LIM: Saggi Ruspoli

In 2003, whilst researching some anonymous manuscripts in Portugal’s National Library (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal), the present author found an intriguing and incomplete work for 16 voices and basso continuo. The first gathering was missing and, consequently, also the title page where the information relating to the author, title, institution and, sometimes, property is usually recorded. The extant part of the manuscript consists of six sewn gatherings of 25 folios and, apart from some added notes and a few ink stains by a later hand, is in very good condition, partly due to the thickness and excellent quality of the paper. […] The immediate reaction to the discovery was almost of disbelief and astonishment: a sacred work in stile concertato for 16 voices and basso continuo with the characteristics of an autograph is indeed a very rare find in Portuguese archives and, as far as the rich and varied music holdings of the first library of Portugal are concerned, the only specimen of its kind.