Milanese hymns

Milanese hymns. The hymns of Ambrose of Milan* were sung in the Milanese Church from the end of the 4th century onwards, and were quickly diffused in the West (cf. AVG. conf. 9,7,15 ; PAVL. MED. vita Ambr. 13), but nothing leads one to suppose that a Liber hymnorum was compiled during Ambrose’s lifetime. The oldest preserved witnesses of the Milanese, or ‘Ambrosian’, hymnal are no older than the last third of the 9th century. These are the psalter-hymnals Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibl., Clm. 343 (F. 212-231v: 42 hymns); Vatican City, Bibl. Vaticana, Vat. lat. 82 (F. 217v-242v: 48 hymns; neumatic notation) and Vat. lat. 83 (F. 205v-227: 42 hymns). It is probable however that the primitive...