The Eaton Choirbook.

The Eaton Choirbook.

This book is the earliest of the Tudor Choirbooks and is the most complete one to have survived until present day. As a matter of fact, the choirbook was given the honor of being inscribed on the UK UNESCO Memory of the World Register joining the ranks of documents such as the Magna Carta and the Domesday Book. It was the first manuscript of music to receive this honor.

1500 - 1504

It was originally used for religious services in the college’s chapel. The chapel choir would gather around the book to sing from it (can you imagine being the person who had poor vision & couldn’t see the notes clearly?). This facsimile as a whole is definitely one marvelous work – the art in it is spectacular (and sometimes a bit creepy)…