The Office of Kraków
THE CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE KRAKÓW OFFICE
Advent
10‒50: The series of antiphons starting with A diebus antiquis for the 1st Vespers of the 1st Sunday of Advent seem to be a characteristic point of both Kraków traditions. In all probability the series is implied in a rubric in the oldest source Kra-51: Ad vesperas antiphona ‘Dominum salvatorem’ et cetera cum suis psalmis. The antiphons in question also appear in that function in late sources from Salzburg, Passau and – for all Sundays of Advent – in the Esztergom office. Most probably under the influence of Kraków the chants were also adopted in Płock, where subsequent antiphons were used additionally on the three following Sundays as antiphonae solae for the 1st Vespers. In the primatial church of Gniezno only the antiphon Gabriel angelus was sung as antiphona sola on the 1st Sunday.
151, 761, 1291: All the sources, including the oldest (Kra-51), prescribe a hymn for Matins, which is unanimously Verbum supernum.
160, 260, 340: The three antiphons for the nocturns on Sundays appear in the sequence Hora est – Nox praecessit – Estote parati in both KRA1 and KRA2. The same set appears also in Prague, Olomouc, Wrocław and Poznań. However, in some sources (cf. Damb, Kra-1256, Kra-28) the third chant is replaced by Scientes quia hora est, which is a more widespread choice in Central Europe.
280‒330 etc.: The order of responsories for the Sundays of Advent is quite uniform in all the sources from Kraków. The same or something very similar can be found in the offices of Mainz, Trier and Aosta, listed in the fifth volume of Hesbert’s CAO, but the series seem to appear in Krakow directly under influence of the traditions of Saxony (Magdeburg, Meissen)1, which were not included in Hesbert’s famous work.
510, 530, 560, 590; 870, 890, 920, 950: The four proper antiphons for the Little Hours of the Advent period also appear in exactly the same selection and arrangement in the Office of other Polish bishoprics (Płock, Gniezno, Poznań, Włocław, Włocławek) and in Olomouc. In the liturgical traditions of Wrocław, Esztergom, Prague and Olomouc the same chants are used, but only on weekdays, whereas on Sundays antiphons de laudibus are prescribed.
1910, 2400, 2480, 2540: Two versions of the Invitatory antiphon Surgite vigilemus – minor and maior – appear in tradition KRA2 (and Kra-28 as well). The longer one is used on the Third Sunday of Advent, the shorter was sung on Ember Days.
2351: In KRA2 (and Kra-28) a proper Invitatory antiphon (Patientes estote) for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of the 3rd Week of Advent is given.
3220‒3450: The rules for the execution of the historia Clama were subject to change. It is assigned to the Ember Days in the oldest source (Kra-51 = KRA1) and later antiphoners from the cathedral (Kra-47, Kra-53). The antiphoners make a further provision that if Christmas Eve falls on the 4th Sunday of Advent or the following Monday the singing of historia Clama should begin on Monday of the 3rd week. The editors of other sources know the above-mentioned procedure of singing Clama on Ember Days but disapprove of it and suggest that the “just” tradition of Kraków is to execute the responsories on the five days preceding Christmas Eve. The Breviarium from Dębno combines the Impositionslaudes for the separate days with three subsequent Clama responsories, which suggests that the rules for the singing of the latter could be analogous to the execution of the former (see below).
3460‒3500 etc.: Impositionslaudes are assigned in Kra-51 to the weekdays of the 3rd week whereas in other sources they are listed in the 4th week. The universal tradition seems to have been, however, that the antiphons for respective days were sung on the last possible Monday, Tuesday etc. before Christmas Eve. The selection of chants for Saturday is typically idiosyncratic and differs in KRA1 and KRA2.
3520, 3595, 3665, 3735, 3805: In KRA2 (but also in Kra-28) proper antiphonae solae for the Vespers of the 4th Week of Advent are prescribed. According to the rubrics the same ones are used for Magnificat if the respective day precedes the 13th of December.
From Christmas to Lent
10110–10159: The choice and order of the antiphons at Lauds in Vigilia Nativitatis is not uniform in the sources from Kraków, although all of them omit the antiphon Judea et Jerusalem typical for that formulary. The oldest source (Kra-51) has a series which can be found also in Wrocław and Włocławek. It is concordant (apart from the fourth antiphon) with the use of Prague and Bamberg. Two solutions within KRA2 (the second starting with the antiphon Constantes estote, rare in this context) seem to be unique.
10300‒10340: The series of antiphons for the 1st Vespers of Christmas in Kra-51 and a somewhat rearranged form of it in later sources from Kraków is typical for Southern German traditions (cf. Salzburg, Bamberg, Aquileia).
