A summary of the goals of the “Momentum” project
The study of medieval manuscript fragments manifested as an independent area in international and Hungarian medieval research in the 1970s. Hungarian musicologists, László Dobszay and Janka Szendrei, also joined László Mezey’s founding works, publishing the catalogue of 655 fragments with musical notation known at the time. In the nearly 40 years that have passed, the number of sources has multiplied. The tools of primary source exploration and comparative analysis have been radically transformed, opening up new possibilities for research. Digital technology and online publication allow virtual reconstruction of distant codices. Our project aims to make the Hungarian fragment research part of the international network of digital fragmentology. This goal is realized on three levels of analysis: exploring – processing – reconstruction:
- Primary research in domestic and foreign (Slovak, Romanian, Croatian and Austrian) libraries and archives, in collections preserving proven or presumed Hungarian source material; unseparated (in situ) fragment restoration if possible;
- Digitization of sources; codicological, paleographic, melodic-historical processing; inclusion of data in online databases;
- Identification and virtual reconstruction of the related fragment groups from the same codex, workshop; synthetic-monographic processing. This stage of research involves the examination of the host volumes of the fragments and their possessors, which is indispensable for unfolding the early modern and modern history and itinerary of the original codices.
Not only is our research innovative from a scientific point of view – as sources can indeed be found or reconstructed in a modern way – but it provides new perspectives for a more nuanced understanding of the layers, relationships, transmission routes and institutional background of medieval and early modern manuscript and book culture in Hungary. Our project is directly related to similar Central European initiatives and joins the dynamically developing branch of international fragmentology research.