Spišský graduál Juraja z Kežmarku z roku 1426 Graduale Scepusiense Georgii de Kesmark anni 1426

Abstract

Spissky gradual Jurajaz Kezmarku z roku 1426 Graduale Scepusiense Georgii de Kesmark anni 1426Edited by Amantius Akimjak, Rastislav Adamko and Janka Bednarikova(Ruzomberok, 2006, 605 pp.)Only fragments survive of a once-rich corpus of codices containing the liturgical music of medieval Hungary. Hungarian research into Gregorian chant, which flourished from the 1960s, led to the collection of surviving manuscripts and fragments into inventories and catalogues and to source materials being grouped under several criteria. The chant repertoire in them was registered and analysed, enhancing the source classification by augmenting it with the research into their content. This system clearly distinguished the manuscripts marking the central line of tradition from those connected more loosely or radically different from it.1A special place in the system is held by the Szepes Gradual used at the collegiate church of St Martin of Szepes (Spis) on medieval Hungary's northern rim. The institution ordering and using the gradual belonged administratively to the province of Esztergom, but the content only corresponds in part to the Esztergom sources. In many ways it fits into a broader sphere of regional Central European tradition. Its diversity is manifest in the appearance of the codex, its script and notation, the way its repertoire is compiled, and the melodic variants employed. This diversity has made it an attractive field for scholars. Although Hungarian and Slovak scholars have subjected parts of it to closer analysis,2 the full source was only published in 2006 by three Slovak specialists in the history of liturgy and music: Amantius Akimjak, Rastislav Adamko and Janka Bednarikova. The edition, Spisska Gradual Juraja z Ke?'marku z roku 1426 . Graduale Scepusiense Georgii de Kesmark anni 1426,3 contains a facsimile of the codex along with an authentic transliteration and a study in two languages (Slovak and English).41. The facsimileThis edition of the incomplete gradual contains the 222 surviving folios reproduced, acceptably if not excellently, in black and white, with reproductions of the 19 coloured initials as a supplement.The editors have clearly set out to produce an edition to meet the needs of a narrower academic market that would also attract interest from a broader public interested in cultural history. So they have juxtaposed the facsimile pages with a transcription of the Latin texts on them (full texts of the items, rubrics and folio numbers), with even customary abbreviations written out. But the result is neither the one thing nor the other. Those approaching medieval cultural history without scholarly intent may find it superfluous to publish the whole notated codex in facsimile, while church musicians might find more useful a transcription of the score with practical instructions, and scholars may find superfluous or even irritating the marginal explanations of largely self-evident features.The editors have meticulously used square brackets to denote augmentations of the text of the codex. But they have extended this even to 'absent' letters of customary abbreviations of the period and to the letters bearing an abbreviation sign, which makes the reader's task much harder.5The facsimiles and transcriptions are arranged in a very awkward way, especially on pages where a lot of text needs transcribing.6 The abundance is most obvious with items that recur several times, where the scribe, as is customary, refers by folio number to its first appearance, next to the incipit. The editors, having treated us to a word-for-word transcription of the references, repeat them in the notes without adding any further information on them. So some data can be read three times on one page: in the codex, in its transcription, and in the note to its transcription.7 Along with this rigid all-inclusiveness come a number of inconsistencies:(1) The abbreviated item indications are left unexplained and not spelled out, whereas a uniform style for them - abbreviated or in full - would have made it easier to identify them. …