UPDATE: Catalogue and physical access to materials to begin again on Monday 15 January 2024
As many of you know, the British Library in London is still experiencing the after-effects of a powerful cyber-attack from October 2023. Most of their website – including catalogues and digitised manuscripts – is not available. Manuscripts cannot be consulted in the Manuscripts Reading Room. Updates on the situation for manuscript researchers can be found on the main site, including the manuscripts blog.
Medieval musicologists who need to check BL manuscripts during this period may have luck with one of the substitute possibilities:
1. The Manuscripts Reading Room in the BL has a card catalogue past the main desk and to the right at the end. This contains details of the microfilms and other reproductions that the BL has of its own manuscripts which amount to approximately 20% of the collection.
type in the signature of the BL manuscript prefaced by GB-Lbl e.g. GB-Lbl 2637
note the signature e.g. MWS MFA Rf-2807 (Sf=Streichfilm, Rf=Rollfilm)
contact colleagues at the Department (mfa-mws@unibas.ch) who may be able to help
3. The Bruno-Stäblein-Archiv at the Department of Musicology at the University of Würzburg has a more modest collection of reproductions of medieval music manuscripts from the BL, including some overlap with Basel. David Hiley in collaboration with Robert Klugseder has produced a searchable database of the Archive with the BL manuscripts. Again, colleagues in the Department (martin.dippon@uni-wuerzburg.de) may be able to help.
As Chair, I have received concerns from a number of LGBTQI+ members of Cantus Planus and supporters regarding the decision to hold our next biennial conference in 2024 in Hungary given the current political situation.
As a result, I reached out to the Háttér Society which is the leading organisation in Hungary for LGBTQI+ rights, organising Budapest Pride as well as offering advocacy, legal and mental health services. They have written:
‘We understand the fear of your LGBTQI colleagues due to the political climate, and even though our community struggle with the consequences, we would like to highlight all the support LGBTQI people also receive from their allies. We experience that those who understand LGBTQI people in the country are more likely to express their support since the recent legal drawbacks, and this perspective is often not represented in the media. This tendency occurs especially in the capital, Budapest. Organizations like ours constantly fight against discrimination and for equal rights, and in case of any issues happen, please, feel free to contact us for legal support at the jogsegely@hatter.hu e-mail address.’
I hope that this information is reassuring for our LGBTQI+ members and I am sorry that it was not communicated earlier. If LGBTQI+ members would prefer to stay in Budapest rather than Gödöllő – a commuter town only 30 minutes by train outside Budapest – the Lonely Planet website provides links for places which are welcoming; or else our Hungarian organising committee would be happy to advise. For those who wish to make a donation to the work of the Háttér Society, their website can be found here.
Our LGBTQI+ members have played a vital role in the success of Cantus Planus over the years and we look forward to their active participation in our discussions, events and policy-making in the future as Cantus Planus continues to develop as a dynamic and inclusive study group of the IMS.
As the organizing committee of the IMS Cantus Planus Study Group Conference 2024 to be held in-person in Gödöllő (Hungary) in the summer of 2024, we cordially invite and welcome you on behalf of our institutions.
Quandraginta annis! In 2024, it will be forty years since the IMS Cantus Planus Study Group was founded in Veszprém (Hungary) by a distinguished group of plainchant scholars. Among them were the late Benjamin Rajeczky OCist, and the late László Dobszay and Janka Szendrei, who played a prominent role in the organisation of the Study Group in the years that followed when Hungary hosted the conference series.
VENUE, ACCOMODATION
Gödöllő is a charming small town with a rich history, just 30 km northeast from the Hungarian capital. The conference will be hosted by the community of canons regular of Prémontré, living in Gödöllő since 1923. The conference will be also part of the jubilee year of the Fathers. The centenary of their presence in Gödöllő begins this March and will last until November 2024. The abbey, its secondary school, auditorium and church will provide the space and background for lectures, communal meals, church concerts, and, if the conferencers wish, they will be able to participate in the liturgical life of the new church (which will hopefully be completed by then, see below: links to drone footage from the construction site). Catholic priests, participants of the conference are welcome to celebrate daily Mass there. Even though it is a religious institution, apart from general respect and standards of behaviour, there are no special expectations for conference participants. The monastery is isolated within an extensive campus of educational institutions. Finally, participants with more modest needs will be able to stay in simple dormitory accommodation in limited numbers at a low cost compared to the average. The city’s many hotels and other accommodation facilities can cater for all higher needs. There is a wide choice of different types of restaurants, too.
TRAVEL
Gödöllő can be easily reached from Budapest by train (MÁV-START) in 26 minutes and with the slightly slower suburban railway (HÉV). A fast train from the station near the abbey will take you to Budapest’s main Eastern Railway Station (Keleti pályaudvar: https://www.mavcsoport.hu/en), the town is connected to the M3 motorway and the M0 ring road. Liszt Ferenc International Airport (https://www.bud.hu/en), bypassing the metropolis altogether, can be reached in 30 minutes by shuttle bus or taxi.
Travel arrangements are a private matter for conference participants, but the organizers will be happy to assist by gathering key information websites etc. and providing general information.
DATE
The conference will be held in-person from July 30 (Tuesday), or July 31 (Wednesday) through August 3 (Saturday evening). The start depends on the number of participants. In the tradition of the conferences, two parallel sessions are usually organised in addition to the protocol events and
keynote speaker presentations. More than this is not considered appropriate.
