Proseminar in Music History and Literature

MUS M-501 7295

Instructor: Sarah McDonie
Assignment 5: Lilly Library Visit
Date: February 17, 2022
Student: Isaac Terceros

Lilly Library Visit

Please reflect on your visit to the Lilly Library based on the following prompts:

1) What manuscript did you find the most interesting? Explain.

First, I would like to express my gratitude for the unique opportunity of visiting this
library. If it was not for this class, I would never have had such a wonderful experience.
Honestly, I pass this library building almost every single day, however, I always imagined
that it was just like any other typical library in the school and never had the interest of
entering and exploring the place. It is amazing to realize that we have that exceptional
place here right next to us! This is certainly the first time in my life that I visit a library of
rare books and manuscripts.

Probably, the closest I have been to something similar to this is the musical archives of
the Jesuitic Missions in my country. That is not exactly a library or a museum, rather, a
place within the walls of the catholic churches where the missionaries used to keep all
their musical material. Today, some of those places have been adapted into special
rooms where the manuscripts are restored, copied, and preserved. More than 7
thousand pages of music are being preserved as testimony of the regular flow of music
and musicians to Bolivia from Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. Unfortunately,
and differently from our experience on Wednesday, in my country no one is allowed to
touch the documents.

Coming back to the Lilly Library, probably the manuscript that I found most noteworthy
is the sheet of a Psalter dated from 1459, the second printed book ever in history! It is
fascinating to me to observe that after the Bible, the most significant element to be
printed is music, with all its symbolic and historical meanings and connotations. After
God, there is music! Apparently, nothing else was most important for humanity at that
moment in history.

Additionally, all the details, colors, resources, time, energies (and lives, at least many
lives of animals) invested to produce this book, make it a true piece of art worthy of
profound admiration.
2) Did any of the manuscripts surprise you?

I think the majority of the manuscripts had something especial that really surprised me.
I mention as example: the size and weight of the big book with wooden covers, as well
as its colorful and meticulous illustrations; the Psalter that was used also as a diary or
journal of its family owners over centuries (I wonder why they wrote only on those
central pages. Is that a Psalm with a special meaning for the family?); and also, the
stunning level of detail and the expensive materials used for the embellishment of the
Prayer Book dedicated to a young lady.
3) How did the experience of having a hands-on interaction with these manuscripts
change your understanding of medieval and Renaissance music and material culture?

Until this Wednesday, all my understanding and knowledge regarding medieval and
Renaissance periods had come from literature, music books and perhaps documentaries
and other similar resources, however, visiting the Lilly Library offered me a first-hand
experience with that culture and the opportunity of witnessing real tokens of that time.

In a way, the Lilly Library is a type of mythical space. A space for fantasies, for wonder
and for imagination. When we enter through those doors and walk its halls, we embark
in a travel back to the past, we get into the galleries of history.

Touching those manuscripts, reading their music, decoding their letters, are exceptional
ways to place ourselves in that historical period and get to know their values, language,
culture and traditions, but above all, to comprehend how precious and expensive it was
to register all that data in the form of a book. In summary, in turning those real pages –
those that have been turned for generation and generations over many centuries – we
have the fascinating experience of turning the pages of history.