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Tag: Ioan Caianu

  • Ioan Căianu

    Ioan Căianu

    Egalement connu sous le nom latinisé de Ioannes Caioni et hongrois de Kájoni János, Ioan Căianu a compté parmi les moines qui ont œuvré avec humilité, mais aussi avec passion et ténacité, au développement de la culture religieuse et laïque de Transylvanie au 17e siècle. A la fois musicien, organiste et imprimeur, le moine franciscain Ioan Căianu est surtout connu grâce à un recueil impressionnant de musique vocale et instrumentale ancienne, le fameux Codex Caioni. Plusieurs morceaux de ce codex, pour la plupart des mélodies folkloriques roumaines, sont connus du grand public grâce aussi aux arrangements réalisés par deux compositeurs de l’époque moderne : Marţian Negrea et Doru Popovici.

    Pourtant, l’origine de ce Codex Caioni est à retrouver dans l’espace religieux si divers de la Transylvanie du 17e siècle.

    Erzsébet Muckenhaupt, historienne de la littérature, explique : « On connaît très peu de choses sur la famille de Caioni. On sait qu’il est né vers la fin de l’année 1629 ou au début de l’année 1630, dans le village de Leghia, au comté de Cluj. Ses parents étaient d’origine roumaine et ils étaient très probablement de petits nobles originaires de Căianul Mic (dans le nord de la Roumanie). Caioni avait l’habitude de se désigner lui-même dans ses notes comme Ioannes Caioni, Valaque de Căianu Mic. On ne sait pas non plus grand-chose sur ses études. On ignore où il a étudié, on ne connaît même pas le lieu où il a suivi son école primaire. On fait des suppositions. Il a probablement étudié chez les Jésuites de la localité de Mănăştur, aux alentours de Cluj. On ignore également les circonstances dans lesquelles il s’est rapproché des franciscains et du catholicisme. En tout cas, c’est le 17 septembre 1648 qu’il a rejoint l’ordre franciscain et, l’année suivante, il a prêté le serment monacal. Il a poursuivi ses études en théologie à Târnava – une localité qui se trouve de nos jours en Slovaquie – où il a d’ailleurs été ordonné prêtre. C’est peut-être à cette époque qu’il a approfondi la musique sacrée de son époque, qu’il s’est perfectionné comme organiste et qu’il a appris l’art de la fabrication des instruments de musique, notamment des orgues. »

    Son habileté à fabriquer des orgues et son talent d’instrumentiste lui ont valu une place d’organiste au monastère franciscain de Şumuleu Ciuc (au centre de la Roumanie) où il est resté entre 1652 et 1657. En 1664 il a reconstruit l’orgue de cette église, détruit suite à l’invasion turco-tatare de 1661. A Şumuleu, le nom de Ioan Căianu est lié aussi à une autre réalisation culturelle : il y a créé une imprimerie.

    Erzsébet Muckenhaupt précise : « En 1676, il réussit à obtenir l’accord de la Sainte congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi de Rome (Propaganda Fide) pour la création d’une imprimerie à Şumuleu Ciuc. Cette imprimerie a fonctionné jusqu’à la fin du 19e siècle. Caioni a été à la tête de l’imprimerie et il a rédigé une grande partie des ouvrages qui y ont été imprimés. Je pense qu’il y a également été correcteur. L’imprimerie de Şumuleu a joué un rôle important dans la région, étant à l’époque la seule imprimerie catholique de Transylvanie, où les imprimeries étaient pour la plupart protestantes et il y avait aussi une imprimerie orthodoxe. En 1726, une deuxième imprimerie catholique a été créée, celle des Jésuites de Cluj. »

    C’est à l’imprimerie de Şumuleu Ciuc que Ioan Căianu a mené une grande partie de son activité en tant que lettré. Il est notamment l’auteur d’une vingtaine d’ouvrages religieux et laïcs manuscrits et imprimés, dont, entre autres, des livres de prière en latin et en hongrois, une collection de plus de mille pages de vers latins et hongrois, un herbier, un calendrier liturgique, un abécédaire sicule. La plupart de ses ouvrages sont pourtant des ouvrages de musique. D’ailleurs, Cantionale Catolicum fut le premier livre imprimé à Şumuleu en 1676. Pourtant, de nos jours, c’est au Codex Caioni qu’il doit sa célébrité.

