Die Melodien bis 1570, Teil 3, Melodien aus Gesangbuchern II (review)

The extensive Das deutsche Kirchenlied project (hereafter DKL) will eventually comprise a critical edition of all the hymn and hymn-related melodies associated with German texts published between 1481 and 1680. The background to the whole project —its basic scope, structure, and sigla—is discussed in the review of Band 1/1 in Notes 54, no. 4 (June 1998): 907-11; and the content of Band 1/2 in the review in Notes 56, no. 2 (December 1999): 388-91. The volumes under review here complete Band 1, covering the period 1481-1570, and supply extensive indexes and additional information. The siglum adopted by the editors for the volumes and melodies of Abteilung III is EdK, but the sigla connected with DKL already present a complex picture (see Notes 54, no. 4 [June 1998]: 909; and the "Drucksigel-Konkordanz" accessible through Das deutsche Kirchenlied Web site: www.das-deutsche-kirchenlied.de/index. html [accessed 2 December 2002]). Thus, for most purposes it is simplest to identify the melodies by their alpha-numeric code, given after the DKL abbreviation, e.g., DKL A23, and the sources cited similarly but using the RISM (Répertoire international des sources musicales) format, e.g., DKL 1550⁰¹ .

Band 1/3, comprising the melodies in the Notenband and the critical commentaries in the Textband, continues the coverage of hymnals that was begun in Band 1/2 (melodies prefixed E). As with Band 1/2, most of the hymnals are classified according to their geographical place of publication or use: Eh1-21—Swiss = Zurich (for Constance, 1538-40 and Zurich, 1552-60); Ei1-2, Ek1-23—Leipzig (1539 and 1545- 63, respectively); El1-6—Bonn (1550); Em1-6—Frankfurt am Main (1565-69); En1-6—Augsburg (1557); and Ep1—Palatinate (1567). But the majority of the melodies in Band 1/3 are classified according to confession rather than geographical area: Eg1-239—Bohemian Brethren (1531- 66), published in Jungbunzlau, Strasbourg, Ulm, Nuremberg, and Ivancice. Until now much of the available literature on Bohemian Brethren hymnody was somewhat dated, such as Rudolf Wolkan, Das deutsche Kirchenlied der böhmischen Brüder im XVI. Jahrhunderts (Prague: Haase, 1891; reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1968); Johannes Zahn, Die Melodien der deutscher evangelischen Kirchenlieder (6 vols., Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1889-93; reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1963); and Joseph Theodor Müller, Hymnologisches Handbuch zum Gesangbuch der Brüdergemeine (Herrnhut: Verlag des Vereins für Brüdergeschichte, 1916; reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1977), which is primarily concerned with texts rather than melodies. The extensive study and anthology of the texts and melodies by Zdenek Nejedly, Dejiny husitského zpevu (6 vols., Prague: Nakl. Ceskoslovenské akademie ved, 1954-56)—one of the important sources cross-referenced in the Textband of Band 1/3—is primarily confined to the manuscript repertories compiled prior to the sixteenth century. The more recent critical anthology, Christian Meyer, Les mélodies des églises protestantes de langue allemande: catalogue descriptif des sources et édition critique des mélodies (Baden-Baden: Koerner, 1987), does include some melodies included in Band 1/3, but only those published in Strasbourg (see the discussion below). Thus these two volumes, the Notenband and Textband, of Band 1/3 contain a wealth of concentrated information that has not been readily available hitherto.

The Bohemian Brethren, Czech followers of Jan Hus, active in and around Prague, developed their distinctive vernacular hymnody during the fifteenth century. Their hymns were largely adaptations of Latin liturgical models—hymns, sequences, antiphons, and the like—and circulated in manuscripts (see Nejedly's study, cited above). An early edition of these Czech hymns was published in Prague in 1501, but without their associated melodies. Two further editions...