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

100%

Staehelin M.

Muzyka

2004

vol. 49

issue 2(193)

9-19

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.

WORKS OF PETRUS WILHELMI DE GRUDENCZ AS PART OF THE TRADITION OF LATE MEDIEVAL POLYPHONY IN CENTRAL EUROPE, ESPECIALLY IN BOHEMIA, IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES

88%

Horyna M.

Muzyka

2004

vol. 49

issue 2(193)

21-56

The author seeks answers to questions in the following two areas: 1) What were the origins of the collection of medieval songs and motets from the songbooks of Bohemian literati brotherhoods dating to about 1500, and what was the role of the compositions of Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz in that collection; 2) How was medieval polyphony treated and adapted in Bohemia and in Central Europe from the end of the fifteenth century . It is supposed that the collection of several dozen medieval polyphonic compositions forming an important part of the repertory of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Bohemian church music, and including most of the extant compositions by Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz, has been assembled in the 70's and 80's of the fifteenth century, perhaps for the benefit of the recently founded 'literati brotherhoods'of lay citizens organized in the manner of guilds. A list of recommended compositions (not preserved), was contained in the musical treatise of Paulus Paulirinus of Prague (around 1460). The fact that Petrus Wilhelmi's compositions were widely known within the Central European territory could have led to their inclusion in the repertory of church singers in Bohemia. The author shows that the archaic polyphony was used and adapted during the period of 16th and the beginning of 17th Century in the forms of 1) Czech contrafacta (about twenty of the most popular medieval compositions, including some of Petrus', were translated into Czech for the literati singing); 2)The tenor of a traditional composition is used as a starting point for a new composition (two Petrus' compositions are used in this way); 3) A traditional composition is incorporated into a new one. Such arrangements are contained in a) sources of the literati brotherhoods and b) in school songbooks containing a.o.arrangements of Petrus' song 'Prelustri elucencia'.

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2 Muzyka

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

WORKS OF PETRUS WILHELMI DE GRUDENCZ AS PART OF THE TRADITION OF LATE MEDIEVAL POLYPHONY IN CENTRAL EUROPE, ESPECIALLY IN BOHEMIA, IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES