Gripla - 01.01.2003, Blaðsíða 26

24
GRIPLA
and reprinted in 1733 and 1740. The Icelandic texts to the first nine hymns
(i.e. moming and evening hymns from Sunday through Thursday morning)
were written by Rev. Guðmundur Jónsson, priest at Steinsholt (ca. 1680-
1707), whose early death from the plague hindered the completion of the
projected cycle.55 His work was later completed by Rev. Jón Bjamason of
Rafnseyri (1721-1785).56
The first part of Lbs 508 8vo (which contains the Olthof pieces) is missing
the first page. The manuscript begins with the tenor part of the first piece
(“Lof, dýrð og þökk sé þér,” to Olthof s Princeps stelliferis)-, the discant part
and the heading for this hymn are missing. The remaining pieces are all in
four parts, and each begins with the discant part. Unlike the published volume
of the Buchanan/Olthof settings, the four voices in Lbs 508 8vo are not always
copied onto a single v/r opening. The discant and tenor parts are sometimes
written on one opening while the alto and bass parts appear only after a page
turn; thus, four-part singing from this manuscript alone is virtually impos-
sible.57 This may suggest that the manuscript was meant for one perfonner (or
voice part) only, or that it was not intended for performance at all. Since per-
formance of the Olthof pieces in less than four voices is documented in other
Icelandic sources, it is also possible that certain voice parts were copied
merely for the sake of “completeness.”
The last example of a notated part from the Buchanan/Olthof psalter in an
Icelandic manuscript appears in the Hymni scholares manuscript IB 323 8vo:
the bass line to Buchanan’s paraphrase of Psalm 131, Te regem dominumque
canam. This manuscript, most likely a notebook written by a student at one of
the two cathedral schools, is believed to have been written between 1760-
1800.58 It is thus a remarkably late witness to the tenacious school tradition of
55 /Ævol. 2,161-162.
56 Ibid., vol. 3,69-70; see also Hálfdán Einarsson, Sciagraphia historiae iiterariæ Islandiæ. The
latter gives an extensive listing of lcelandic poets who paraphrased the writings of Lassenius,
and includes the following remark: “... Gudmundus deniqve Johannis, parochus
Steinsholtensis usqve ad ann. 1707, qvi etiam ex Lassenii Libro precum materiam mutuatus
est, sed cum operi tantum affecto immoreretur, telam, qvam exorsus est, ad finem perduxit
Johannes Bemhardi parochus Rappseyrensis” (p. 70).
57 See, for example, the two Wednesday hymns (19v-21r; 22v-24r), and those for Friday even-
ing (35v-37r) and Saturday moming (38v-39v). Had it survived intact, this would also have
applied to the first hymn.
58 The manuscript is incomplete. At least one page containing musical notation has been tom off
and does not survive. The first ten pages of the manuscript as it exists today contain music,
including the two-part Sanctus mentioned in fn. 38, above. This is the most recent lcelandic