PETRUS WILHELMI DE GRUDENCZ: NOTES ON THE COHERENCE OF HIS BIOGRAPHY, HIS WORK AND ITS TRANSMISSION

• Authors: Staehelin M.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Since a recent archival discovery it has been known that Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz was 'Friderici imperatoris cappelanus'. It is remarkable that, in spite of having worked as a composer, he was not named as an imperial 'cantor' in the document in question, which dates from 1452. This is surprising, because many chapel singers who were documented in the archives of the imperial residence would be called 'domini Federici romanorum imperatoris semper augusti cantor' expressly, or described in similar terms. Incidentally the latter also holds true, as shown by another new archival discovery, for Johannes Touront (the relevant text appears in the appendix of the paper), who was proved first as imperial singer, which finally explains the Central European transmission of his compositions. However, the difference in the descriptions of the two musicians also documents the different position of Petrus Wilhelmi at the imperial residence. The reason lies in the following institutional tradition: originally, members of a court 'capella' would include all those chaplains who took responsibility for spiritual life and, in consequence, also for the religious chant. However, as early as 1336, Pope Benedict XII had separated those chaplains who would embellish the divine service professionally from the entire 'capella', and Petrus Wilhelmi was not, unlike Touront and his colleagues, among those professional 'cantors'. This difference explains some of the idiosyncrasies in the biography of Petrus Wilhelmi - as far as those are identifiable: apparently, a 'cappellanus' was not obliged to keep compulsory attendance at the imperial residence, which might explain the sojourns of Wilhelmi in Wroclaw or Bialogarda to the west of Gdansk, evidence of which has been found in the archives. Further evidence is provided by some of the differences which appear in the transmission of musical works of Petrus Wilhelmi and Touront. These differences, rather than reflecting the geographical diversification of Central European sources, concern the types of manuscripts and repertories in which those works appear, and in this way their musical genres and styles. There must have been a determining relationship between the events in Wilhelmi's vita, his musical output and the transmission of his compositions, very much as in the case of Touront.

Keywords

EN

CAPPELLANUS; JOHANNES TOURONT; PETRUS WILHELMI DE GRUDENCZ

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Sztuki PAN
• Journal: Muzyka
• Year: 2004
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 2(193)
• Pages: 9-19
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Staehelin M.

• M. Staehelin, Musikwissenschaftliches Seminar, Georg-August-Universitaet, Kurze Geismartstr. 1, 37073 Goettingen, Germany

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

04PLAAAA0011271