Kutna Hora's Musical Manuscripts of 15. and 16. Centuries

This source is different from the previous ones. It is about 100 years younger and contains sacramental ordinaries composed in the style of the late Renaissance polyphony. The source is deposited in the collections of the Czech Museum of Music under the signature AZ 33. It contains 261 paper folios, 57,5 x 43,5 x 8cm. It is bound in a cardboard cover. The binding is late Renaissance. All this information comes from Jan Baťa's works [1, 2].

According to the filegrees the age of the paper is dated between 1568 – 1590. The manuscript itself may have been written gradually between 1470 – 1490. It was written by two scribes in white mensural notation.

The source contains 11 complete Catholic sacramental ordinaries in the form of a choir book (chorbuch). In this regard it is a very unique source in Bohemia. The masses are written by parodic technique (they use already existing compositions – both foreign or own), which is characteristic for compositions of that period.

The following chart contains the list of compositions:

Folio	Author	Composition	Voices	Pattern
1v-23r	Philippe de Monte	Missa quinque vocum	5
24v-48r	Philippe de Monte	Missa super Cara la vita mia	6	G. de Wert: Cara la vita mia
49v-67r	Charles Luython	Missa super Filiae Hierusalem	6	Ph. de Monte: Filia Hierusalem
68v-86r	Philip Schöndorff	Missa super La dolce vista	6	Ph. de Monte: La dolce vista
87v-119r	Giorgio Flori	Missa super Ung jour l´amant	8	O. di Lasso: Ung jour l´amant
120v-154r	Philippe de Monte	Missa Confitebor tibi Domine	8	O. di Lasso: Confitebor tibi Domine
155v-176r	Giorgio Flori	Missa super Ecco ch´io lass´il core	6	anon.: Ecco ch´io lass´il core
176v-195r	Philippe de Monte	Missa sine nomine	6
195v-210r	Philipp Schöndorff	Missa Usquequo Domine	6	Ph. de Monte: Usquequo Domine
210v-237r	Jacob Regnart	Missa super Poi che´l mio largo pianto	6	Ph. de Monte: Poi che´l mio largo pianto
237v-261r	Giulio Belli	Missa super Tanto tempore vobiscum sum	8	G. Belli: Tanto tempore vobiscum sum

The first two masses are anonymous, however, similar sources suggest that Phillipe de Monte is the author.



The problem of provenience of the source:
The note on the front page provides information about the location and donor (which is not very frequent for documents of that time). The Latin inscription in humanistic semi-italics in the upper right-hand corner says the following:

"Chori Templi Diui Iacobi Majoris Gutte[n]berga. Ex dono D[omini] Sigismundi Kozel a Rey: sentol. Sacra Casara Majestatis Rei Metallica olim hic Gutte[n]berga prafecti, et postea ejusdem Reipublica Gutte[n]bergensis Primatis"

which means in translation:
To the choir of St James the Taller in Kutná Hora. As a gift of Sir Zikmund Kozel of Rýzentál, the reeve of the Imperial Majesty in Kutná Hora, and later also mayor.”

Zikmund Kozel z Rýzntálu (1548 - 1598), a rich member of the town’s elite, is especially known as the donor of the school at St James. What his role was in acquiring this source and how it ended in Kutná Hora is very unclear and it is a matter of further investigation.