Waste paper as a music source: fragments preserved with the incunabula at the University Library in Wrocław
Date
2012
Authors
Advisor
Editor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Katedra Muzykologii, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PTPN, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM
Title alternative
Abstract
Preserved with the incunabula at the University Library in Wrocław are eighty-fi ve fragments
of music manuscripts. Alongside numerous antiphonaries, notated breviaries and missals, they
also include a fragment with polyphonic music (PL-WRu XV Q 1066). This contains three compositions
typical of fi fteenth-century Central European repertory. There are grounds for supposing that this
fragment was written in Silesia during the second quarter of that century.
Research into the music fragments from the University Library in Wrocław has provided the author
with a point of departure for discussing methodological issues. Questions are raised regarding the
nature of fragmentary sources, with reference to the classifi cation of historical sources proposed by
Jerzy Topolski. The status of fragments differs from that of sources preserved intact, and this should
be refl ected in research procedures, such as the method of establishing provenance. The adoption of
new methodological principles requires a critical re-examination of the interpretation of some musical
fragments, including the sources preserved in Poland.
Description
Sponsor
Keywords
University Library in Wrocław, music manuscripts, fragmentary sources, chant music, fi fteenth-century polyphony
Citation
Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology 11, 2012, pp. 41-52.
Seria
ISBN
ISSN
1734-2406