The Prague connection of the Strahov Codex

Notwithstanding the Central European character of the Strahov Codex (» CZ-Ps D.G. IV. 47), it was compiled with regard to the liturgy of the Prague diocese by scribes familiar with the Czech variant of the staff notation (nota rhombica),[18] but the question on the origin of the manuscript still remains a burning one. The catholic character of the collection, which contains at the same time polyphonic settings of local hymns for St Wenceslas and St Procopius, in particular, with specific Bohemian melodic variants,[19] and songs with German texts, brought different catholic localities of the Bohemian Lands with German-speaking population into the discussion: East Bohemia or Silesia,[20] Olomouc (Olmütz)[21] or České Budějovice (Budweis). Recent research, however, suggests a connection of the source with Prague Cathedral. Notwithstanding the problematic position of the Catholic church, which was in a minority in Bohemia (but not in other parts of the lands of the Bohemian Crown), there were highly educated men of international horizons and contacts leading the institution, who held university degrees obtained abroad (e. g. in Padua or Bologna). If we look closer at the collection of 60 polyphonic hymns, the largest one in fifteenth-century sources, we find several interesting representatives of different traditions (e. g. South Germany, Trent or Italy) in addition to settings of local melodies known from Bohemian manuscripts. Taken together, this set of polyphonic compositions suggests „a travel journal“ of a scribe of the codex (at least the principal one), who might have collected music for use at Prague cathedral or its school „on the road“ to Italy and back. At the same time there are several high-quality compositions on local cantus firmi (including, for example, a setting of the hymn Sanctorum meritis inclita, fol. 282v–283r, with a local melodic variant), which attest to a high level of musical education of the Bohemian catholic intellectual circles in the 1460s. Just to give an example, the Utraquist Hilarius of Leitmeritz (Litoměřice) received his degree at Prague University in 1451 and continued his studies in Bologna from 1451 to 1454. He returned from Italy as a strong critic of the Utraquist church and the leader of the catholic opposition against the Utraquist bishop Johannes Rokycana and the Bohemian King Georg of Podiebrad (Poděbrady). From 1461 to his death in 1469 he was the administrator of the Prague diocese and the first man of the Catholic church. During this period he was travelling to several cities abroad (including Nuremberg, Rome and Graz).[22] If not Hilarius in person, who had opportunities to meet and hear contemporary polyphony during his journeys, the copying of music for the Strahov Codex might have been a work of other members of the Prague cathedral staff.