    Erzsébet Muckenhaupt ajoute : « Le Codex Caioni est une importante source dans l’histoire de la musique d’Europe centrale et de l’Est, ainsi que de Transylvanie, au 17e siècle. Iohannes Caioni l’a rédigé et copié entre 1652 et 1671, pendant qu’il a été supérieur des monastères de Şumuleu, Călugăreni et Lăzarea. Il l’a rédigé pour son propre usage. Ce n’est donc pas un ouvrage officiel de l’ordre des Franciscains. Caioni l’a réalisé par passion pour la musique et il n’a pas été le premier à le mettre sur papier. La première forme du Codex est due à Mátyás Seregély qui était, semble-t-il, musicien chez les Jésuites ou à l’une des églises évangéliques de Transylvanie. Il s’agit d’une anthologie à caractère sacré et profane, où la notation est spécifique des partitions du 17e siècle, à savoir la tablature allemande ancienne. Le Codex Caioni compte au total 290 morceaux de musique, dont la plupart – à savoir 150 – sont religieux, datant de la fin du 16e et du début du 17e siècles. Ont été transcrits avant tout des ouvrages de compositeurs catholiques d’Italie du nord, auxquels s’ajoutent des ouvrages appartenant à des compositeurs protestants. D’autres morceaux sont d’inspiration folklorique – et c’est le cas des deux danses valaques du 17e siècle transylvain. »

    Ioan Căianu s’est éteint en avril 1687, au monastère franciscain de Lăzarea (au centre de la Roumanie) où il avait d’ailleurs été nommé supérieur. Quant au manuscrit du Codex Caioni, celui-ci a été découvert en 1985 dans le mur du réfectoire du monastère de Şumuleu Ciuc, où il avait été caché pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Notre interlocutrice, Mme Muckenhaupt, compte parmi ceux qui ont découvert et mis en valeur cet ouvrage. A présent, le Codex Caioni se trouve au musée de Miercurea Ciuc. (Trad. : Dominique)

  • Ioan Caianu

    Ioan Caianu

    Ioan Căianu, whose name is
    Ioannes Caioni in Latin or Kájoni János in
    Hungarian, was one of the monks who worked meekly yet with passion and
    determination, contributing to the progress of lay and religious culture of
    Transylvania in the 17th century. A Franciscan monk, Ioan Caianu was
    equally a musician, an organ player and a printer. Ioan Caianu came to be known
    mainly due to an impressive collection of ancient, vocal and instrumental
    music, Codex Caioni. Bits of that codex, mostly Romanian traditional pieces, in
    the last decades came to be known to the lay public thanks to the musical
    arrangements made by composers Marţian Negrea and Doru Popovici. However, it
    all began in Transylvania’s extremely diverse religious space in the 17th
    century. With details on that, here is book historian Erzsébet
    Muckenhaupt.


    Very little is known about Caioni’s family.
    What we do know is that he was born in late 1629 or in early 1630, in the
    village of Leghia, in Cluj County. His parents were of Romanian origin, and,
    most likely, were part of the gentry that hailed from Caianul Mic, in northern
    Romania. At the same time, we know very little about his education. We do not
    know where he learned, nor do we know where he completed his primary school.
    There are several assumptions for that. He may have studied with the Jesuits in
    Mănăştur, nearby Cluj. We do not know how he got closer to the Franciscans or
    how he embraced the Catholic faith either. At any rate, on September 17, 1648
    he joined the Franciscan order, and in 1649 he swore his monk’s oath. He
    continued his theological studies in Târnava, a locality which can be found in
    today’s Slovakia, where he was also ordained a priest. It was also there that
    he became acquainted with the religious music of his time, it was also there
    that he perfected his organist’s skills and learned the craft of making musical
    instruments, organs, first and foremost.


