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Some preferences of form and genre in the Leopold codex

Ian Rumbold and Reinhard Strohm

An often-discussed feature of the Leopold repertory are two motet cycles performable as substitutes for Mass sections, in the manner of the so-called ‘motetti missales’ of the Milanese court.[23] Gaude flore virginali (no. 31) is a cycle of seven motets replacing the Mass Ordinary on the feast of the Assumption of Mary (15 August); Natus sapientia (no. 32) is a cycle of eight motets for Good Friday. The text of the latter is a variant of Patris sapientia, veritas divina, a rhymed prayer for the Hours of the Passion which was well known in the region (» B. Kap. Patris sapientia); but its traditional melody is not used here. The Missa Paschalis (no. 91) comprises Kyrie, Gloria and Sanctus, as well as introit Resurrexi, motet Christus surrexit and antiphon Regina celi letare, for Easter Sunday. Another Missa Paschalis (no. 113) offers as many as nine sections: antiphon Regina celi, introit Resurrexi, Kyrie, Gloria, alleluia Pascha nostrum, sequence Victimae paschali, Credo, Sanctus and communion Pascha nostrum. This plenary cycle for Easter is followed by Proper cycles nos. 114-116 for Ascension, Pentecost and Corpus Christi respectively. A Missa [de Apostolis] consists of introit, Kyrie and Gloria only (no. 111 = 151). Many of the Mass Proper settings, antiphons and hymns use their own plainsongs, whether as structural tenors or ornamented in an upper voice.

The cantus firmi of Mass Ordinary cycles are more often borrowed sacred and secular melodies. French and Italian songs appear in cycles by Obrecht, Josquin and Compère, German songs in the anonymous Missa Ein Maid zu dem Brunnen (no. 143) and Isaac’s six-voice Missa Wol auff gesell von hinnen, which is notated twice (nos 94 and 172). See » Abb. Missa Wol auff gesell, von hinnen.

 

Abb. Missa Wol auff gesell, von hinnen [Comment peut avoir joie], Henricus Isaac

Abb. Missa Wol auff gesell, von hinnen [Comment peut avoir joie], Henricus Isaac.
Agnus dei secundum from Isaac’s six-voice Mass cycle over a melody known with both German and French words, copied twice in the Leopold codex (Noblitt nos 94 and 172). This is the earlier copy (c. 1487-88), which on fol. 195r shows the apparent copyist’s name ‘Quest [Huest?] Frölich’.
D-Mbs Mus.ms. 3154: fol. 195r (Noblitt no. 94).
© Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München. Bildnr. 403.

 

Independent settings of German secular songs are of two kinds. Nos 50 and 144 are rustic parodies; five other songs seem to form a cycle (in gathering 6) and were presumably composed locally.[24] The melodies of two of these (nos 36 and 38) are found in concordant sources; Tannhauser ir seid mir lieb (no. 38) also serves as countermelody to the hymn Veni creator spiritus, no. 82.[25]

Characteristic of the repertory are combinatory works, which associate sacred or more often secular songs with a liturgical genre, for example with a hymn (Jesu corona/Ein frischen buelen no. 87, Veni creator/Tannhauser ir seid mir lieb no. 82, Jesu fili patris/O Venus kraft no. 98) or with an antiphon (Ave mundi spes Maria/Gottes namen, no. 25). The sequence Alma chorus domini (no. 45) is composed over the (unidentified) hymn Ehre sei dir, Christe/O du armer Judas, which played a role in the Holy Week rituals of regional churches.[26] A number of works use multiple cantus firmi or quotations: the Salve regina by ‘Ar. fer.’ (no. 64) is overlaid in the top voice with four German and two French songs (see » Abb. Salve regina Ar. fer.); Isaac’s Credo (no. 95) quotes six plainsongs for Corpus Christi and perhaps Palm Sunday;[27] the Missa O Österreich (no. 97) is replete with short plainsong quotes, related to wartime topics.[28] Obrecht’s Missa Plurimorum carminum II (no. 104) exhibits one secular song model per section.

A different type of ‘composite work’ occurs apparently only once: the Mass Proper cycle for Corpus Christi (no. 116) is patched together from compositions by Isaac, Heinrich Finck and a ‘W. Raber’, who may well be the artist and play director at Bolzano, Vigil Raber (» H. Kap. Der Theaterliebhaber Vigil Raber).

Liturgical feasts dominating this repertory are Easter, Corpus Christi and the Assumption of Mary (15 August); the last-named was the patronal feast of the most important brotherhood of priests and citizens at St Jacob’s church.[29] Performances during the visit of Maximilian’s son Philip the Fair in 1503 included a solemn Mass of the Assumption (» I. Kap. Church music at St Jacob’s).

Several anonymous compositions seem to mimic more famous works by re-using their cantus firmi: there are, for example, a Missa [Une mousse de Biscaye] (no. 110, neither Isaac’s nor Josquin’s cycle), a Missa [Petite camusette] (no. 112, not Marbriano de Orto’s) and a Missa [Maria zart] (no. 117, not Obrecht’s). The two ‘motetti missales’ cycles (nos 31 and 32) may imitate the Milanese style of that name. Yet in some of these cases the Leopold work could have originated even earlier. The anonymous Missa [Maria zart][30] deserves attention for its cantus firmus treatment and rhythmic style – the beginnings of Gloria and Credo seem to echo Isaac’s motet La la hö hö. 

