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Gál Huszár, (Divine praises and prayers for the Christian

(=Protestant) congregation), Komjáti, 1574.

The Gradual-and-Songbook by Gál Huszár, the most important text of its kind, was
the first Lutheran religious book printed in Hungary that served both as a Gradual and a
Community Songbook.
1. The place of printing. The Songbook was printed by Gál Huszár in 1574, in
Komjáti, Nyitra county, Kingdom of Hungary. The printing may have been completed
in 1575, in Pápa, Transdanubia.
2—3. Title-page and dedication. The title differs from its predecessors in that it
indicates that the book contains prayers as well. In addition, Gál Huszár's logo and a
motto — the first lines of Psalm 149 also known from German Songbooks figure on the
title-page.
The dedication is in reality a textual explanation of part of Saint Paul's letter to the
Colosseans, 3:16. Included in it is the following information, important also from the
point of view of literary history: the Divine Praises must be sung everywhere, except in
„taverns and other evil eateries" or „in the middle of love songs or in the presence of
drunkards". This suggest that they were true popular songs, manifestations of common
poetry. Like his contemporaries, Gál Huszár proscribes singing in foreign languages. The
dedication also speaks of editorial problems. Though not the texts themselves, the
whole of the volume is declared by Gál Huszár to be his own work. He collected the
texts, the editorial concept was his. While his earlier Songbook from 1560—61 (RMNy
160) was dedicated to Péter Méliusz Juhász, the preface of the 1574 book addresses
everybody, not any particular person. Only then, in 1574, could he finally carry out
his old plan, the composition of a Songbook which is both a Gradual and a Community
Songbook at the same time. His probable aim was to circulate it as widely as possible,
well beyond his own congregation (Komjáti).
4. Its structure. The Songbook also includes instructions for the Pastor (the Minis-
ter), the Choir (schoolchildren) and the Congregation. A Protestant Gradual, as common
in the 16th century, should contain the rituals of Prima, Vespers and the Communion
services with a sermon. In Luther's spirit, the rituals are not strict. Instructions in italics
allow options. The number of the sections is highly variable as well (see Tables 1 - 2 ) . On
the other hand, the volume is a complete community songbook. Gál Huszár assigned a
place for each non-liturgical, community song, thus for holiday songs, songs of the ca-
techism, post-sermon songs, etc. The book consists of two parts. A copy of Part I with
contemporary binding is stored in Epeijes. This suggests that Huszár started to sell Part I
as soon as it was completed, separately. Since part of the post-sermon songs are found in
Part I already, the fact that the book is divided into two parts should not be overestimated.
PARTI. 1. Morning service ( l a - 7 9 b ) ; 2. Cathechism (79b-135b); 3. Holiday praises
for the morning and the afternoon (136a—344a); divine praises after sermon
(344a—347b).
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PARTII. 1. Divine praises after sermon (la—31b); 2. Psalms (32a-98b); 3. Divine

praises in the Holy Church (99a—123b); Divine praises for funerals (123b—
-126b).
5. The service ritual. The secondary morning (prima), afternoon (vespers) and
(only on Christmas) dawn services follow the structure of the respective Catholic prima,
vespers and laudes matutinae. The principal service with a sermon for Communion was
set up according to Luther's Formula Missae and Deutsche Messe. Uniquely at the pe-
riod, the Gradual-and-Songbook also contains many collecta and prayers based on
psalms. The sources of these prayers are works of Luther, of Ditrich Dietrich Veit, and
the ritual of Mansfeld (1546). One of the prayers comes from the Oratio contra Turcam
by Johann Habermann Avenarius, translated by Gál Huszár for the Hungarian prisoners
of Turkish-occupied Buda. His prayers were taken over by his son, Dávid Huszár, in the
second part of the Cathechism of Heidelberg (RMNy 395).
6. Community songs. Until today, all the songbooks of Hungarian Protestantism
have been based on Gál Huszár's earlier Songbook of 1560—61. In 1574 he re-edited his
earlier work not only in terms of the division of volumes by giving it a new structure,
but also, withing each group, he rearranged the order of songs (see Tables 3 - 7 ) . His in-
novations are all the more important because it was during the printing of Part II that
he became acquainted with the Songbooks of 1566 (RMNy 222) and 1569 (RMNy 264),
and with the manuscripts related thereto (cf. II. 93b). In comparing these we can con-
clude that the 1560-61 Songbook displays more affinity with the so-called Songbooks
of Debrecen than with the one from 1574. Unlike other contemporary editors, Gál
Huszár often indicates the authors of the poems.
The last pages of the volume are missing. They probably contained two funeral
songs (cf. Table 8) and a Table of Contents.
7. Melodies. Gál Huszár had had musical training. In addition to the indication of
tunes to be used, his Songbook contains many (often incorrect) scores. Three musical
styles are represented in his work: Gregorian liturgical chanting, metric melodies of the
humanists and contemporary community songs.
8. Copies. Three copies of the Songbook are known today: (1) the one of Epeijes
(Presov) consisting of all of Part I; (2) the incomplete copy found in 1841 in Felső-Őr
(Oberwart), kept in the National Széchényi Library, Hungary; (3) the Songbook that
constitutes the source of our facsimile edition (kept in the National Széchényi Library,
Hungary, too), it is the relatively most complete text surviving, though a few pages are
missing at the end. According to the owner's inscription, it was first acquired by Tamás
Kis (Thomas Kys) for about 2 Florins. The second owner is revealed by the wording
„Ex libris Sigismundi Syrmiensis".

List of abbreviations

RMNy = Régi Magyarországi Nyomtatványok (Early Hungarian Printings)