Praises of Mary, God, and the Ruler in the Missa Salve diva parens

Birgit Lodes

If one transfers the parallelization of Jesus and Maximilian in their roles as the saviour of the world and bringer of peace, as documented in reports, writings, and images, to Obrecht’s Missa Salve diva parens, this Marian mass, which employs the theme of the incarnation of “the ruler of Olympus,” simultaneously becomes a mass for the new King Maximilian.

Amongst the several sources that transmit this mass, the humanistic text Salve diva parens is notably underlaid beneath the notes in a few manuscripts, and all of these are connected to Maximilian, either directly (like A-Wn Mus-Hs. 15495) or indirectly (like the relevant fascicle in » D-LEu Ms. 1494)[38][39] Moreover, the text in these sources is not only transmitted as an incipit—as usually happens for reference to a cantus firmus—but is fully written out syllable by syllable under the musical notation (» Abb. Kyrie Salve diva parens). This indicates that it was sung simultaneously with the mass text in the relevant voice during performance. It thus clearly had significance in Maximilian’s context. This text, with its refined meter and the incorporation of non-Christian imagery beyond typical Marian texts, can be understood as an example of the blending technique so characteristic of Maximilian I (according to Jan-Dirk Müller: “multiple meaning”[40]). It can refer not only to the Holy Mother Mary and the incarnation of the Saviour Jesus Christ and his reign, but also to the installation of the new King Maximilian I and his hoped-for role as a bringer of peace in the Burgundian Netherlands (see Kap. „Mehrfacher Sinn“ von Text und Musik der Missa Salve diva parens und Kap. „Mehrfacher Sinn“: Maria als Mutter des zukünftigen Herrschers).

In the artistic design of the splendid manuscript created for Maximilian » A-Wn Mus.Hs. 15495, the two interwoven levels are particularly apparent (» Abb. Kyrie Salve diva parens). TThe first association upon viewing the illuminations of the opening double page, which also marks the beginning of the Missa Salve diva parens (A-Wn Mus.Hs. 15495, fol. 1v-2r) is certainly Christmas. In the image at the top left (Discantus voice), Mary gives life to the new ruler, Jesus. In the image at the top right (Contratenor voice), Maximilian (depicted in his actual portrait) kneels in reverence to the Mother of God. Above the praying Maximilian, at the top edge of the page, the words “O mater dei memento mei” (“O mother of God, remember me”) are inscribed.[41]

These words, which are not set to music in the mass itself, often serve as a closing phrase in Marian prayers. Through their placement on the individually illuminated opening page, Maximilian personally asked the Blessed Virgin Mary for his salvation. (Iconographically, the kneeling emperor and the kneeling Mary are also mirror images of each other.)

The second interpretive level is conveyed through the placement of Maximilian I’s imperial coat of arms as the tenor initial. Here, Maximilian is not depicted as a person but as a ruler. And it is precisely at this point that the text “Salve diva parens” (which is presumably linked to a cantus firmus melody) appears. This means that Maximilian, as King (at the time when this manuscript was written, Emperor), greets the “diva parens,” the divine mother, who in a metaphorical sense has granted him rule.[42]

Each performance of this mass thus functioned not only as praise for the Virgin Mary and her Son Jesus as ruler of the world, but also as a prayer for the new ruler Maximilian I, as both a person and a king. Notably, in the late Middle Ages, the practice of polyphonic music was seen as a representative, symbolic instrument of power, to which the elaborate maintenance of large chapels and scriptoria, as well as preserved media like the magnificent Alamire choir books, impressively testify.

For his long coronation journey of 1485/86, Maximilian spared no expense or effort (» Kap. Jacob Obrechts Missa Salve diva parens und Erzherzog Maximilian). Given that Maximilian had just brought the estates of the Low Countries to his side and was still at war with France, and that Matthias Corvinus had entered the castle of Vienna shortly before, in the summer of 1485, the newly crowned king evidently felt it necessary to cultivate his reputation and demonstrate his strength and power. The re-establishment of the Burgundian chapel just before the coronation fits in this context. Molinet even reports that the newly established chapel made a great impression on the German rulers.[43] In a situation where Maximilian was to be represented as a legitimate king and future emperor, the chapel thus had an almost state-bearing function.

The context of the coronation celebrations proposed here opens up a new interpretive perspective for Obrecht’s Missa Salve diva parens. The specific mass celebration for which Obrecht composed the mass remains open and must stay that way. However, two occasions are particularly plausible. It could have been intended for the coronation festivities at the Cathedral of St Mary in Aachen, where the symbolism of the famous Marian church merged with that of the traditional coronation church. Even if Obrecht himself was most likely not present at this ceremony, it is still possible that he was commissioned to write this mass beforehand. Equally plausible is the idea that he composed the mass during the immediate post-coronation journey of Maximilian I and his father Frederick III to the Netherlands, specifically for their stay in the city of Bruges (see Kap. Kaiser Friedrich III. und Erzherzog Maximilian 1485/86: Wiedersehen – Königswahl – Reise in die Niederlande), where Obrecht had been serving as succentor (choir director) at the church of St. Donatian since 13 October 1485.

