino Reggio)
To date, none of these hands has been recognised in other extant manuscripts.
Comments: Münster has long been regarded as one of the most important sources of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas. The five manuscript volumes in total contain 363 sonatas by Scarlatti (and one most likely by Alberti; see KS18). Based on extensive source analysis during this project, we now know that the compilation process of these volumes was far more complex than was assumed previously. Furthermore, the presence of over 1,500 alterations to the original text by Antonino Reggio, the first owner of the collection, has made it more difficult to assess Münster’s relationship to other extant sources such as the Parma and Venice collections. We can now confidently say that most of Münster (at least the work by M1) was copied from high-quality exemplars which appear not to have survived.
As is the case for Münster 4, some of Münster 5 may have been copied at an earlier date as is suggested by the ‘1754’ postscripts present in some of the sonatas. Münster 5 appears to have been an unfinished collection at the time of Reggio’s death. This is evidenced not only by the lack of a proper cover but also by the fact that the index is not in his or M1’s hand. Furthermore, Reggio made several changes to his sonata numbering showing how he re-organised material as he collected it. The quality of the musical text in Münster 5 is markedly lower than that in Münster 1-3.
Date: Based on the watermark evidence, the examination of extant work by the copyist, and biographical details of Antonino Reggio’s life, we can assume that work on this volume was ongoing in c1763. However, work on Münster 5 may have been abandoned after Reggio finished his own set of five volumes of keyboard works in the 1770s.
