Fontes

There is a great multitude of sources for researching the musical culture of the long 15th century (approx. 1380 - 1540). There are several hundreds of sources containing musical notation of bohemical (i.e., roughly Czech) origin -- see the LIMUP databaze (http:www.clavmon.cz/limup/), to which one must add musical sources without notation and also many more sources of a more general historical character. In the "Old Myths, New Facts" project, we selected five musical manuscripts for detailed study which cover the given time period and include all types of repertoire transmitted in writing during the late medieval period in Czech lands. By studying these soruces, we aim to i.a. formulating a methodology relevant for interpreting the musical culture of central Europe, so that this region and specifically Czech musical culture is more fully reflected in international musicological discourse.

CZ–VB 42
Vyšší Brod, Cistercian monastery library, ms. 42
Cantionale from Vyšší Brod
1410

This manuscript, which has been reflected in scientific literature already in the 19th century (e.g., the handbook Analecta hymnica medii aevi, which is still being cited today), has become more widely known as the eldest preserved source for tens of latin spiritual songs (cantiones) and also songs in Czech (Otep myrry, Doroto panno čistá, etc.). Three quarters of the manuscript are, however, are dedicated to a selection of choral chants for mass, officium horarum, processionals, and more liturgical occasions, both according to the cistercian rite and the secular rite of the Prague archdiocese. A detailed study of the mansucript's codicological structure and its repertoire make it possible to arrive at a new interpretation of how late plainchant, songs, and also polyphonic compositions functioned within the liturgical framework. Thanks to this, we can better understand the significance of individual musical genres for the life of a monastic community and also of laity during a time of papal schism, of discussion on a reform of the church, and of a thriving market for indulgences.

CZ–Pnm II C 7
Prague, Library of the National Museum, man. II C 7
Jistebnice Cantionale
1420-1440

Every Czech high school student has heard of the Jistebnice Cantionale at least in lessons on literature, but few know what is actually inside. The inaccurate name "Cantionale" refers to a collection of songs ("cantiones") with Czech text, among which the Ktož sú boží bojovníci song belongs among the unofficial symbols of Czech nationhood. The manuscript as a whole, however, is first and foremost a completely unique collection of liturgical chants translated into Czech, so that they could be sung during liturgy in a hussite parish church. The section of spiritual songs with Czech texts includes prayers, exegeses of Biblical stories or theological problems in ways comprehensible to the laity, reflections of then-conteporary events, and songs that have traditionally been interpreted as war songs. The Jistebnice Cantionale clearly shows that in its background were personalities with elite education who were well aware of the power of music as a medium for the transmission of reformation thought a century earlier than Luther's Germany. Conversely, compositions with latin texts towards the end of the manuscript indicate that also in the hussite environment, latin remained the language of highest education.

c. 1460
CZ–Pak 376
Prague, National Archive, Vyšehrad Chapter collection, man. 376
Cantionale of Vyšehrad

A collection of monophonic and simple polyphonic chants (plainchant, cantiones, cantus fractus) was created in a catholic environment within a very short time period around the year 1460. Its repertoire reflects the muscial tradition of Czech lands in the first half of the 15th century, including the pre-hussite period. The compositions were recorded by an entire group of copyists, some pieces are written apparently without coordination in several differing versions, and many are additionally difficult to reconstruct. The source seems like a snapshot of the repertoire that members of a still unknown catholic community kept in living memory, and it still remains a question what led to fixing the repertoire in writing. THe manuscript also contains a number of currently undeciphered text additions, which could help elucidate some of the unknowns that remain around how the Catholic Church functioned in Bohemia around 1450.

c. 1500
CZ–Pu 59 R 5116
"Speciálník" of Prague

This manuscript, acquired by the National Library in Prague only in the year 1985, got its name from the more widely known "Codex Speciálník" (CZ-HK II A 7), as it is also an extensive collection of "special" vocal works (monophonic and polyphonic) for occasions of more solemn and festive liturgy, which were not included in the usual liturgical books but were kept in separate manuscripts. The core of the manuscript is from the late 15th and early 16th centuries, younger layers are from up to the middle of the 16th centruy. The provenance of the Speciálník is not known yet; it can be assumed that for several decades, it was serving the signers (a school choir or a literati fraternity) of an utraquist church. Unique polyphonic compositions imitating franko-flemish polyphony are one of the most important proofs of reception of this internationally accepted musical style in the Czech environment that have not yet been properly investigated.

1530
CZ–CHrm 12580
Latin Gradual of Chrudim

At the boundary of the 15th and 16th centuries, in the utraquist circles, beautiful and often very expensive songbooks were created (e.g., Codex Franus, CZ-HK II A 6). These were intended not just to record the liturgical repertoire, but also to represent the urban elite. This type of manuscripts is usually labeled as an "utraquist gradual" and it contains not just plainchant, but also sacred songs and motets. This reportoire, with a continuous tradition traceable even to the pre-hussite era, is recorded in something like a wave of "late interest" as late as the 1530s. The Latin Gradual of Chrudim is especially interesting in that it preserves surpirisingly archaic versions of many chants, which in turn raises questions about the sources from which copies were made and the relationship of the utraquist church of this period to earlier traditions. Sources from the beginning of the 16th century often use different melodies, in comparison to which the Chrudim graduale seems like a well though-out "retro".