FROM: Roman Turovsky, INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote <><><>>. Previously he had been working in a garment co-op next to (and living near) Kiev's Lutheran church in the Friedrich Engels Street (where my father was baptized in 1933). Even earlier, in 1926 he married a lady surnamed Saucheck (sic!), and whose descendant once asked a simple question on the lute-net "Wasn't PO'D the one who discovered the Königsberg Ms?" The rest is history. <><><>><> ================================= I can confirm that what Roman Turovsky writes about "P O'D's" having discovered the Koenigsberg Lute Manusctipt is correct.
Paul O'Dette also told me (and others) the same thing. He is the person who really deserves our thanks. Without his discovery of the WHEREABOUTS of the manuscript, it would probably still be gathering dust, held in secret on an unknown library shelf. You haven't a claim of discovery if you can't tell WHERE something is located. According to what Paul told me, it was at a gathering at Diana Poulton's f;lat in London that he made the discovery. Ms. Poulton had received a mysterious packet with pieces by Dowland. Not just one page as Ophee asserts. There was no return address or identification of the sender. Some pages had the oval of what might be a library stamp. In order to hide the library name, the sender had obliterated the ovals with a black marking pen. And for very good reason. As we have seen, the manuscript had been stolen. It was an easy matter to determine that the Xeroxes were of the famous Koenigsberg Lute Manuscript, which had been described with a complete and tantilizing list of contents in a history of Prussian lute music publ. in 1936 (RT's "Kossack"). Of special interest is that it can be associated with a troupe of English actors led by John Spencer, who had been appointed "Brandennburg Cammer Musicus vnnd Comoediant" in 1604 at an unusually high salary.. The large troupe of 19 actors and 16 musicians were in residence at the Brandenberg Court in K'berg. They were later associated in Amsterdam with Nicolas Vallet, who was not only a distinguished lute virtuoso, but ran a dancing school as well. I believe there is a "Lachrimae" in one of his books, too. For example, two unique pieces in the manuscript were titled "Allemande ā Globe." Even the psalms (which I discovered were from the Goudimel psalter) would be used by the actors, because on Sunday following Vespers they presented religious plays. I don't know if they danced to the several versions of "Lachrimae" in the manuscript, but one was for bandora. There is more English bandora music in the K'berg Manuscript than in any other single source, and it includes both solos and consort parts. The crucial question was not what the manuscript was, but WHERE was the manuscript. Through some clever, on the spot detective work, Paul discovered the WHERE. He "announced" (his word) his discovery to the Poulton gathering, which included Ophee (and Crawford?): the manuscript was in the library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius. With this information it was easy for Ophee to get Xeroxes, and to order the micorfilm. I recall all went very smoothly. This intrigue with KGB agents, etc., is simply typical Ophee hype. Alas Oprhee concealed from us that Paul O'Dette had told him where to find the manuscript. As a result to our embarrassment, Dr. John M. Ward and I did not properly acknowledge Paul's central contribution in our publication. Oh, yes. How did Paul make his discovery? What the anonymous sender _should_ have done, was to re-xerox the Xeroxes with the obliterated ovals and mail the second generation Xeroxes. But instead she/he sent the marked up pages. Paul was able to read the library stamp beneath the obliteration by holding the paper in front of a strong light, something noone else had thought to do. And thus Paul O'Dette made the remarkable re-discovery of a very interesting manuscript. We are all enriched because of him. This should end this thread for me. Sorry the exchange has gotten ugly at times. But I did wish to set the record straight, once and for all. ajn. <>
