Ivana Perković Radak

ANDRIJA JAKOVLJEVIĆ: AN ANTHOLOGY WITH NEUME NOTATIONS
FROM THE TIME OF DUKE AND DESPOT STEFAN LAZAREVIĆ
The National Museum, Kruševac, 2004

The researching of music manuscripts written in the Byzantine neume notations which Andrija Jakovljević has been carrying out for some time has resulted in a comprehensive instructive publication entitled An anthology with neume notations from the time of duke and despot Stefan Lazarević. Conceived as a combination of three kinds of publications – a collective monograph, a transcription, and a facsimile edition of the complete anthology – this book offers, in a national musicological framework, a new model of representing medieval music manuscripts. To be precise, previous similar publications contained specific selections, either in the sense of genre, author or group of authors, most often from several manuscripts. More broadly positioned, however, An anthology with neume notations from the time of duke and despot Stefan Lazarević has been conceived in accordance with international standards, according to which medieval manuscripts are often published with this or a similar approach.

The book, with some 376 pages, focuses on the manuscript of the Lavra monastery no. Е-108. This is a bilingual manuscript in Serbian and Greek, written – judging by the water signs – during the last decade of the 14^th century. Based on a short annotation from the front of page thirty “To the honorable and Christian-loving my despot Stefan – servant of god and the father of the monastery Lidia”, the manuscript is linked to the despot Stefan Lazarević, for whom perhaps, as presumed by Djordje Trifunović, this manuscript was intended. It is, at that time common, a collection resembling an anthology, comprised of songs which are sung at daily church services (morning and evening), for all three liturgy types. Based on the manuscript analysis, it has been determined that the copying of the anthology was not the work of just one notary, but several, whose names – except for the monk Ilarion, of whom we learn out from the secret writings - are unknown. Bearing this in mind, and also taking into consideration the paleographic markings, orthography and the labeling of the neumes, Andrija Jakovljević concluded that the “anthology from the monastery Lavra Е-108 is connected in a whole consisting of several parts of different manuscripts.”

The neume anthology contains the oeuvres of eminent Byzantine musicians, among which are Jovak Kukuzelj, Jovan Laskaris, Yoannis Xenos Koronis, but also those less known or virtually unknown, such as Teodoros Homatianos. The “works” of kir Stefan Srbin and Nikola Srbin attract even more attention, as well as other songs in old Serbo-Slovene. Especially prominent is the Hymn in honor of St. Sava based on the text of Teodosije Hilandarac Um vаperiv. Even though the author of the melody is unknown, this hymn for the end of a service, written in the fourth voice, changes our view of the chronological spreading of Serbian church music considering that, as Jakovljević points out, “it was noted down about a century and a half after Sava’s demise and cannot be found in any Slovene music manuscript of the monastery Hilandar’s music collection earlier than the 18th century.” Actually, due to this publication we find out that the beginnings of Serbian music literacy are linked with the 14^th century, and that Stefan and Nikola Srbin must have created at an earlier time than it was presumed previously, based on other medieval sources.

As mentioned, the book dedicated to the Lavra manuscript encompasses three large wholes: the first presents the texts of Lazar Trifunović (“With the discovery of the anthology of the Lavra monastery”), Andrija Jakovljević (“The anthology of the monastery Lavra no. Е-108”), and Tomislav Jovanović (“The language of Serbian church poetry in the manuscript of the monastery Lavra no. Е-108”). Albeit somewhat unusually ordered – the second text, a passage by Andrija Jakovljević is a unique connecting of the introduction and foreword with the acknowledgments – the texts offer the interested reader a solid basis for an essential experiencing of the manuscript and a somewhat broader insight into the orthographic and lexical specifics of the passages. Alas, a broader musicological analysis of the manuscript is lacking. Reviews of the script ensue, as well as modal marks and a list of the hymns, with select texts given in full, and then, the chapter “Melodi – hymnographs from the anthology of the monastery Lavra no. Е-108“, sets out the research results on the hymn authors who are linked with the presented manuscript. This is an informative, lexicographically conceived and scientifically intoned addition which conveys much information, until now accessible only to Greek language-knowers.

In the second part of the book, transcriptions of select songs were presented, according to the method adopted by Monument Musicae Byzantinae, with short opening comments on the worshipping position of a given song, text, and at times even certain music specifics of the song. We are asking, what were the criteria for selecting the songs for transcription? An explication of this kind would be of a great use for the readers of the book. After this (again, perhaps, in a place not best chosen), a reviewing of the water signs continues, as well as the abbreviations and indexes (index 1: the cited manuscripts with Byzantine notations; index 2: the cited manuscripts without notations; index 3: Initia hymnorum). A general (by name and idea) register and a resume in Greek ensue, and then the third part of the publication – a facsimile of the manuscript in the whole, published on quality paper.

The book Аn anthology with neume notations from the time of duke and despot Stefan Lazarević by Andrija Jakovljević is a contribution to the understanding of Serbian and Byzantine medieval music. Additionally significant due to the nature of the manuscript, this book at the same time adheres to high technical standards in presenting the selected material. Once more, we stress the high quality of the facsimile of all the manuscript pages which offer to the reader and the researcher a diversity of required information.

Translated by Elizabeta Holt