[23] Noblitt 1968, Rifkin 2003. The actual ‘motetti missales’ of Milan (1470s and later) are not copied here.

[24]  » Hörbsp. ♫ Salve regina -1, Hörbsp. ♫ Salve Regina - 2, Hörbsp. ♫ Salve Regina - 3, Hörbsp. ♫ Salve regina - 4, Hörbsp. ♫ Salve regina - 5.

[25] ‘Tannhauser, ihr seid mir lieb’ (Venus addressing Tannhäuser) is a stanza of the ‘Tannhäuserlied’ (Nun will ich aber heben an), printed in Nuremberg, 1515; the Leopold codex is its earliest known source.

[26] See » A. Kap. Der Prozessionshymnus (Stefan Engels): » J. Kap. Passions- und Osterfeierlichkeiten (Andrea Horz); » Notenbsp. O du armer Judas.

[27] On this work, see Staehelin 1977, 148-50, 205.

[28] Noblitt 1992 calls this a Missa in tempore belli; see also » D. SL O Österreich. Page layout of the Agnus Dei described in Rumbold 2018, 322-23.

[29] Steinegger 1954. Further on traditions of the church, see » D. Hofmusik. Innsbruck.

[30] Page layout described in Rumbold 2018, 329-34.

[1] Colour images of the manuscript are available at https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0005/bsb00059604/images/.

[2] Some 34 hands can be distinguished in the second section of the manuscript alone; one of these (hand ‘Y’, fols 370r– 379v) also occurs in the manuscript D-B Mus. Ms. 40021 (fols 253r–254v).

[3] Noblitt 1987-96, I, viii; synopsis of foliations in IV, 313-14.

[5] Noblitt 1968, 1974, 1987, 1997 (etc.). For other recent research, see Strohm 1993, 516-23; Rifkin 2003, Rumbold 2018.

[6] See, for example, Josquin Desprez, Missa Fortuna desperata (fols 172r-178r), recorded in 2001 by the Clerks’ Group, dir. Edward Wickham (ASV label, catalogue no. GAU 220); in 2009 by the Tallis Scholars, dir. Peter Phillips (Gimell label, catalogue no. 42); and in 2018 by Biscantor! Métamorphoses (Ar-Re-Se label, catalogue no. AR 20181). The second Agnus Dei of Isaac’s Missa Wol auff gesell/Comment peult avoir joye (fols 179r-196r and 456v-463v) was recorded by Capella Alamire and the Alamire Consort, dir. Peter Urqhuart, CD Music of Pierrequin de Thérache (Centaur label, catalogue no. CRC3282), track 10. Kyrie of the anonymous Missa O Österreich (fols 205v-213r): Ensemble Rosarum Flores, CD Global Player Maximilian: Musikalisches Networking um 1500 (Musikmuseum label, catalogue no. 13042), track 1. Obrecht’s Missa Si dedero (fols 449v-456r): ANS Chorus, dir. János Bali (Hungaroton label, catalogue no. HCD 31946). The anonymous motets Ave mundi spes/Gottes namen (fols 29v-30r) and O propugnator miserorum (fols 148v-150r): Stimmwerck, SACD Flos virginum: Motets of the 15th Century (CPO label, catalogue no. 7779372), tracks 8 and 6, respectively. Isaac’s motet Argentum et aurum (fols 72v-73r) and the German songs So stee ich hie auff diser erd, Ich sachs ains mals, Gespile, liebe gespile gut, Es sassen höld in ainer stuben (fols 51v-53r): Ensemble Leones, CD Argentum et aurum: Musical Treasures from the Early Habsburg Renaissance (Naxos label, catalogue no. 8.573346), tracks 1, 16, 22, 20 and 21, respectively.

[7] It is not to be confused with the Hofkirche, adjacent to the Hofburg, which was completed in 1553 and contains Maximilian’s cenotaph.

[9] Fässler 1975.

[10] Fässler 1975, 32, from Tiroler Landesarchiv (TLA) Innsbruck, Raitbücher der tirolischen Kammer, 1511, vol 56, fol 77v, vol 56, fol 290v.

[12] The city archives of Innsbruck (Stadtarchiv, Register, p. 43), mention a ‘Veit schulmaister’ in 1498.

[16] Dèzes 1927; see also Noblitt 1987-96, IV, 369.

[17] The work is later anonymously transmitted in Librone 1 of the Gaffurius-Codices of Milan (I-MD 2269). Rifkin 2003, 255, thinks that it might be by Antoine Busnoys.

[18] Rumbold 2018, 319-22 describes the copy of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei in detail, with facsimile.

[19] For the distribution of the music in the manuscript see Rumbold 2018, with a full inventory.

[20] For details, see Rumbold 2018.

