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Description and Notes
The manuscript is a kind of "organ book", written and mostly "composed" by an organist. On fol. 1 to fol. 5r there are bass lines to Gregorian chant, mostly one bass note set to one note of chant, sometimes two minims to one note of chant, the bass line to Regina caeli laetare (fol. 3r), respectively, four crotchets to one note of chant. Most of the nine chant melodies are Marian antiphons. On fol. 5v there is a schedule of a canonical hour ("Ad completorium") in soprano clef instead of the bass clef used before, followed on fol. 6r ff. by organ settings of chant (soprano + bass clef) . At the beginning there is an "Inv[itatorium] in Nativit[ate] D[omi]ni" with the melody "Christus natus est nobis" (only 7 bars). The organ setting on fol. 7r with instructions for the setting of the thorough bass written on the top of the page is a very poor one, it sounds terrible in some instances. Probably not written by a skilled master like Haydn.
Date of manuscript based on watermarks for WZ14 as identified by Dorrit Somfai-Revesz in "Haydn als Opernkapellmeister."
Includes some unidentified sketches for violin figurations on fol. 6v.
Signatures of Katherina, Theresia and Johan Czerwenka on fol. 8v. These were the children of Franz Czerwenka, oboist in the Esterhazy Orchestra (1783-1790) and assistant organist at the Schlosskapelle Eisenstadt and Esterhazy.
Once owned by Franz Czerwenka; sold to Eduard Hanslick after 1835 who authenticated the manuscript on fol. 4v ("Handschrift Joseph Haydn's"). Upon Hanslick's death in 1904, the manuscript was acquired by the Hungarian art and book collector, Geza Csillag. In 1950, the manuscript was purchased by Denes Bartha, and given to the Theodore M. Finney Music Library, University of Pittsburgh in 1971.
Not in Haydn's hand? E-mail to John Rice from Armin Raab, Joseph Haydn-Institut, Köln dated 14 May 2010 states: Not even a tiny part of the handwriting is by Haydn. But the manuscript may give an interesting insight into the regular church music at Eisenstadt. Of course, even the first glimpse shows that the notes and the words are not by Haydn. One might suppose that the figures were written by him. Some of the "3"s and "8"s look pretty much like Haydn's. But the "1", "4" and "7" don't. And there is no evidence at all that the figures have not been written by the same hand as the notes themselves.
