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| The process of analysis and synthesis (typology) includes the evaluation of the material
according to the following criteria: |
| (i) | the composition (raw material) of the repertory; |
| (ii) | the liturgical distribution of this repertory; |
| (iii) | the characteristic features of the liturgical structures,
disregarding the material filling in these frames (e.g. how the parts de psalterio,
de tempore and de die are combined in a given liturgical period; what
the rhythm of the unchanging and varying elements are; where are the internal subdivisions
of a liturgical season, etc.). |
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| We have to reckon with the presence of some ad libitum parts in each rite which
do not disturb the identity of the tradition. Moreover, there are decisions concerning
the manner of celebration rather than the order of the liturgy itself, such as the
regulations prescribing what to do with the surplus antiphons that remained at the
imposition of O antiphons. Should de tempore material be used in the Little Hours
on the 1st Sunday in Advent or adopted items of the Sunday itself, etc.? Such consuetudes
have in reality only the value of rubrics. There exist, however, no sharp dividing lines
between the practical decisions changing from time to time and the assignments after they
have become fixed so as to form an organic part of the Office. Moreover, we know that
the liturgical order - the mirror of the identity of the community - and the more flexible
'consuetudes' are completed by a third layer in the manuscripts which go back to different
redactional decisions. It is sometimes rather difficult to differentiate mannerisms of the
scribe from the actual manifestations of the liturgical life and practice. (E.g. it is
obvious that the antiphon Videte videte cited in Hesbert CAO I. p. 105. line 12
belongs to the canticum Attendite and functions as an addition to Et in servis
and not to the series In evangelio where. it is inscribed. In Hesbert II. p. 3. col. 4.
the versicles of all three Nocturns are listed in one place before the cycle of responsories,
instead of in their real order, etc.) |
| All these considerations are not merely postulates. They derive from the experience
gained in the course of the liturgico-musical analysis and systematization of the Hungarian
sources. (See my article cited above.) The number of these manuscripts is not too large -
due to the immense losses suffered in the course of time. Yet in spite of that they show
clearly the 'lines of force' among the traditions. We may learn from these analyses that
the typology based on a thorough knowledge of the sources verifies the correctness of the
notion of 'provenance'. And it must be so since the grouping of sources in an arbitrary
fashion with the aim of facilitating orientation is a creation of 20th century experts.
On the other hand, the method based on the right notion of provenance allows the sources
to arrange themselves according their own logic. Or to be more precise: in agreement with
the logic of life at the time that called them into existence. |
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