MS Add. 7216

MS Add. 7216 The Polonsky Foundation Suzanne Paul University Library

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This Greek manuscript, probably copied in the 18th century, is a Sticherarion, a liturgical book containing hymns with their own individual melodies (stichera idiomela) sung at the morning and evening services, specific to particular days of the liturgical calendar. It belongs to the type known as a menaion, a term with various different uses, but in this context referring to a sticherarion giving the hymns particular to the feasts of the fixed calendar, organised by months and beginning from September. The text of the hymns, in which syllables are often repeated to reflect their extension in chanting, is accompanied by melodic notation (neumes) of the Cucuzelian type, which emerged in the late Byzantine period and prevailed until a major reform of the notation system in the early 19th century. Dr Christopher Wright

Greek Sticherarion (menaion) Defective at the beginning and end f. 1r ω αμην την ενδοξον πρεσβευε f. 300v πυριπνουν κατα [..]γ[..] πασα καθ' ff. 1r-29v September ff. 29v-42v October ff. 42v-67v November ff. 67v-130v December ff. 130v-183r January ff. 183r-197r February ff. 197v-212r March ff. 212v-218v April ff. 219r-223r May ff. 223r-250r June ff. 250v-264r July ff. 264v-300v August ff. 1-14 Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark: unidentified motif ( c. 25 25 ) in the gutter. ff. 15-270 Western paper, folded in quarto. No visible watermarks. ff. 271-300 Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark: unidentified motif ( c. 20 25 ) in the gutter. Codex ii + 301 + ii 179 130 The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [i-ii] + 1-4, [4a], 5-300 + [iii-iv], in pencil, in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right. No folio number was marked on f. [4a], so all numbers thereafter are too small by one.

The manuscript consists of 38 quires, all quaternia.

Quire 18-1 ff. 1-6 The first folio has been lost, with loss of text. Quires 2-378 ff. 7-294 Quire 16 ( ff. 119-126) has been bound upside-down. Quire 388-2 ff. 295-300 The last two folios have been lost, with loss of text.

There are tears to the edges of ff. 1-2 and 296-300, most significant to ff. 1 and 300, which have been repaired with paper patches or tissue (including in the gutter of f. 1), and occasional smaller tears elsewhere. Significant insect damage is present in the lower margin of ff. 17-71. Corrosion from iron-gall ink is present, especially to ff. 247-300, associated in places with small holes in the folios (e.g. ff. 254-263). There is extensive water staining, most significant to the latter part (ff. 284-300), where it has softened the paper and caused blurring and fading of the ink, particularly the red ink, growing more severe towards the outermost folios. There are patches of dirt. A single column of 11 lines. 133 90 Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 13, two vertical lines defining each edge of the written area, without text lines. Additional lines have occasionally been added in the lower margin (e.g. f. 97r-97v). At the end of some hymns the text has been arranged in a tapering pattern (e.g. f. 99r)

The main text was copied by Hand A in a blocky mixed minuscule script, slanting sharply to the left, in black ink, with consistent letter size. Headings for feasts, running heads and some hymnographic information were added by the same hand in red ink.

Syllabic abbreviations appear extremely rarely and only at the end of lines, while superscript word endings are not in use. There is decorative use of the double dot. Breathings, accents, mute iota and nomina sacra are not used in the main hymn text. In the rubric, breathings are round and mute iota is subscript, and there is accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra.

Punctuation used includes the lower comma, full stop and a mark resembling a question mark but not functioning as such.

Further hymnographic notes were added by Hand B in a mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the left, in red ink, with consistent letter size.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings are not in use. There is decorative use of the double dot. Breathings are round and there is accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra.

Punctuation used includes the lower comma, middle point and full stop.

The text is provided with Cucuzelian musical notation throughout, in black and red ink. The beginning of the hymns for each day included is preceded by a headpiece outlined in black ink with red paint infill (e.g. ff. 25r, 99v, 195r). Each hymn begins with a decorated initial, in red or occasionally in black ink (e.g. f. 226v). On f. 30v an erroneous red initial has been overwritten with the correct letter in black ink.

Hand A has placed running headers in the upper margin to indicate the current month.

There are occasional corrections, sometimes by overwriting without erasure (e.g. ff. 43r, 93r).

There is a probable note of ownership by Georgios Nikolaidis on f. 205v: Γεώργιος Κ. Νικολαΐδης Γεώργηος, and a note and marks by him on ff. 87v-88r.

The mnuscript was rebound in Cambridge in 1950, as indicated by a note and stamp on the left pastedown. Quarter leather covering over millboards, with marbled paper cover, vellum tips and plain paper pastedowns. The classmark and a Cambridge University Library stamp are tooled in gold on the spine.

187 147 42

The style of script suggests that the manuscript was copied in the 18th century, which would be consistent with the style of musical notation. Probably owned by Georgios K. Nikolaidis, as indicated by his note on f. 205v. The circumstances of acquisition are unknown. The manuscript was found in the library in 1949.

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact Cambridge University Library Admissions). Contact the Manuscripts Department for further information on the availability of this manuscript

Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge Patricia E. Easterling Scriptorium 16 2 302-323 1962 Ta cheirographa byzantines mousikes Anglia = The manuscripts of Byzantine music: England Emmanouil St. Giannopoulos Athens Institute of Byzantine Musicology 2008 Library of Congress Subject Headings Hymns, Greek Christopher Wright