Lovely flavoured rose : The anthology of the Baroque Moravian manuscript hymnals from 17th and 18th century
Abstract
The Baroque Moravian manuscript hymnals have never been made accessible through modern edition, and there are no analytical studies concerning these hymnbooks. The manuscript hymnography is one of the richest sources for an understanding of the popular piety, the Baroque literature and the church music.
Some of the hymnals are accompanied by musical notation. A large number of them are beautiful illuminated.
The repertoire contained in the manuscript hymnals consists largely of older hymns. Some of the texts can be founded in sources from the 14th and 15th century, though the majority are contained in hymnals from the 16th and 17th century.
However, many of the hymns are known exclusively from manuscript hymnals or they had been passed orally from generation to generation. The anthology includes forty Eucharistic and Marian hymns, which are survived only in manuscript form.
A large number of the hymn texts are given with musical notation, and each hymn is accompanied by critical notes on the text and music and explanatory notes. The anthology also includes an accompanying study.