    The
    fact that he grew into a highly skilled organ builder as well as his talent as
    an organ player took Ioan Caianu to the Franciscan monastery of Sumuleu Ciuc,
    central Romania where he held the position of organist, between 1652 and 1657.
    In 1664 Ioan Caianu built from scratch the organ of that church which was
    destroyed in a Turkish-Tartar invasion in 1661. Also in Şumuleu Ioan Căianu
    would found a print shop. With details on
    that, here is Erzsébet Muckenhaupt once again.


    In 1676
    he succeeded to obtain from the Holy Congregation of the Faith in Rome
    (Propaganda De Fide) the official approval for the setting up of a print shop
    in Şumuleu Ciuc. The print shop was operational until the late 19th
    century. Caioni ran the print shop and was also the editor of quite a few of
    the works that were printed there. I think he was also a proof reader. The
    print shop in a Şumuleu played an important part in the region, since it was
    the only catholic print shop in Transylvania, where most of the print shops
    were mainly Protestant. There was also an Orthodox print shop. Until 1726, it
    was the only catholic print shop in Transylvania. The Jesuits’ print shop in
    Cluj was set up the same year.


    At
    the print shop in Şumuleu Ciuc, Ioan Căianu performed a significant part of his
    scholar’s activities. He authored more than 20 works, manuscripts or printed, with
    a variegated content, religious or lay, among which prayer books in Latin and
    Hungarian, a collection of Latin and Hungarian verse with more than 1,000
    pages, a herbarium, a Szekely alphabet book, a Lithurgical calendar. However,
    for their most part, his works are musical, just as it is the first book
    printed in Sumuleu in 1676, Cantionale Catolicum. However, at present, it is
    his work, Codex Caioni, Ioan Caianu is famous for. Speaking about that, here is
    Erzsébet Muckenhaupt.


    The
    Codex is a noteworthy source for the history of music in Central and Eastern
    Europe and 17th century Transylvania. It was named so, after the
    name of Ioannes Caioni, who wrote and transcribed it between 1652 – 1671, when
    he was a guardian with the monasteries in Şumuleu, Călugăreni and Lăzarea. He
    wrote it for personal use. It is not a mainstream work in its own right as part
    of the order, but it stemmed from Caioni’s sheer passion for music. He was not
    the only one to have written the Codex, it was Mátyás
    Seregély who most likely was a musician with the Jesuits or with one of the
    Evangelical monasteries in Transylvania. It is in fact an anthology of
    compositions, sacred and profane, with a notation system typical for the 17th
    century musical scores, according to the new German system. All told, there are
    290 religious musical pieces of the late 16th century and the early
    17th century, that is 150 pieces. First of all, transcribed were the
    works of Catholic composers in Northern Italy. There are also works authored by
    Protestant composers. Some of them are of traditional inspiration, such as the
    two Romanian Wallachian dances of the 17th century.


    Ioan Căianu died in April 1687 in the Franciscan
    monastery in Lăzarea, central Romania, where he had actually been appointed
    guardian or abbot. As for the manuscript of the Codex, it was discovered in
    1985, in the walls of the refectory of the Şumuleu Ciuc monastery, where it had
    been hidden during World War Two. Erzsébet Muckenhaupt was one of those who
    discovered it and put it to good use. At present, the manuscript is kept in the
    museum of Miercurea Ciuc.


    (translated
    by E. Nasta)

  • Ioan Caianu

    Ioan Caianu

    Ioan Căianu, whose name is
    Ioannes Caioni in Latin or Kájoni János in
    Hungarian, was one of the monks who worked meekly yet with passion and
    determination, contributing to the progress of lay and religious culture of
    Transylvania in the 17th century. A Franciscan monk, Ioan Caianu was
    equally a musician, an organ player and a printer. Ioan Caianu came to be known
    mainly due to an impressive collection of ancient, vocal and instrumental
    music, Codex Caioni. Bits of that codex, mostly Romanian traditional pieces, in
    the last decades came to be known to the lay public thanks to the musical
    arrangements made by composers Marţian Negrea and Doru Popovici. However, it
    all began in Transylvania’s extremely diverse religious space in the 17th
    century. With details on that, here is book historian Erzsébet
    Muckenhaupt.


