Incipit [1] ( Latin incipit - begins, personal form of the verb incipere ) [2] - the initial one or several words of any text that serve to identify it, as well as performing the function of its name (title).
Content
Brief Feature
The method of reference to the cited incipite work was introduced by Alexandrian scholars (in the 3rd — 2nd centuries BC) as the most reliable, since the titles of the works could vary, and the names of the authors coincide [3] .
In medieval Latin handwritten texts, the insipits were often highlighted in red ( cinnabar ). In music source literature (for example, in thematic catalogs of composers' essays), the initial phrase (or the first section of the form ) of a musical work is called incipit.
Identification of texts by incipit is indispensable in anonymous texts (for example, in musical-theoretical treatises or books of medieval songs ) with identical headings or no headlines at all.
Examples of Incipitis
Musical Works
Many vocal compositions in modern concert-performing and musicological practice are named after the incipits of their texts - for example, the overwhelming majority of the vocal works of JS Bach .
A number of popular opera numbers are widely known precisely for incipits. For example, the aria of Calaf from the opera by G. Puccini “Turandot” is reviewed (both among music lovers and in musicological [4] ) with the help of her incipient “ Nessun dorma ” , and Cavatina Norma from the 1st act of the same-name opera B Bellini - with the help of her casti diva .
The texts of the Protestant choral texts almost always act as their names (for example, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” - “Our God is a stronghold”, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” - “Awake, the voice calls out to us”).
Many folk songs are widely known for incipits (for example, “ There was a birch in the field ,” “ Whether in the garden, in the garden ,” “ Oh, my dear Augustine ”) [5] .
Biblical and liturgical texts
The following texts are widely known under the name incipits:
text Church Slavonic
incipitLatin
incipitLord's Prayer Our Father Pater noster Psalm 50 Have mercy on me, God Miserere Song of Simeon the God Receiver Now let go Nunc dimittis Song of the Virgin My soul doth magnify Magnificat Symbol of faith I believe Crado Laud
Ambrose of MilanTo you praise god Te deum Sunday Sunday Angelic Cathedral -
Among other Orthodox prayer chants, almost always referred to by the incipit - “The Virgin Mary ”, “the Iru cherubs ”, “the Mercy of the world ”, “ It is worthy ”, “the Honest cherub ”, “ O Lord, I have cried ”, “ My dying Queen ” [6 ] , Agnia Parthene ; among the Catholic ones are Ave Maria , Salve Regina (together with other Virgin antiphons ), Dies irae , De profundis ( Psalm 129 ), Gloria .
Incipits are widely used in liturgical books to indicate a text that needs to be sung (or read) in the appropriate place of worship.
The Prologue book received its Slavic name after the first word of the original Greek text (subtitle), perceived by Slavic translators as the title of the entire collection.
Papal Documents
Pope's encyclicals and bulls are traditionally called after the first two or three words of the text.
Notes
- Слов Dictionary accent: Russian spelling dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ed. ed. V. V. Lopatin. The electronic version, "GRAMOTA.RU", 2001-2007 , the emphasis in the Latin original, in German, English and other languages - principle .
- ↑ Apparently, the term "Incipit" came into use in Russian science from German philological works ( German das Incipit ). See, for example: Duden . Das Fremdwörterbuch. Mannheim: Dudenverlag, 1982, p. 335; Riemann Musik Lexikon . 12te aufl. Mainz, 1967, S. 392 (with the correct accent on the first syllable).
- ↑ Levinskaya O. L. Athenaeus and his book // Athenaeus . Feast of the wise men. M., 2004 (Literary Monuments), p. 472.
- ↑ Also on Wikipedia .
- Additionally, it can be noted that the song “I am sitting behind bars in a crude dungeon” Archival copy of January 3, 2011 on the Wayback Machine to the words of A.S. Pushkin is widely known by that very name (that is, its incipient), although Pushkin's poem has its own - "Prisoner".
- ↑ The final prayer in the Canon of the moleben to the Most Holy Theotokos (Monk's Feostyrikta) .
Literature
Note. In all German dictionaries the stress is indicated (on the first syllable)
- Incipit // Riemann Musiklexikon . 12te aufl. Mainz, 1967, S. 392.
- Apel W. Incipit // Harvard Dictionary of Music. 2nd revised and enlarged edition. Cambridge, Mass .: Harvard University Press, 1974, pp. 405-406.
- Incipit // Dictionary of Antiquity. Moscow: Progress, 1993, p. 228.
- Incipit // Brockhaus-Riemann Musiklexikon, Bd. 2. Mainz: Schott Musik International, 2001, p. 231.
- Incipit // The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . London; New York, 2001.
- Incipit // The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 605.
- Incipit // Metzler Lexikon Literatur. 3te völlig bearbeitete Auflage. Stuttgart; Weimar: Verlag Metzler, 2007, S. 346.