10420: The antiphon Alleluja verbum caro which appears in Kra-51 as the Nunc dimittis antiphon can be found in that function only in French traditions (e.g. in Paris and the Carmelite-Jerusalem rite). Other sources prescribe unanimously and quite unconventionally the antiphon Scitote quia prope est.
10520: Tropes occur only rarely in the Kraków sources for the Office. The prosulas for the neuma triplex can be found exclusively in the antiphoners from the cathedral and (in a slightly different set) in Kielce antiphoner. The tropes for the verse melisma (Missus ab arce and Gloria pie) are more frequent but are absent from Kra-51 and some breviaries.
10750: Quem aethera et terra sung with the responsory Verbum caro was another Christmas trope relatively popular in Kraków. The choice of commemorative antiphons sung after the Liber generationis in KRA2 was somewhat richer than elsewhere, and apart from the typical O mundi domina included Completi sunt dies (Kie-1 only) and Ecce completa sunt omnia.
11170 etc.: Similarly to the Prague tradition, only one series of Matins antiphons for the feast of St. Stephen, beginning with Hesterna die, appears in sources from Kraków. However, the alternative set – Beatus Stephanus etc. – can be found in the antiphoner from Kielce.
11630 etc.: Most sources from Kraków also give one series of Matins antiphons (Johannes apostolus) for the feast of St. John the Evangelist. Kie-1 again includes the second series – Qui vicerit – which is also prescribed for the Octave in some breviaries (Kra-28, Kra-32, Kra-1508 and Kra-166).
11910: According to some sources from Kraków, the responsory Verbum caro was sung as the last responsory of the 3rd Nocturn of the feast of St. John (and the Holy Innocents).
12100 etc: As in Prague, Olomouc, Esztergom and Kalocsa, both Kraków traditions provide proper antiphons (Herodes videns etc.) for the nocturns on the feast of the Holy Innocents. In the sources from Kraków there are three different sets of the antiphons for the last nocturn, none of which is precisely concordant with other Central-European traditions.
12140 etc: The series of responsories for the same feast begins in Kra-51 with the usual Sub altare Dei but also contains six rare responsories, four of which seem to be known only in a few Polish sources (Wrocław, Poznań, Włocławek): Quos hostilis, Gloriosa martyrum, Laeta mente recolentes, and O beati pueri. The order of responsories in later sources from Kraków is the same as the one from Central and Eastern German dioceses (Mainz, Meissen, Magdeburg).
13540 The use of Tolle puerum in KRA2 on the Vigil of Epiphany is a feature of Italian and some Central-European traditions (Prague, Esztergom, Kalocsa-Zagreb).
13690 etc: Originally the same antiphons were used in Krakow for nocturns on the feast of the Epiphany and its Octave. However, the oldest sources of KRA2 suggest that the last antiphon could have been replaced (secundum quod quidam volunt) during the Octave. Interestingly, sources of tradition KRA2b, but also the printed breviary, have two sets for the respective Night Offices.
15480 etc: In KRA2 the farewell to Alleluja on Septuagesima Sunday was alluded to on the 1st Vespers of the day by the use of Alleluja antiphons (not antiphona sola!) from the Paschal Octave (see 31730-31734) and the responsory Alleluja judica. The older use (KRA1) does not know this tradition.
15471‒15472: Antiphons in evangelium for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany in KRA2 (Domine nonne bonum, Colligite primum) are characteristic of Western (French, English, Italian) sources. Their appearance in sources from Kraków (but also from some other Central European traditions like that of Kalocsa-Zagreb) might be perhaps explained by the influence of the Dominican rite, where these same antiphons with the same melodies are used.
15570, 16080, 16510: All sources from Kraków, including the oldest, provide separate responsory cycles for the three Sundays preceding Lent: Historia de Adam on Septuagesima, Historia de Noe on Sexagesima and Historia de Abraham on Quinquagesima. This arrangement is relatively rare and, beyond Anglo-Norman rites, can be found only in a few Italian and Central-European traditions including all Polish dioceses, Klosterneuburg, Esztergom, Kalocsa-Zagreb and Aquileia. The choice and order of chants is generally specific for the tradition. There are also significant differences in this respect between the older and the more recent use of Kraków. The selection of responsories in the latter, which seems to be dependent on the Hungarian tradition, is richer and includes chants that are rare or cannot be found elsewhere (e.g. Justus Noe, Emisit Noe, Descendamus et confundamus, Intellexit igitur Noe, Revertenti Abraham, Ascendens ergo Deus). Disagreement within the second type of the tradition (KRA2) and rubrics in Kie-1 (Hinc quidam cantant…) reveal that the formation of the formulary was still in progress at the end of the 14th century.
