The Austrian Mediaeval Monastic Music Manuscripts Database was established as part of the projects:
- APVV-19-0043 CANTUS PLANUS in Slovakia: Local Elements – Transregional Connections, 2020-2024, principal investigator: Eva Veselovská, Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
The medieval Latin liturgical plainsong, the so-called cantus planus (Gregorian chant) is a unique cultural phenomenon in the European civilisation. It is the oldest expression of European musical thought and production proved by written documents. The focus of research are medieval musical sources from Slovakia and from Slovak provenance located abroad, from the second half of 9th century until the beginning of the 16th century with enjambments in modern history. It connects national research with global projects of history of music exploiting digital humanities (http://cantus.sk; http://cantusindex.org etc.). First of all, it is necessary to complete their identification (heuristics). This operation is linked with the analytical process (origin, use, and spreading), with the aim of specifying local elements and transregional connections of single components (contents, liturgy, notation) of homophonic liturgical chant. Publication outputs shall map and systematise knowledge of musical production of chant in the variegated social and cultural environment (urban centres, rural environment). They identify basic process of shaping and spreading of chant according to geographical patterns (centralised seats vs. local milieu), social patterns (town, Church representatives and communities, aristocracy, and bourgeoisie), and functions (liturgical centres: diocesan vs. monastic sources) in an international context. The project theses, research, and outputs shall result in a musicological scientific work with interdisciplinary projections (codicology, palaeography, history, art history, and liturgy).
- Music Culture in Central Europe ca. 1450-1650: Transregional Identity of the Music Sources from Klosterneuburg and Bratislava, 2021-2022, principal investigator: Hana Studeničová, Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
The main topic of the project is an international survey of music sources (late medieval and early modern) from Bratislava and Klosterneuburg. The importance of the topic and dominant objective of the project resides in international analysis and evaluation of internal and external features and specifics of manuscripts that influenced the ordering, creation, and use of music sources in two cultural and educational centres of Slovakia and Austria in the late medieval and in the 16th and 17th century. Depending on economic, historical, and cultural factors, many cities and cultural institutions (Church institutions) were using valuable musical sources, which reflected several individual elements. The music materials became specific identity bearers of a particular Church institution, city, or even single individuals. Many questions concerning the origin and use of specific codices in Slovakia and Austria remain unanswered to this day. For this reason, international research and comparative processing of materials are a necessary and important step for precise evaluation of sources.