[21] No. 55, for example, is a textless piece written on the two inner sides of a bifolio (fol. 75/84), which was then wrapped round an existing gathering (8), so that the two sides could no longer be read simultaneously. See Noblitt 1987-96, IV, 344, where the last sentence must read ‘so daß eine Aufführung aus dem Ms. unwahrscheinlich ist’.

[22] Generally about manuscripts of this type, see Just 1981.

[23] Noblitt 1968, Rifkin 2003. The actual ‘motetti missales’ of Milan (1470s and later) are not copied here.

[24]  » Hörbsp. ♫ for all five songs.

[25] ‘Tannhauser, ihr seid mir lieb’ (Venus addressing Tannhäuser) is a stanza of the ‘Tannhäuserlied’ (Nun will ich aber heben an), printed in Nuremberg, 1515; the Leopold codex is its earliest known source.

[27] On this work, see Staehelin 1977, 148-50, 205.

[28] Noblitt 1992 calls this a Missa in tempore belli; see also » D. SL O Österreich. Page layout of the Agnus Dei described in Rumbold 2018, 322-23.

[29] Steinegger 1954. Further on traditions of the church, see » D. Hofmusik. Innsbruck.

[30] Page layout described in Rumbold 2018, 329-34.

[34] See Noblitt 1974 (with table of watermarks, p. 39); Noblitt 1987-96, IV, 315-40.

[35] On the methodology, see also Strohm 1983, Rifkin 2003. Watermark dating along these lines has also been applied to the Trent codices (» K. Kap. Die Datierung) and the St Emmeram codex (Strohm 1983, Rumbold-Wright 2006, 14-19).

[36] WM 4, 9 and 10 deviate from the chronology, but these papers are only individual bifolios (26-27, 75/84, 85/98), added to already existing gatherings. Gathering 8 randomly assembles papers datable between 1477 and 1482, but it was not originally meant to be arranged in this order nor perhaps to be placed here: see Noblitt 1974, 42-43.

[37] On gatherings 14-17 (WM 6 with embedded papers WM 16/17, 1476-78), see Noblitt 1974, 41.

[38] Rifkin 2003, 285-6 and 300-1. Ave Maria…virgo serena is placed near the end of gathering 15 (WM 17: 1476-78); it is followed there only by an even later addition (in a different hand), the anonymous motet O propugnator miserorum, addressing Margrave Leopold III of Austria (canonised 1485), on which see » F. SL Die Motette O propugnator miserorum. The position of the motet in Josquin’s oeuvre and the possibility of its having been written outside Milan is discussed in Fallows 2009, 60-61 and 118-19.

[39] Thus Noblitt 1974, 45.

[42] For Rifkin 2003, 300 and 301 n. 124, these copies belong to a later stage of the main scribal hand, but the paleographical evidence seems overstated.

[43] Strohm 1997 suggests that Isaac did have contact with ‘Germanic’ idioms as they appear in these works before 1484, but that he also disseminated these idioms to other central European musicians.

[44] See the concordance table in Noblitt 1987-96, IV, 308-11.

[45] » F. Kap. The Strahov codex (Lenka Hlávková).

[46] See the description in Gancarczyk 2011.

[47] The concordances with Strahov and Trent 90 include, predictably, some of the oldest music in Leopold, for example the English motet Anima mea liquefacta est (no. 2), doubtfully ascribed in modern research to John Forest, and the Agnus dei secundum of the Mass cycle by Jean Pullois (no. 7), both composed before 1450.

[50] There was no Holy Roman Emperor in 1493-1508.

[51] See » D. Hofmusik. Albrecht II und Friedrich III. The composer abbreviation ‘Ar. fer.’ on no. 64 (gathering 11: 1483-84) could refer to Emperor Friedrich’s chaplain Arnold Fleron: it so happens that an ‘Arnold’, probably Fleron, is recorded at Innsbruck as ‘componist’ in both 1483 and 1484: see Strohm 1993, 518 and 531 n. 478

[52] Further on the organisation of the courtly music, see » D. Hofmusik. Innsbruck; Senn 1954.

[53] Rifkin 2003, 285 n. 103, rejects the identification of scribe ‘A’ with Krombsdorfer because of the ‘Italianate’ features of a letter he sent in 1472 to Duke Ercole d’Este (» G. Kap. Ferrara): but this calligraphy was surely chosen for the benefit of the addressee.

[54] Wolfgang Unterstetter, suffering from podagra, received from the court a weekly measure of salt: HHSt Wien (A-Whh), Kopialbuch H. Nr. 7, 1485, fol. 170v-171r.

[55] See » Abb. Synopsis, and Noblitt 1987-96, IV, 341-57; Rumbold 2018, 287-89.

[56] » I. Music and Ceremony in Maximilian’s Innsbruck (Helen Coffey)

Empfohlene Zitierweise:

Ian Rumbold and Reinhard Strohm: “The Codex of Magister Nicolaus Leopold”, in: Musikleben des Spätmittelalters in der Region Österreich <https://musical-life.net/essays/codex-magister-nicolaus-leopold-0> (2021).