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Two rhymed offices composed for the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: comparative study and critical edition
Hallas, Kathryn Rhianydd ; Vlhová-Wörner, Hana (advisor) ; Eben, David (referee) ; Colton, Lisa Marie (referee)
The feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary was one of the last medieval Marian feasts to be introduced into the Roman Calendar, and is unusual in the wealth of contemporary, and near contemporary, documentation available for study in relation to its introduction. The offices written by Jan of Jenštejn [1347-1400] and Adam Easton [1330-1397] for the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary have never been the subject of detailed examination or comparison, nor have critical editions of these offices been produced. This thesis addresses both these gaps in scholarship and presents an analysis and comparison of the texts, melodies, and dissemination of the offices. Using contemporary evidence and secondary sources the reasons for the institution of the new feast, the motivations of both Jenštejn and Easton, their compositional styles including choice of texts and melodies, and the introduction process itself are examined within the wider context of contemporary Marian devotion and fourteenth- century textual and musical composition. Chapter One provides a contextual background to the celebration of the Visitation, from its inclusion in the Gospel of Luke and apocryphal sources to contemporary sermons, showing the importance of the Visitation in the West long before the new feast's introduction....
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Hymn and its Tradition in Late Medieval Bohemia
Mráčková, Veronika ; Hlávková, Lenka (advisor) ; Vlhová-Wörner, Hana (referee) ; Gancarczyk, Pawel Tomasz (referee)
The Abstract The Hymn and its Tradition in Late Medieval Bohemia Veronika Mráčková, Charles University, Prague The present thesis concerns the monophonic and polyphonic office hymns preserved in late medieval Bohemian sources. The author is mainly focused on the repertoire of the hymns written in Strahov Codex from around 1467. This manuscript of uncertain provenance contains an enormous collection of three- and four- voice polyphonic hymns which show plenty of the local characteristics. These domestic traits may be identified not only through texts devoted to indigenous Saints, but also through the melodies which form the cantus firmus in the upper voice of the hymns. The identification of these monophonic tunes in other plainchant sources could help us to determine the origin of Strahov Codex. Additionally, it is clear that this mensural manuscript contains not only music of a high artistic standard, but also a number of less polished compositions, and that it is thus an important witness to the existence of a wide range of daily musical activities in late medieval Bohemia. A crucial part of this dissertation is a critical edition of the monophonic hymn tunes preserved in Roudnice Psalter, as well as an edition of the selected polyphonic hymns written in Strahov Codex.
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