Tradycja liturgiczno-muzyczna Kościoła Mariackiego w Gdańsku w świetle kodeksu Ms. Mar. F 405 z Biblioteki PAN w Gdańsku

Abstract

The present study contributes to the extensive research carried out on the mediaeval musical culture in Poland, particularly in the Pomeranian Region. This paper is not only a monographic elaboration on Ms. Mar. F 405 code. Additionally, it attempts to determine its position against a background of various other kinds of Polish and European liturgical and musical tradition. The antiphonary contains both “de tempore” and “de sanctis” breviary chants, including “commune sanctorum” compositions. It is certainly a second part of a two-volume antiphonary (the first part containing Advent, Christmas and Lent is unknown), as it begins with Vespers from the office of the Lord’s Resurrection’s Sunday. The code is not complete. The fact that a lot of pages are missing, including the colophon, makes it impossible to read some offices and hinders to determine the time and place of the antiphonary’s origin. The book is bound in oak panels coated with skin. There are some other characteristic features noticeable in the book’s construction, for example some practical devices in the form of metal corners and bars, a separate spot serving to fasten the book to a stand and a lack of stamps which were first used in the 15th century. These qualities indicate the 14th century as the time of the book’s origin. The code was written in Gothic minuscule commonly used in the middle ages (called also a texture) on parchment folios (having some features of the northern parchment: “charta theutonica”). The ornamentation of the code is rather simple and strictly related with the divine office (liturgy of the hours). Liturgical chanting was recorded in a rhombic notation, called Gothic, which is monophonic, generally typical of the diocesan chorale. The comparison of Ms. Mar. F. 405 with the Teutonic codes (F1, L6 and L10) and the diocesan antiphonary from Bamberg (the 12th century) makes it possible to ascertain their repertoire similarity. In the musical layer, the code is not a monolith, however its tonal profile fits within the diocesan practice much better than within the monastic tradition. It is possible to notice the impact of the latter practice mainly in the chants of the 4th and 7th tone. Undoubtedly, it is evidence of the mediaeval practice of an intermingling of different kinds of liturgical and musical tradition. The place of the manuscript’s origin remains an open question. The script might have been created both in Gdańsk, and outside the city’s borders. Numerous arguments associated with this matter indicate mediaeval Toruń, as it was at that time an energetic center of culture and craftsmanship. The Ms. Mar. F 405 was written six hundred years ago and it seems that at this point we have to make do with mere suppositions.