Behind the stage: some thoughts on the Codex Specialnik and the reception of polyphony in late 15th-century Prague
2009; Oxford University Press; Volume: 37; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/em/can154
ISSN1741-7260
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Influence and Diplomacy
ResumoINTERPRETATION of a 15th-century musical source is often based primarily on a study of its musical contents. Manuscripts provided with an index of compositions afford scholars a richer potential for discussion on the provenance, function and historical context of the source (see illus.1). The Bohemian Codex Speciálník,1 a manuscript intensively studied in the Czech Republic and abroad from the 1990s onwards,2 offers us a point of departure for studies in the musical culture of late 15th-century Bohemia: not only does it have 200 polyphonic pieces composed in different styles, but also an index of contents that combines use of Latin and Czech. The Czech names and other expressions appearing in this index cannot be separated from their grammatical context and meanings, since otherwise fundamental misunderstandings of the cultural and historical circumstances might arise.3 The Codex Speciálník is an important collection of 15th-century polyphony copied most probably in Prague approximately between the years 1485 and 1500 (illus.2).4 The source, preserved from the beginning of the 20th century in the museum in Hradec Králové (eastern Bohemia), has an inscription on the endpaper that indicates that the manuscript was given to a church of St Peter by a farmer named Michal Muratt in the year 1611.5 It is clear from ordinary citizen’s wills of the period that, in addition to gifts for liturgical books (antiphonals, graduals, psalters, etc.), there were also gifts for buying or making books called ‘speciálník’.6 The meaning of this word seems to be quite clear in this context: it is a book with musical repertory other than that usually found in the standard liturgical books, and in this case it indicated a polyphonic repertory.7 The Codex Speciálník belongs to the cultural heritage of the Utraquist Church, which was dominant in several parts of the Czech kingdom in the second half of the 15th century. The centre of that church was in Prague, where most of the citizens (especially Czech-speaking lower and middle classes) associated their belief with the communion sub utraque specie. The Codex Speciálník has traditionally been seen as a collection of sacred polyphony compiled by an unknown brotherhood of literati (fraternitas litteratorum) for use in the Utraquist Mass and other liturgical services.8 In the manuscript more than 30 scribal hands can be identified and the idea of ‘a collective work’ seems therefore to be plausible. In any case, there are several questions and doubts raised by a detailed look at the structure of the manuscript as well as by recent ideas of musical life in Utraquist Bohemia.9
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