In the late Middle Ages, music in worship often served not only as praise of God but also simultaneously as praise of the ruler. Both functions equally inspired the composers of the time to create outstanding works of art. Therefore, we should not necessarily expect any stylistic difference between music for the praise of God and music for the praise of rulers, and indeed no such a difference is found in contemporary compositions. This is particularly evident when both spheres are explicitly named in the text, as in Heinrich Isaac’s motet Virgo prudentissima (» D. Isaac und Maximilians Zeremonien, Kap. Komponiertes Herrscherlob: Isaacs Motette Optime divino … pastor) or in Benedictus de Opitiis’ motet Summe laudis o Maria (» D. Musikalische Huldigungsgeschenke, Kap. Gedrucktes mehrstimmiges Herrscher- und Marienlob). Another example of this is Obrecht’s lesser-known composition Omnis spiritus laudet,[44] which encapsulates a series of acclamations and prayer sentences in two- to four-voice music and maintains the same style of setting, whether referring to God the Father and Son, the worldly king, or Mary.[45] I also suspect a connection with Maximilian’s coronation journey to the Netherlands in the summer of 1486 in this composition.

More important than the search for specific occasions of creation seems to be the enquiry after the contexts, goals, and expectations in which a given repertoire was created and received. The attempt to think together, as was customary in the Middle Ages, secular and spiritual spheres from the perspective of a modern listener can open entirely new dimensions of perception.

[38] In the so-called Apel Codex (» D-LEu Ms. 1494), it seems that repertoire from Maximilian’s court was repeatedly included, mediated through the repertoire of the court chapel of Frederick the Wise of Electoral Saxony, who was in close contact with Maximilian from at least 1490; see Lodes 2002, 256–258.

[39] The text might also have been included in the manuscript » A-LIb Hs. 529 (“Linzer Fragments”), but only a small amount of music is preserved there.

[40] Regarding the “multiple meaning” in late medieval poetry, see Wehrli 1984, especially 236–270; Müller 1982, 146–148, also 124–129.

[41] The only other contemporary musical manuscript I know that begins with the words “[O Mater dei] memento mei” is the splendid manuscript B-Br 228, also produced in Petrus Alamire’s workshop. There, the words are attributed to the praying Archduchess Margaret, Maximilian’s daughter; see the illustration Blackburn 1997, 596 f., and Blackburn 1999, 188.

[42] See, among others, Borghetti 2015; Borghetti 2008, especially 208–214.

[43] “[…] lesquelz, ensamble unis, estoffoyent une très bonne chapelle dont il fut grandement honouré et prisiet des princes d’Alemaigne.” (Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 470).

[44] Edition in Maas 1996, 43–47.

[45] In the text sections, first, forgiveness is requested from the Lord and thanks are given to the almighty King. Then, a prayer is made for “our (worldly) King” (“Pro rege nostro”) that the Lord may preserve him and that he may not fall into the hands of the enemies, and that the souls of the faithful may rest in peace. After a spoken “Our Father,” a final prayer to the Virgin Mary is sung, who carried the Son of the eternal Father. The musical petitions to God, for the king, and for Mary are concluded with a four-part “Amen” in each case. The music follows the rhythmic structure (in both the two- and four-part sections) exactly as per the text declamation (see Edwards 2011, 62 f.), and the largely homorhythmic, simple setting does not change throughout the piece, remaining the same for all three thematic areas.

[1] See Dunning 1970.

[2] Basic principles regarding the symbolic relationship between Cantus firmus material and mass composition can be found in Kirkman 2010. Reinhard Strohm can plausibly connect the creation of two Obrecht masses with foundations in Bruges (Strohm 1985, 40 f., 146 f.). For Obrecht’s Missa Sub tuum presidium, see » J. Körper und Seele.

[3] Roth 1998, especially 46 f., 52 f., 55. From Rome, the Mass likely found its way into the extensive choirbook » I-VEcap 761 in the mid-1490s. For the creation time and circumstances of this manuscript, see Rifkin 2009.

[4] The documents regarding the suspected trip to Rome were compiled by Rob C. Wegman (Wegman 1994, 139–144), although he assumes that the Mass was already present in Rome by that time.

