Dear all, May I add, just for your information, that Hungarian lutenist András Kecskés has recorded quite a few of Kájoni's pieces with his ensamble: the Kecskés Együttes. (Somteimes I have the privilage to be invited to join them with my archlute so I happened to play some of that really beautiful music, too.) Their hompage is:
www.kecskesegyuttes.tar.hu Unfortunately the homepage is practically all in Hungarian and also in the MP3 samples there's nothing chosen from Kájoni actually, but in the discography session I found at least three CD-s that contain some of his works (numbers 2, 3 and 9, on St István, St László and the Holy Virgin respectively). Best regards to all of you, Gábor Domján ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur Ness" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Lute Net" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 6:29 PM Subject: [LUTE] Caius and Cajoni > Even more interesting is Caius Hera's message about > Early Music from Roumania, and the relative scarcity of > scores in his country. > > On another list someone thought that Roumania was where > the Vatican is located, and that a composer named > "Graziani" has a work with his name misspelled as > "Cajoni." My response, > "Oh yeah?" > > I doubt it would have fooled Caius Hera. But if so, I > would like to introduce him to Father Joan Cajoni > (János Kájoni etc.), if the two haven't yet met.<g> > > Actually Father (later Bishop) Caioni was a Franciscan > monk who died in 1630. Among his accomplishments > is the invention of the Hungarian alphabet with all > those haceks and strange (to me, at least) accents. > > But he also left a manuscript organ tablature with 350 > sacred and secular pieces in it, including some > pieces that are thought to be Roumanian folksongs from > the 16th century. > > And as you recall, German organ > tablature often has the voice parts (SATB) set forth > full-score like, each on a separate line. Well for many > of the pieces there are vocal works notated in tablature > with the > lyrics copied under _each_ line. Did the monks perform > four-voice motets by reading from tablature, accompanied > by the organ? If not, why put the lyrics under each > "voice part" in the tablature? > > And how did this manuscript survive? This story's even > weirder than how the Berlin books got to Cracow (more on > that later). For safekeeping the monks dug a hole in > the monastery wall,and buried Father Cajoni's organ > tablature in it! > > Oh, one Roumanian musicologist is repsonible for editing > and publishing most of Caioni's works. He's dead now, > but the good monks erected his statue in the monestary > garden! > > I had dinner with a former student last night, and we > gave the matter serious consideration, and reached the > conclusion that that is the only statute of a > musicologist in existence, anywhere. Right there in > a Roumanian Monestary Garden (cue Ketelbey). > > No foolin'. (The manuscript has very interesting and > important music. Those who play in lute and vihuela > ensembles might find it profitable to take a look at > the modern edition (facsimile and complete transcrption > into pitch notation). It's called Codex > Caioni. Some people have used it for arrangements of > lute music, including Benkö Dániel. > > ajn. > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
