A Balogi cancionale (1659) kottáiról

Abstract

My study examines the musical movements of a manuscripts preserved in the Grand Library of the Reformed College of Debrecen – the Balogi cancionale, composed in 1659 – from the perspectives of melodic history, music history, and liturgical practice. The significance of the melodies lies in the psalm melodies notations found at the end of the cancionale indicating the involvement of at least two different scribal hands which could be considered in further research on the manuscript. Th e analysis of the melodies confirmed assumptions about the two hands as the notation clearly reveals two distinct writing styles: one angular, the other more rounded. Examining notional accuracy further enabled me to separate the two scribes, and analysis supported the creation of a table that thematically marks the problems in the musical notation. Central focus of my paper is the study of the psalm melodies in the Balogi cancionale and the thematic grouping of the errors found in their notation. Th e manuscript cancionale also contains a responsory on page 271 of the hymnal, which I treat and discuss as part of the cancionale’s core repertoire. This short responsory, reveals the decline of the art of musical notation in 17th-century Hungary.