The Dublin "Visitatio Sepulcri" Play

This article is an editio princeps of both the words and music of Ireland's earliest fully extant play. Our introduction considers the date of the two manuscripts of the "Visitatio", the date of its various textual layers, and the possible date of its final compilation. We also reconstruct the action of the play from its rubrics and in terms of a performance mounted within the limits imposed by the Dublin church of St John the Evangelist, where both manuscripts were owned in the fifteenth century. Our palaeographic discussion of the play's music considers the possible reasons for variants between the two manuscripts and distinguishes between the functions of music scribe and literary scribe. We also examine the extent to which the music relates to earlier musical sources. The music is placed in its liturgical context, the importance of its structural organisation assessed, and the vexed question of rhythmic interpretation raised.