I codici liturgici di Castel Tirolo by Marco Gozzi (review)

This edition represents the first thorough study and complete facsimile edition of the codices in the Castel Tirolo with inventory numbers 50218529 (olim 60, hereafter CT 60) and 50218528 (olim 61, hereafter CT 61). The former, copied in the twelfth century, features four liturgical books: a Calendar, a Gradual, a Prosarium, and a Sacramentary. The latter is more recent; it contains a Missal and a Calendar, and dates from the early fourteenth century. Both manuscripts are housed at the Musèo stòrico-culturàle della Provìncia di Bolzano, in Castel Tirolo. These books were used in Castel Tirolo’s chapel, certainly between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries, and they feature the musical material for the Masses of the entire liturgical year. This time frame represents the cultural peak of the castle and its community, its most significant period of greatness, richness, and splendor. The book mainly features contributions by Marco Gozzi, while Roberto Sette takes care of the study of CT 60 in a separate chapter.

The book opens with an in-depth literature review, which brings to our attention that the manuscripts have already been subjected to some study; the monks of Solesmes referred to one of the manuscripts, CT60, for their 1957 edition of the Roman Gradual. Despite this, the publication represents the first thorough treatment of the manuscripts. On a larger scale, it represents the inaugural issue of a collection of facsimiles and editions concerning manuscripts that deliver remarkable musical, liturgical, and historical information, the Monumenta Liturgiae et Cantus. The authors’ aim is to make significant musical testimonies widely available to students, scholars, and music enthusiasts. Although the intention is to address a very wide audience, this volume never lacks in detail and scientific accuracy, and unquestionably shows Gozzi’s longstanding expertise in the field. On a practical level, this study represents the expanded, amended, and deepened version of the conclusions stated in Gozzi’s 2011 article on the topic (Marco Gozzi, “I libri liturgici di Castel Tirolo”, in Schloss Tirol, 1971–2011: Neues Leben in alten Mauern: Festschrift anlässlich des 15. Jubiläums des Südtiroler Landesmuseums für Kultur- und Landesgeschichte Schloss Tirol [Bozen: Athesia, 2011], 106–33). More generally, the book means to cover, paraphrasing Gozzi’s words, a relatively unexplored explored area of Gregorian chant, which consists of its late production (after the 1000s) in both smaller and larger European centers (p. 11). Specifically, the main musicological purpose of the work is to explore the provenance and dating of the manuscripts’ content, since liturgical codices are often copied in a context different from that of their original use. The two manuscripts feature songs for the Mass for the entire liturgical calendar, which were used for the services celebrated in Castel Tirolo’s chapel during a period of at least two hundred years, between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries. The study of these two manuscripts is likely to interest any scholar of paleography, since the oldest manuscript (CT 60, twelfth century) is in adiastematic neumatic notation, while CT 61 (early thirteenth century) makes use of perfectly diastematic neumes.

A detailed but flowing introduction puts both codices in their historical and geographical context. Here, Gozzi addresses introductory matters including a literature review and the history of the manuscripts, as well as a meticulous codicological outline. Some discussion of the Castle and its chapel give necessary historical background for the manuscripts. The description starts with a physical analysis of the exemplar, including paleographic remarks. This is in both cases illustrated with useful images, which help with comparing the different hands that follow one another on the parchment sheets. In the same fashion, the authors analyze the musical notation, giving comparative details for all kinds of neumes. An in-depth analysis of the fasciculation follows Sette’s textual and notational description of CT 60. This is supplied...