Kalwaria Zebrzydowska – Cantionale manuscript
Cantionale [Kancjonale] is a book, or so-called codex, from the second half of the 18th century, with the inventory number: BPBerKr 86 / RL, which is an abbreviation of the following: ‘Biblioteka Prowincji Bernardynów Kraków 86/ Rękopis Liturgiczny’ (Library of the Bernardine Province, Kraków 86 / Liturgical Manuscript). The book comes from the Monastery of Bernardine Fathers in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska.
It is a manuscript. The book is 20 centimetres wide and 25 centimetres long, with its leather spine 5 centimetres thick. The book is bound in cardboard. Its pages are made of paper. It has ninety-six pages written in Latin. They include sheet music and church song lyrics. The name of the scribe, or copyist, is unknown. What is certain is that the entire book was written with the same hand..
The book is in good general condition. The cover is a bit worn, especially at the edges. It is brown and covered with lighter and darker streaks. Blue spots appear here and there. Almost all of the pages in the book are filled with sheet music. The first and last few pages, the so-called endpapers, are covered with music written on staves. The notes have a contemporary, elliptical shape. The remaining several dozen pages are covered with the so-called late Gothic script. Square notes are written on four-line staves, with song lyrics underneath.
The staves are written in red ink, while the lyrics and notes are in black. The opening words of the song’s consecutive parts are written in an extremely decorative manner. Those letters are several times larger than the rest and are called illuminated letters. Their height ranges between two and six centimetres. They are written in red, blue or black and have decorative swirls. Some pages contain five of them, others – fewer than that. The entire fifth page is filled with a decorative form, the so-called vignette, in the form of a frame. The empty space in the shape of an ellipse is surrounded by a motif composed of leaves, flowers, and lines gently curved into arcs. Those elements are green, yellow, red, and purple. On the upper edge of the frame, there is a Franciscan symbol. The ellipse-shaped area contains a red cross and two crossed arms. The right one is naked and the left one is covered with a brown sleeve of the habit of the Franciscan Order.
In the middle of both hands, there are visible red wounds. At the bottom of the frame, among the gentle lines, there is a motif from the pages of the open book. They are written in black notes on staves. The decorative frame of the vignette, in the empty area surrounded by it, is where the title of the book was probably supposed to be.
The Codex contains the following hymns:
- “Patrem omnipotentem”
- Antiphon: Oramus domine conditor [Oramus Domine Konditor] (for Ascension)
- Tibi laus, tibi gloria
- Antiphon: Lumen ad revelationem gentium [lumen ad rewelacjonem gencjum]
- Antiphon: Exsurge Domine adjuva noc et libera nos [Ekssurge Domine adjuwa nok at libera nos]
- Palm Sunday chants – Pueri Hebraeorum, Cum appropinquaret [Pueri hebreorum, Kum apropinkfaret]
- Lamentations
- “Mandatum”
- Antiphon: Ecce lignum crucis [Ekce lignum krucis] (Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday)
- Holy Saturday chants – Gloria tibi Trinitas, Cum Rex gloriae [Kum Reks glorie], Homo quidam fecit cenam magnam [Homo kfidam fecit cenam magnam].
- Office for the Dead – Libera me
- Mass for the Dead
- The Office for the Dead contains: Complaceat domine, Sana domine animam meam, Sitivit animam meam [Komplacet Domine, Sana Domine animam meam, Sitvit aniamam meam].
- Antiphon: Melchisedech rex Salem typicum [Melchizedech Reks salem typikum] (for Corpus Christi)
- Paternae consortes exhibes [Paterne konsortes ekshibes]
- Kyrie, Gloria, Credo
On five-line staves:
On four-line staves:
On four-line staves: