CZ-Bam 14/5

CZ-Bam 14/5

Brno, City Archive, MS 14/5. Choirbook of liturgical music.

Provenance: Probably copied for the church of St. James in Brno. Date unknown.

Published study and inventory: Martin Horyna and Vladimir Maňas, "Two mid-16th-century manuscripts of polyphonic music from Brno," Early Music 40 (2012): 553-76.

No DIAMM entry.

Source of pieces in Choralis Constantinus II: Copied from a source based on the printer's exemplar (see below).

Choralis Constantinus II contents:

• Mass 1
  • Introit-Puer natus est (fol. 191v)
  • Alleluia-Dies sanctificatus (fol. 192v)
  • Sequence-Natus ante saecula (fol. 194v)
  • Communion-Viderunt omnes (fol. 196v)
• Mass 2
  • Alleluia-Post partum virgo (fol. 205v) - for Purification
  • Sequence-Laetabundus (fol. 206v) - for Purification
• Mass 3
  • Introit-Ecce advenit (fol. 197v)
  • Alleluia-Vidimus stellam (fol. 198v)
  • Sequence-Festa Christi (fol. 200v)
• Mass 4
  • Introit-Suscepimus Deus (fol. 204v)
  • Tract-Gaude Maria (incomplete; fol. 209v)
• Mass 6
  • Introit-Resurrexi (fol. 35v)
• Mass 8
  • Introit-Spiritus Domini (fol. 77v)
  • Alleluia-Veni Sancte Spiritus (fol. 79v)
  • Sequence-Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia (fol. 80v)
• Mass 9
  • Introit-Cibavit eos (fol. 91v)
  • Alleluia-Caro mea (fol. 92v)
  • Sequence-Lauda Sion (fol. 94v)
• Mass 10
  • Introit-De ventre matris meae (fol. 100v)
  • Alleluia-Inter natos mulierum (fol. 101v)
  • Sequence-Sancti Baptistae Christi (fol. 102v)
• Mass 12
  • Introit-Nunc scio vere (fol. 106v)
  • Alleluia-Tu es Petrus (fol. 107v)
  • Sequence-Petre summe Christi pastor (fol. 108v)
• Mass 13
  • Introit-Gaudeamus omnes (fol. 112v)
  • Alleluia-Magnificat (fol. 114v)
  • Sequence-Lauda sponsa (fol. 116v)
• Mass 14
  • Introit-Gaudeamus omnes (fol. 121v)
  • Alleluia-Maria haec (fol. 122v)
  • Sequence-Laus tibi Christe (fol. 123v)
• Mass 15
  • Introit-Gaudeamus omnes (fol. 134v)
  • Alleluia-Assumpta est Maria (fol. 136v)
  • Sequence-Congaudent angelorum chori (fol. 137v)
• Mass 16
  • Introit-Sacerdotes tui (fol. 183v) - for St. Nicholas
• Mass 17
  • Alleluia-Tumba sancti Nicolai (fol. 184v) - for St. Nicholas, with different text
• Mass 18
  Introit-Gaudeamus omnes (fol. 141v)
  • Alleluia-Nativitas gloriosae virginis (fol. 143v)
  • Sequence-Stirpe Maria (fol. 145v)
• Mass 19
  • Introit-Terribilis est (fol. 157v)
  • Alleluia-Vox exultationis (fol. 158v)
• Mass 20
  • Introit-Nos autem (fol. 148v)
  • Alleluia-Dulce lignum (fol. 149v)
  • Sequence-Laudes crucis (fol. 151v)
• Mass 21
  • Introit-Gaudeamus omnes (fol. 163v)
  • Alleluia-Vox exultationis (fol. 164v)
  • Sequence-Omnes sancti Seraphim (fol. 166v)
• Mass 22
  • Introit-Sacerdotes tui (fol. 169v)
  • Alleluia-Martinus episcopus (fol. 170v)
  • Sequence-Sacerdotem Christi (fol. 172v)
• Mass 23
  • Introit-Gaudeamus omnes (fol. 186v) - for St. Anna, with adapted text
• Mass 25
  • Introit-Gaudeamus omnes (fol. 176v)
  • Alleluia-Conceptio gloriosae virginis (fol. 177v)
  • Sequence-Conceptio Mariae (fol. 179v)

Character of variants in Choralis Constantinus II pieces:

The Brno scribe (or the scribe of his immediate exemplar) took an unusual number of liberties with the source. Five numbers (noted above) are assigned to different feasts, sometimes with different texts. Some textual details reflect what were probably local variants of the Choralis texts. Numerous differences in pitch and rhythm were apparently motivated by the scribe's personal taste. Some rhythmic variants adapt the music to different text underlay. Repeated minims preceding a cadence are often joined in order to avoid placing an unaccented penultimate syllable on a minim.

In addition to varying the texts and music in small ways, the scribe corrected several errors that must have been present in the printer's exemplar, since they are found in both the print and other copies of the exemplar. (There can be no doubt that the printer's exemplar was the scribe's ultimate source, since CZ-Bam 14/5 shares many errors with other sources that were copied from that source.)

For a detailed discussion of the provenance and scribal initiatives in the manuscript, see David J. Burn and Ruth I. DeFord, "A Recently Discovered Source for Henricus Isaac's Mass Propers: Transmission and Scribal Initiative in Brno, City Archive, MS 14/5," in Henricus Isaac (c.1450/5-1517): Composition - Reception - Interpretation, ed. Stefan Gasch, Markus Grassl, and August Valentin Rabe, Wiener Forum für ältere Musikgeschichte II (Vienna, 2019), 65-104. In that article, the authors claim that CZ-Bam 14/5 was copied from the print, rather than the printer's exemplar, on grounds that the Erlangen manuscripts have several correct readings in places where CZ-Bam 14/5 and the Choralis print share common errors. The Erlangen manuscripts were thought at that time to be based on the printer's exemplar. A comprehensive comparison of all surviving sources of the Choralis II repertoire has since shown that those manuscripts were based on Ott's original source, and that some errors entered the transmission at the stage of the preparation of the printer's exemplar.

Despite the revision of the stemma, all of the claims made for scribal initiative in CZ-Bam 14/5, including corrections of specific errors, have been confirmed by comparison of the manuscript to other copies of the printer's exemplar.