ASSOCIATED PROGRAMS AND EXCURSION DAY
A rich programme of accompanying music is planned: short and longer concerts in the Premonstratensian Church and the Royal Castle, as well as during the excursion. The former depends on how the programmes at the Castle develop. It is not yet decided whether the EU presidency will be held in Gödöllő between July and December 2024. The castle is very much preparing to host them (as in 2011). If there is, it will coincide with our event. In any case, the Castle, including the chapel and its surroundings, will be open to visitors.
As is the tradition of CP conferences, Friday is reserved for a full-day excursion to visit the medieval monuments of the hilly area above Gödöllő, to the north, with its magical natural setting. Among others, we will visit the tomb of the former Cistercian monk-priest of the medieval town of Pásztó, one of our founders, Benjamin Rajeczky.
PROPOSALS AND THEMATIC BOUNDARIES
There are in principle no restrictions. We invite proposals for individual presentations, sessions, panel discussions and poster sessions on topics relevant to the Study Group’s research aims, relating to the entire field of medieval chant and sacred song both in Western and Eastern cultures and traditions, from all scholarly aspects. At the same time, we propose some thematic emphases, admittedly in line with the emphasis of contemporary Hungarian medieval studies: liturgy and music of medieval canons regular (among them that of the 900-year old Premonstratensian Order), fragmentology, methodology and future plans of liturgical and liturgical music databases and inventories, paleography, vernacular (mostly Protestant) chant in history and in our time (in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches), relations between Western (Latin) and Eastern (Byzantine) liturgical music. We particularly support topics that demonstrate the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary approach to chant research by revealing aspects and thematic contexts that would remain otherwise hidden. It is also possible to submit proposals for lectures outside the thematic groups. According to the usual practice, individual presentations will be limited to twenty minutes, with an additional few minutes allotted for discussion. Panel discussions and group sessions will be scheduled for longer time-slots. As a novelty – inspired by the online Cantus Planus Research Forum organized last year – we introduce a “Pecha Kucha” session for short, 10-minute presentations.
The past 40 years also invite us to look back and look forward, to review the road we have travelled and to identify the tasks for the future. Quadraginta annorum, and more!
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
The publication of conference proceedings – according to plans both online and in print – is expected within 2 years after the conference. The participants will be asked to submit their papers in extended format provided by the necessary apparatus.
PRACTICAL REMARKS AND DEADLINES
We will keep you informed about the progress of the organisation, the programme, accommodation, catering and travel arrangements on the conference website that will be set up in late spring/early summer this year.
Proposals for preliminary presentations (maximum 300 words) are expected by 31 May 2023 to the email address of the chair of the study group, Jeremy Llewellyn (jeremy.llewellyn@univie.ac.at). The Advisory Board’s decision will be communicated to applicants at the end of June 2023.
The language of the conference will be primarily English, but presentations in IMS-approved languages, namely English, German, Italian, French, and Spanish, are welcome. Please provide English translations in advance in a presentable format.
A final decision on the exact Congress Fee will be made in the light of applications and after sponsorship and other funding has been secured, probably in autumn 2023. The deadline for payment of the Fee (to an account to be provided later) and also for finalising the intention to participate in the conference and for submission of abstracts is 31 May 2024 (earlier submission is welcome).
Organizing committee:
Dr. Balázs Déri, coordinator: classical philologist and musicologist, professor of the Department of Religious Studies at the Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Humanities, Budapest, senior research fellow at the Department of Folk Music of the Institute of Musicology (Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Research Centre for the Humanities), founder of the Archivum Musicae Rituum Orientalium Budapestinense
Dr. Zsuzsa Czagány, musicologist, head of the Department of Early Music History at the Institute for Musicology (Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Research Centre for the Humanities), head of the ‘Momentum’ Digital Music Fragmentology Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Dr. Miklós István Földváry, classical philologist and liturgical historian, head of the Department of Religious Studies at the Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Humanities in Budapest, head of the ‘Momentum’ Research Group on Medieval Liturgical History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The website ‘cantus planus Regensburg’ which contains the fruits of research by Prof. David Hiley and is co-edited by Prof. Robert Klugseder has been updated with a new address:
Prof. Susan Rankin (Cambridge), ‘From Memory to Written Record: English Liturgical Books and Musical Notations, 900-1150’, Tuesday 3 May 2022, 5pm (BST)
This year’s Lyell Lectures at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford will be given by Prof. Susan Rankin (Cambridge). The lecture series was endowed in the middle of the 20th century and is broadly devoted to bibliography. Five lectures in all are envisioned in 2022 with the first livestreamed and the others becoming available as podcasts at a later date.
Dr Maria Kachmar (Lviv), ‘The Ukrainian Irmologion – A Source of the Ky’iv Chant Tradition in the Byzantine Rite’, Wednesday 20 April 2022, 17.00 (CEST)
Organised by a consortium of Czech, Slovak and Hungarian colleagues as part of the ‘Early Music in Central Europe: Local Elements – Transregional Connections – International Research’ series, Dr Maria Kachmar from the Department of Musical Medieval and Ukrainian Studies at the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy will give a general introductory lecture on the medieval history of Byzantine traditions in Ukraine which comprises 1500 manuscripts.
Cantus Planus
