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The Gradual (Latin: graduale) is a chant or hymn in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. Gradual can also refer to a book collecting all the musical items of the Mass.
This large choir book contains the noted chants for the masses from Easter Sunday to the Sunday before Trinity. The manuscript belongs to a group of 18 choir books which were produced between 1371 and 1420 for the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence. The volumes comprise antiphoners, that is chants and music for the liturgical offices, and graduals, that is chants for the Mass.
The manuscript Corale 3 is illustrated with 20 miniatures, executed by various artists: Niccolò Rosselli, Lorenzo Monaco, Matteo Torelli and Bartolomeo di Fruosino. Folio 1v, with the beginning of the Mass for Easter, is framed on four sides by a rich border. At the centre in the letter 'R' the Resurrection is represented. Recent criticism has conflicting views on the attribution of the miniature.
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