Two Newly Recovered Sequence Organa in the Winchester Troper

The final notated page of the 'Winchester Troper', GB-Ccc 473, contains two organa for sequences, copied by the main music scribe of the book. The entry, isolated from the rest of the scribe's work and followed by the parting words sic fiat ('let it be so'), has always generated a certain mystery. Until now, neither of the principal voices for the organa could be identified, meaning that both entries were thought unrecoverable. The central finding of this article is that the relevant principal voices are in fact found within the main collection of sequences earlier in the book, under different rubrics. The first part provides evidence for the identification of the principal voices, discussing sequence nomenclature and implications for the copying history of GB-Ccc 473. The second part address issues of reconstruction and concludes with a presentation of the organa in full. As well as introducing two new sequence organa to the corpus of early polyphony, the discovery provides new evidence for our understanding of the Winchester Troper as a book and the recording of sequences and organa in early eleventh-century England.