15800, 16290, 16720: The early tradition of Kraków and the second variant of the later use (KRA2b) also give three different sets of antiphons for the Lauds of three Sundays before Lent: Miserere etc. for Septuagesima, Secundum multitudinem etc. for Sexagesima and Lava me Domine etc. for Quinquagesima. The latter cycle seems to be a Polish peculiarity, as it appears only in the sources from Kraków, Gniezno, Poznań, Płock, Wrocław and Włocławek. Official sources of the later use (KRA2a, but see the rubric in the printed breviary) follow the widespread solution of repeating the series beginning with the antiphon Miserere on Sexagesima and singing Secundum multitudinem (et alia) on Quinquagesima.
16850: In the later Kraków tradition (KRA2) on Monday and Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday the offices for the patrons of Kraków/Poland were sung (St. Wenceslas or Adalbert on Monday and St. Stanislas on Tuesday).
Lent
20080, 21690, 23300: The Kraków tradition is one of a few Central European rites that provides responsories for Lenten Complines alternating every two weeks. The same items can be found in Esztergom, except that there the 1st and the 2nd responsories are sung in reverse order.
20131, 21731: Hymns were also sung at Matins in Lent. The choice of hymns – identical in both types of Kraków use – for the first four weeks was particularly original. During the first and the second week of Lent the hymn Ecce tempus idoneum, a hallmark of the Sarum rite, was sung. O Nazarene dux for the second fortnight seems by contrast to have been widespread only in the Low Countries, where, however, it was used for Lauds.
20910‒20920, 21570‒21580: Formularies for the Lenten period are stable and similar in both versions of Kraków tradition, with a few notable exceptions. One of these is the choice of Gospel antiphons for Thursdays of the first and second weeks of Lent. Fairly standard items of KRA1 are replaced in later use by rare chants originating probably from the Anglo-Norman tradition (Si vos manseritis, Ego enim ex Deo, Non possum ego). The antiphon Opera quae dedit mihi pater for Vespers in the Second Week of Lent has so far been found only in sources from Poland and Spiš/Szepes.
23289: A particular feature of the Kraków traditions is the use of a proper antiphon for the psalms of Compline of the Fifth and Sixth Sunday of Lent. Moreover, the 6th-mode antiphon Signatum est super nos seems to be a rarity. It is to be found in some English manuscripts (GB-AB 20541 E, GB-Cu Mm ii.9 on the 1st Sunday – see Cantus Database) in Olomouc and the twelfth-century Codex Albensis from Transylvania.
23350, 23430, 23510: The antiphonae solae for the nocturns of Passion Sunday are identical in the Kraków and Prague traditions.
24350: The use of the longer version of Simon dormis (which seems to be based on the Milanese antiphona dupla) in Compline on Palm Sunday is a common feature of the Hungarian, Bohemian and Polish traditions.
24700, 24720, 24750, 24780: Each subtype of the Kraków tradition (KRA1, KRA2a, KRA2b) has a specific set of antiphons for the Little Hours on Palm Sunday. The series used in KRA2a is similar to one from Prague. KRA2b includes the antiphon Cum ramis palmarum, which seems to be a local product.
24890, 25140 etc.: The choice and order of responsories for Monday to Wednesday in Holy Week is different and typically idiosyncratic in the two main traditions of Kraków. The series from Kra-51 and Kra-28 is faithfully repeated in the sources from Wrocław. KRA2 has some astonishing concordances with West German traditions (especially with Aachen – see D-AAm G 20 in Cantus Database).
25950: Specifically ordered responsories for the nocturns of the Triduum Sacrum generally follow the German tradition.2 However, the verse Petrae scissae sunt that occurs in KRA1 is practically unknown in Central-European sources.
Paschaltide
30220 etc., 30271 etc.: The Gradual Haec dies and alleluiatic verses were sung in Kraków at Little Hours and Vespers. A specific feature of the tradition is the omission of verses in the Little Hours, of both the Gradual and the Alleluja in all the Little Hours in Kra-51, and of the verse of the Alleluja in all Hours but Prime in KRA2.
31330‒31332 On Saturday in Easter Week (in Albis) Alleluja Haec dies was sung instead of the usual Gradual. In the later Kraków Office (KRA2) another Alleluja with two verses (Laudate pueri, Sit nomen Domini) was added, which practice seems to be unique to this tradition.
