Shekhovtsova Irina

Musical palaeography in the works of bishop Porphyry (Uspensky) (1804–1885)

Abstract

The study is devoted to the research of the notated Greek manuscripts from the collection of Bishop Porphyry (Uspensky), as well as its relationship with the musical and paleographic research of this outstanding collector and Hellenistic scientist. For the first time, along with 45 deranged Greek manuscripts (on the theory and practice of Byzantine and post-Byzantine music) from his collection, studied and described by E. V. Gercman, 18 more sources from the same collection are involved, containing signs of ekphonetic notation (they are presented in a special Appendix to the article). Like many other special collections of manuscripts (sample passages, as well as the most important copies) that were compiled by Bishop Porphyry for studies in paleography, this mini-collection can be considered as part of a grandiose paleographic atlas, which was compiled and placed by the scientist at the basis of his conceived and partially realized comprehensive work on the book culture of the Christian East. Of particular value in his musical collection are numerous dated Greek sources (including 17 with neumen-notation and 9 with ekphonetic-notation), which makes it possible to build a paleographically reliable picture of the development of the written-musical culture of the Eastern Christian tradition. A study of the scientist's archive and the history of the receipt of his collection in 1883 by the Imperial Public Library (now the National Library of Russia) showed, that shorty before it was reorganized, apparently, by Bishop Porphyry, it resulted all the originals (especially the fragments previously stored in extensive paleographic album folders) to be separated from the copies, which formed 7 new collections (including 4 collections of copies from Greek manuscripts), these are currently a part of Fond no. 1499 (RNB).

Keywords

Bishop Porphyry (Uspensky), collections of Greek manuscripts, Greek musical paleography, ekphonetic notation, musical Byzantine studies, E. V. Gercman, V. F. Odoevsky, D. V. Razumovsky

References

1. Gertsman E. V. (1996) V poiskah pesnopenij grecheskoj Cerkvi. Preosvyashchennyj Porfirij Uspenskij i ego kollekciya drevnih muzykal'nyh rukopisej [In Search of the Chants of the Greek Church. Reverend Porfiry Uspensky and his collection of ancient musical manuscripts]. St. Petersburg (in Russian).
2. Gertsman E. V. (1996, 1999) Grecheskie muzykal'nye rukopisi Peterburga: Katalog [Greek musical manuscripts of St. Petersburg: Catalog], vol. 1: National Library of Russia; vol. 2: Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Library of the State University, Hermitage. St. Petersburg (in Russian).
3. Høeg. C. (1935) La notation ekphonétique [Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae. Ser. Subsidia: Vol. 1. Facs. 2]. Copenhagen.
4. Smolenskij S. V. Afonskij dnevnik [Athos diary]. Russkaya muzyka v dokumentakh i materialakh [Russian music in documents and materials]. Moscow, 2012, vol. 7: Afonskaya ekspeditsiya Obshchestva lyubiteley drevney pismennosti, 1906 [Athos mission of ancient literature Community, 1906], book 1, pp. 185–388 (in Russian).
5. Wellesz E. (1949/1961) A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography. Oxford.

Information about the author

Shekhovtsova Irina

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Art Criticism;
Place of work: Gnessin Academy; 30–36 Povarskaya str., 121069 Moscow, Russian Federation; St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, 121069 Moscow, Russian Federation;
Post: Associated Professor;
ORCID: 0000-0001-9254-0829;
Email: irina-schech@yandex.ru.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.