[5] The mass repertoire of the Burgundian court chapel from the 1460s and 1470s can be found in the choirbook » B-Br Ms. 5557 (facsimile: Wegman 1989). The six anonymously transmitted L’homme armé masses in the choirbook » I-Nn Ms. VI E 40 are also likely associated to the Burgundian chapel. The “Alamire Manuscripts,” closely associated with the court, were created during or after the reign of Philip the Handsome (» A-Wn Mus. Hs. 15495).

[6] See Strohm 2009.

[7] A detailed account with names of singers, their positions, and musical qualities can be found in Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 469 f.

[8] The date commonly given is 17 November 1492 (see Fiala 2015, 434); Honey Meconi (Meconi 2003, 20–23) interprets the surviving payment records differently and assumes the transfer took place on September 30, 1495; see also Gasch 2015, especially 363 f.

[9] See the descriptions in Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 469–471; see also Cuyler 1973, 32–35.

[10] Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 474.

[11] Scholten 1993.

[12] The song is preserved in two contemporary sources that both reflect the repertoire from Maximilian’s court (» B. Lieder 1450–1520, Kap. Aufschwung der Liedkunst unter Maximilian I.; » B. Lieder 1450–1520, Kap. Liederdrucke): in » D-As Cod. 2° 142a (fol. 69v–70r; the tenor incipit of the otherwise textless notation reads „hilff fraw von Ach“) and in the songbook » Aus sonderer künstlicher art… (Augsburg: Erhard Oeglin 1512), where the song appears second after the Marian hymn Dich mütter gottes rüff wir an.

[13] Wolf 2005, 98–102. Friedrich moved the Reichstag, originally scheduled for December 1485 in Würzburg, to January in Frankfurt am Main.

[14] For the election of Maximilian as king, see in detail Wolf 2005, 100–122, especially 115 f. During the altar installation ceremony, the newly elected king was indeed placed on the altar, the throne of Christ; see in detail Bojcov 2007, 243–314: „Die Altarsetzung […] war Teil der Wahlprozedur und war am besten dazu geeignet, einen aus dem Kreis der mehr oder weniger Gleichen auszusondern und über sie [zu] erheben.“ (Bojcov 2007, 292).

[15] See Schenk 2003, 307–313, 336–338; see also » D. Fürsten und Diplomaten auf Reisen.

[16] Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 474 und 511. – The Aachen pilgrimage usually took place every seven years.

[17] Custis 1765, 68 f.; see also Wolf 2005, 191–200.

[18] Wolf 2005, 197.

[19] The reconstruction of the Latin text according to Staehelin 1975, 20–23.

[20] The underlying text, a type of hymn strophe, could represent a humanistic expansion of the Marian hymn O quam glorifica luce coruscas (attributed tp Hucbald of Saint-Amand, 840–930), in the same rare meter (catalectic Asclepiadeus minor), especially since the cantus firmus of the mass, notoriously resistant to reconstruction, seems to show similarities with that in Févin’s Missa O quam glorifica (Strohm 1985, 148).

[21] “Rector” does not appear in the New Testament, but frequently in Ovid, especially concerning Augustus and Jupiter; see Flieger 1993, 67–69.

[22] See Stieglecker 2001, 388–391 et passim; for general information on humanistic veneration of saints, see Flieger 1993, 17–122.

[23] See Wegman 1994, 179–183.

[24] Current historical events have their counterparts in the New Testament, which in turn represent the fulfilment of events from the Old Testament in salvation history. “Thus, a legitimization of the Christian ruler from the Old Covenant takes place, which as already appears as the Carolingian-Franconian period, aappears to have been placed alongside the legitimation from the ancient empire as equally important.” (Cremer 1995, 88 f.).

[25] Maximilian I.: Weißkunig 1888, 47–49.

[26] Müller 1982, 147 f.; Dietl 2009, 37–40.

[27] Ca. 1513/14;Maximilian dictated the book in part and corrected it by hand.

[28] » A-Whh Hs. Blau 9 Cod. 24, fol. 38r; see also Silver 2008, 136 f., including the illustration.

[29] Cremer 1995, especially 88–99; Wiesflecker 1971, 65–67.

[30] Silver 2008, 137.

[31] See also Müller 1982, 147 f., 333; Wiesflecker 1971, 121, 131 f.; Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 338.

[32] Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 535 (in free translation).

[33] “I have revealed Your name to the people whom You gave Me from the world.” With these words, Christ Himself (here impersonated by Maximilian) declares whose true Son He is, according to the Gospel of John.

[34] Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 529–539; see also Frieden 2013; Thiry 1990, 268–270.

[35] Molinet 1935–1937, vol. 1, 533–539; see also Müller 1982, 147.

[36] Ode 1,1 Caesar magnificis; see also Mertens 2000, 74 f.; foundational works on this topic: Tanner 1993; Seznec 1953.

[37] Wiesflecker 1991, 355 f.