30530, 30790, 30940, 31089, 31189, 31269: Different antiphons changing every day were used in Kraków for Matins instead of the common solution of singing one and the same antiphona sola for the whole week. There is disagreement between the three subtypes of the Kraków Office as to the choice of particular items. The main branch of the second type (KRA2a) make use of chants similiar to those in Prague, where the same variety occurs:
|
Kra 51 |
KRA2a |
KRA2b |
|
| f2 | Resurrexit | Cognoverunt | Cognoverunt |
| f3 | Pax vobis | Pax vobis | Pax vobis |
| f4 | Surrexit Dominus | Gavisi sunt | Noli flere |
| f5 | Stetit Ihesus | Noli flere | Dum flerem |
| f6 | Pax vobis | Ecce ego | Gavisi sunt |
| Sabb | Gavisi sunt | Gavisi sunt | Ecce ego |
30620 etc.: Kra-51 follows a rare custom (cf. Prague, Magdeburg) of prescribing successive antiphons of Easter Lauds as antiphonae solae for the following days in Easter Week. In later sources the whole set is repeated every day (but see the commentary for exceptions in Kie-1 and Kra-166)
31430 etc., 32200 etc.: The order of responsories de Apocalypsis and de Psalterio differs in KRA1, KRA2a and KRA2b. Interestingly, the series of chants in Kra-51 is analogous (in both cases!) to the selection found in the Magdeburg breviary. The distribution of the chants for the subsequent days of the week is not always clear (see respective commentaries). It seems that they were usually sung in ordine, but the rubrics in Kra-166 and a warning in Kra-1508 (see commentary to 31430 and 32200) suggest that in some churches of the diocese the 1st responsory de Apocalypsis, Dignus es Domine, was placed at the beginning of a nocturn every day.
32460, 32510, 32560: In contrast to what is apparently a common practice at Matins of Sundays of the Easter season, responsoria from Easter Sunday were sung, whereas chants from the Historia de Psalmis were reserved for weekdays.
32650: In the First Vespers on the feast of the Ascension the antiphona sola Si diligeretis me was used in later sources from Kraków. Early Kra-51 suggests a few alternative solutions.
32750: Matins of Ascension Day consisted of one nocturn only. The three nocturns in the indices were in fact distributed over three subsequent days (Thursday to Saturday).
Tempus per annum
41450 etc.: The later use of Kraków has two series of chants for Sundays per annum. The first was used after the Octave of Epiphany, the second started on Sunday after the feast of the Holy Trinity. The two dominical cycles included invitatory antiphons, antiphons for Matins and Lauds, and hymns. There were also two sets of antiphons for the Little Hours, the first of which was sung on Sundays of the winter period (pars hiemalis) and on weekdays throughout the whole year. The “summer” cycle (Pro fidei meritis etc. including antiphons for Lauds Regnavit Dominus), written in elegiac distichs, is attested mainly by French and a few Italian manuscripts (Paris, Cambrai, Sens, Carmelites, Benevento, etc. – see Cantus Database). It was used also in other Polish dioceses, with the notable exception of Wrocław.
Unfortunately, the oldest witness of the Office of Kraków, Kra-51, has a lacuna on the 1st Sunday after Epiphany, but the remnant of the formulary including the last two antiphons ad laudes suggests that initially only the rare French cycle was used in Kraków, which was also a characteristic feature of Wrocław liturgical tradition until the adoption of the Post-Tridentine rite. The second witness of KRA1 (Kra-28), however, follows the later practice with two separate cycles. The antiphoner from Kielce also contains a third set of antiphons begining with Beati qui in lege tua. These rare chants can be found in the liturgy of Cividale, in the Transylvanian Codex Albensis and in a few other isolated sources (D-AAm G 20, I-Far etc.)3
41460 etc.: The selection of chants in the popular Servite Domino cycle was not uniform across dioceses. The sources from Kraków (KRA2) are concordant in this respect with the tradition of Prague and Salzburg.
43880 etc: The order of responsories from biblical historiae is usually slightly different in the three types of the Kraków Office (KRA1, KRA2a, KRA2b).
44500 etc: The “incomplete” (i.e. consisting of less than nine items) cycles of responsories with texts taken from the books of Tobit and Esther demanded special strategies for Sundays in autumn. The only six responsories from the historia Thobiae were supplemented on Sunday in Kraków by three responsories de Judith. The latter were not repeated the following Sunday but instead the chants from the book of Esther were added (see respective commentaries). Nine lessons from the book of Esther (read as a group in Matins practically only if there occurred a 5th Sunday in September) were sung with this mixed Judith-Esther responsory cycle.
45239: A special proper Invitatory antiphon – Laudabilem virum – was provided for the Historia de Prophetis in the later Kraków sources. The chant was also used in Esztergom.
46870: A rare invitatory antiphon Circumdederunt me for the Officium mortuorum appears outside Kraków also in Prague, Esztergom, Aachen, Aquileia and Cambrai. Unfortunately neither of the two sources for the KRA1 tradition contains a formulary for that Office.
46920 etc.: The sources from Kraków attest only one cycle of responsories for the Office of the Dead. The selection of chants of this formulary is concordant with the second cycle (vigiliae mortuorum minores) as found in Bohemian and Hungarian traditions.