THE ASPECTS OF MUSIC PALAEOGRAPHY IN THE MANUSCRIPT OF DMYTRO BORTNIANSKY OPERA «FALCON» (1786) FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY

Abstract

An important feature of the modern performance practice is the desire to build the most comprehensive interpretation of a work based on the study of its musical and cultural context. According to the ideology of historically informed performance, the basic source of artistic interpretation is the original score of a musical composition in its handwritten or printed form, depending on the current practice. Therefore, nowadays palaeographic music studies are not only help to determine the date of musical composition or to attribute it to its author, but also reflect the changes in the musical notation of expressive means, and even performing practices. The manuscript of Dmytro Bortnyansky's opera from the collection of the British Museum showcases the change in musical notation, the ascription of dynamic and tempo indications in the middle and the second half of the 18th century. The recording of parts of brass instruments shows a change in the system of solmization from relative to exact. The grouping of instruments and their mutual duplication is related to the contemporary practice of performing the composer’s scores with the instruments available in the chapel, adding, replacing or combining them. Here we can also see the clear demarcation of the functions of the orchestra instruments that has an impact on the general blending of the sound among instrumental, choral and solo voices during performance. Knowledge of the methods of simplified notation of repetitions, repeated groups of notes, and duplicating different parts is important for the accurate deciphering of author's originals and the consequent their transcription into the modern notation. The publication demonstrates the samples of musical notation in the classic era using the example of a handwritten copy of the Bortnianskyj’s opera «Falcon», transcribed by the court musician of the St. Petersburg – Louis Zanini.