At 01:00 PM 10/29/2003 +0000, Tim Crawford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > AJN>>>Ophee takes away the discovery of the K'berg manuscript from Paul > > O'Dette, > > > >Paul made a considerable contribution to the recognition of the MS for >what it was. That may be so, but as the publisher of the book, I do not recall any involvement of Paul O'Dette in bringing it out. If there was _any_ such contribution, it must have been done privately between you guys and is not a matter of public record, or part of the publishing history of this book. >Matanya deserves some recognition in his turn for its >'recovery', in that he obtained the crucial photographs. But it was >'discovered' by neither. Exactly my point. Arthur keeps bringing this canard up, thus spreading silly rumors that do nothing to enhance his own reputation or that of Paul O'Dette and whose only purpose is to bash _me_, a canard that is being taken up by other like minded citizens like Roman Turovsky. That cannot do much good for the health of this discipline and its a bloody shame no one says boo about it. >Has the MS been stolen from the Vilnius library? Please tell the world >about this? Or are we talking abut photographs, in which case, forget it. > >If you're speaking of its journey from Koenigsberg to Vilnius, this could >be a fascinating footnote, but I doubt many readers of this list will be >interested. What Arthur is talking about is that in 1991, when we were still on talking terms, Sigitas Silinskas, the person who actually discovered the manuscript, came to the US to raise money among Lithuanian-Americans for the cause of Lithuanian independence. He stayed for several weeks in Chicago, where there is a large Lithuanian community, and then came to see me in Columbus. We have known each other for well over ten years by then, and in spite of the fact that I published the manuscript behind his back, so to speak, we were still friends. He asked me to introduce him the Ward and Ness, which I promptly did. From Columbus he went to Boston and spent sometime with the editors of the book. During this visit, he told Arthur the same story he has been telling me, as well as Colin Cooper, the editor of Classical Guitar magazine, that the manuscript was taken from Koenigsberg to Vilnius by the KGB, together with _another_ lute manuscript, and then deposited in the Biblioteka Akademia Nauk. According to Silinskas, the other lute manuscript was still in the KGB archives in 1991. At the time we were told this story, in the 1987 Esztergom Festival, Colin wanted to write all that up in an article in CG magazine. Since I still did not have the photocopies of the manuscript on hand, I asked Colin not to publish this material until such time we got the goods. This was still the Soviet Union in full blast and any such publication could have interfered with obtaining the manuscript. I strongly doubt Arthur has any more to say on this subject, but if he does, I would encourage him to publish it forthwith. Matanya Ophee Editions Orphe'e, Inc., 1240 Clubview Blvd. N. Columbus, OH 43235-1226 Phone: 614-846-9517 Fax: 614-846-9794 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.orphee.com