    Very little is known about Caioni’s family.
    What we do know is that he was born in late 1629 or in early 1630, in the
    village of Leghia, in Cluj County. His parents were of Romanian origin, and,
    most likely, were part of the gentry that hailed from Caianul Mic, in northern
    Romania. At the same time, we know very little about his education. We do not
    know where he learned, nor do we know where he completed his primary school.
    There are several assumptions for that. He may have studied with the Jesuits in
    Mănăştur, nearby Cluj. We do not know how he got closer to the Franciscans or
    how he embraced the Catholic faith either. At any rate, on September 17, 1648
    he joined the Franciscan order, and in 1649 he swore his monk’s oath. He
    continued his theological studies in Târnava, a locality which can be found in
    today’s Slovakia, where he was also ordained a priest. It was also there that
    he became acquainted with the religious music of his time, it was also there
    that he perfected his organist’s skills and learned the craft of making musical
    instruments, organs, first and foremost.


    The
    fact that he grew into a highly skilled organ builder as well as his talent as
    an organ player took Ioan Caianu to the Franciscan monastery of Sumuleu Ciuc,
    central Romania where he held the position of organist, between 1652 and 1657.
    In 1664 Ioan Caianu built from scratch the organ of that church which was
    destroyed in a Turkish-Tartar invasion in 1661. Also in Şumuleu Ioan Căianu
    would found a print shop. With details on
    that, here is Erzsébet Muckenhaupt once again.


    In 1676
    he succeeded to obtain from the Holy Congregation of the Faith in Rome
    (Propaganda De Fide) the official approval for the setting up of a print shop
    in Şumuleu Ciuc. The print shop was operational until the late 19th
    century. Caioni ran the print shop and was also the editor of quite a few of
    the works that were printed there. I think he was also a proof reader. The
    print shop in a Şumuleu played an important part in the region, since it was
    the only catholic print shop in Transylvania, where most of the print shops
    were mainly Protestant. There was also an Orthodox print shop. Until 1726, it
    was the only catholic print shop in Transylvania. The Jesuits’ print shop in
    Cluj was set up the same year.


    At
    the print shop in Şumuleu Ciuc, Ioan Căianu performed a significant part of his
    scholar’s activities. He authored more than 20 works, manuscripts or printed, with
    a variegated content, religious or lay, among which prayer books in Latin and
    Hungarian, a collection of Latin and Hungarian verse with more than 1,000
    pages, a herbarium, a Szekely alphabet book, a Lithurgical calendar. However,
    for their most part, his works are musical, just as it is the first book
    printed in Sumuleu in 1676, Cantionale Catolicum. However, at present, it is
    his work, Codex Caioni, Ioan Caianu is famous for. Speaking about that, here is
    Erzsébet Muckenhaupt.


    The
    Codex is a noteworthy source for the history of music in Central and Eastern
    Europe and 17th century Transylvania. It was named so, after the
    name of Ioannes Caioni, who wrote and transcribed it between 1652 – 1671, when
    he was a guardian with the monasteries in Şumuleu, Călugăreni and Lăzarea. He
    wrote it for personal use. It is not a mainstream work in its own right as part
    of the order, but it stemmed from Caioni’s sheer passion for music. He was not
    the only one to have written the Codex, it was Mátyás
    Seregély who most likely was a musician with the Jesuits or with one of the
    Evangelical monasteries in Transylvania. It is in fact an anthology of
    compositions, sacred and profane, with a notation system typical for the 17th
    century musical scores, according to the new German system. All told, there are
    290 religious musical pieces of the late 16th century and the early
    17th century, that is 150 pieces. First of all, transcribed were the
    works of Catholic composers in Northern Italy. There are also works authored by
    Protestant composers. Some of them are of traditional inspiration, such as the
    two Romanian Wallachian dances of the 17th century.


    Ioan Căianu died in April 1687 in the Franciscan
    monastery in Lăzarea, central Romania, where he had actually been appointed
    guardian or abbot. As for the manuscript of the Codex, it was discovered in
    1985, in the walls of the refectory of the Şumuleu Ciuc monastery, where it had
    been hidden during World War Two. Erzsébet Muckenhaupt was one of those who
    discovered it and put it to good use. At present, the manuscript is kept in the
    museum of Miercurea Ciuc.


    (translated
    by E. Nasta)