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Cessac: 1. Tome I
dans son ensemble
Dies irae, H. 12 Paper: The funereal music in cahier 5 occupies a chronological position that suggests that it was written for the funerals of Mme de Guises's husband and mother, 1672-73. This notebook is made almost entirely of Paper b, but the center sheet (fols 43-44) is the Jesuit Paper Charpentier used while in the employ of the Jesuits, 1688-98. Staves: Paper b has printed staves, made by the form called PAP-77. Clefs:
The treble clefs for this entire work date are the type that Charpentier used after 1680. The C-clef does not yet have the double vertical lines at the left, as his clefs do during the mid-1690s. Since the central sheet of the notebook is a piece of Jesuit Paper, it is likely that the notebook, as it has come down to us, does indeed date from the Jesuit period.
cahier 5, fol. 35, of Dies irae
Inferences: Although the Dies irae almost
certainly written for the death of the last duke of Guise in 1671, the entire
work was recopied after 1688, while Charpentier was working for the Jesuits. At
any rate, that is what is suggested by the presence of a sheet of Jesuit Paper
in the middle of the notebook. The recopying would seem to have been done early
in his tenure with the Jesuits, because the C-clef does not have the double
vertical lines at the left that characterize the C-clefs in Tome V of the
Mélanges, which dates from 1692 or 1693. Perhaps the notebook made in the
early 1670s had become shabby, owing revivals of the work for other Guise
funerals in 1672, 1675 and 1688. Or perhaps, having revised this funeral music
for one or more of those events, Charpentier made a clean score for his archives
that preserved the best elements of several successive versions. Be that as it
may, he put the piece back into its original position, among works conceived in
the early 1670s. Caedes sanctorum innocentium H. 411 Paper: Cahier XLI is made entirely of Papier J. This paper appears in both series of notebooks and was used throughout 1684 and on until March 1685 (Rendez-vous des Tuileries). Staves: The staves are printed, using the form called PAP-77. (It is interesting to note that this same form was used to print Paper b, which clearly was not used by Charpentier until after 1688. Judging from their counter-marks, Paper J and Paper b were produced by different mills; but their staves suggest that they were printed by a single printer.) Clefs:
cahier XLI, fol. 1, of Caedes sanctorum innocentium, 1684
Inferences: This work seems to have survived untouched. We therefore have before us the original score and the composer's handwriting of late 1684. We cannot of course determine whether Paper b (post-1688) came from the same print shop as the paper in this notebook (1683-84). Magnificat à 3 dessus H. 75 Paper: Cahier 41, where this piece is found, is more or less contemporary with the work just discussed: Caedes sanctorum innocentium, in cahier XLI. That is, they are made of the same paper, used in 1683 and 1684. In other words, the Magnificat can be dated: 1683-84. This dating is corroborated by the presence Mlle de Grandmaison's name on fol. 62 of this work: she came to the Hôtel de Guise in the early 1680s. Staves: The staves are printed by form PAP-77, the same one used for cahier XLI, Caedes sanctorum innocentium. Clefs: These clefs date from 1683-84, for there is no reason to believe that this notebook was recopied at a later date. The clefs in this cahier can therefore serve as examples of Charpentier's musical hand, 1683-84.
cahier 41, fol. 62, of Magnificat, 1683-84
Inferences: Cahier XLI, like cahier 41, dates from 1683 or 1684. It provides us with a datable example in the evolution of Charpentier's musical hand. Saint François H. 310 Paper: In cahier 2 the paper changes between fol. 15v
and fol. 16r. This change results from the replacement of the outer sheet of the
notebook with a piece of Paper a (fols 9 and
16-17), and the recopying of the measures that had been on the original outer
sheet. The rest of the notebook is made of Paper A.
According to the chronological flow of the notebooks, this piece was written for the fall of 1671. This hypothesis is reinforced by the fact that the first cahiers of both series of notebooks are made of Paper A (cahiers I-V and "I", and cahiers 1-4), and also by the fact that their treble clefs are the type that Charpentier used during the 1670s. Staves: Charpentier used printed music paper for the first page of Saint François (Ranum's Paper A). This paper was printed with form PAP-75. Clefs:
The C-clefs on the first page of Saint François have the double vertical lines at the left that characterize Charpentier's manuscripts of the mid-1690s. In other words, they appear to post-date the C-clefs on the first page of the datable Magnificat (1683-84), and the dateable clefs of Caedes sanctorum innocentium (late 1684).
cahier 2, fol. 16r, of Saint François
By contrast, the clefs in the remainder of cahier 2 (including the first two pages of Saint François) are the type Charpentier used throughout the 1670s. In other words, quite a bit later --- perhaps in the early 1690s --- Charpentier made a new outside sheet for cahier 2 and recopied the final eleven measures of Saint François onto the new fol. 16r.
cahier 2, fol. 15v, of Saint François, 1671
Inferences: The outer sheet of cahier 2 apparently was damaged, so Charpentier recopied it (in the 1690s?). The rest of cahier 2, with staves printed by the form known as PAP-75, almost certainly dates from 1671. With the exception of the considerably posterior outer sheet, the musical hand is that of the 1670s. TAKEN AS A WHOLE, WHAT CAN THE EXAMPLES IN ENIGMA 1 TEACH US? First of all, we learn that the printing form used to produce PAP-77 was used to make at least two brands of paper in the Mélanges: Paper J (Caedes) and Paper b (post-1688). In addition, since cahier XLI and cahier 41 are contemporaneous and can be dated with considerable accuracy, the clefs in these notebooks provide reliable examples of Charpentier's musical hand, 1683-1684. Finally, we see that the composer sometimes recopied (and perhaps reworked?) entire sheets of paper, or even entire notebooks, but that he filed the fresh copy (version?) in its original chronological position.
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Judging from its chronological position in flow of the Mélanges. and
from the presence of Paper J in both series of notebooks, Caedes
sanctorum innocentium was almost certainly written late in 1684.
These clefs are therefore reliable examples of Charpentier's
handwriting late in 1684. 
