Duke Rudolf’s regulations for the services at St Stephen’s
The memorial foundation of Rudolf IV from 1363 provides for three daily Masses (“offices”) at the chapter’s main altars: a Marian Mass in the morning at the Marian altar, a High Mass at the Corpus Christi altar above the princely tomb (in the central choir), and the daily Mass at the Fronaltar (high altar).[26] The ceremonies – opening of the altarpiece panels, display of relics, lighting of candles, procession with banners, cross and lanterns, ringing of bells – were differentiated according to the rank of the feast; on the feast days of saints buried in the church, the organ was to be played at Vespers and High Mass, and the “large and small bell” rung. At Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, All Saints, the church’s dedication day and Corpus Christi, more candles were used (24 on the duke’s tomb alone). All relics were to be placed on the altar, and “überall die kirchen zieren mit der schonsten gezierd so si habent” (the whole church decorated with the finest ornaments they have). All the canonical hours (Divine Office) as well as the daily Mass were to be sung “in der Orgel” (with the organ), and all the bells rung “so man schönste mag” (as beautifully as possible) for Mass. On Corpus Christi, all available relics, banners, canopies, 30 candles and 10 lanterns were carried through the city; all parish priests, monks, chaplains, and priests from both the city and the suburbs, including the Knights of St John, the “Holy Ghost” brethren, and the “Spitaler” (hospital clergy), were required to take part in this procession. They were to come to St Stephen’s “mit all irr Schönesten gezierd, die sie habent” (with all their finest ornaments) and join in the procession.[27]
In the “great” foundation charter of 16 March 1365 (to distinguish it from the “small” foundation charter of the same date), the duties and salaries of the officiants, as well as the underlying property rights, are set out in greater detail.[28] The main purpose of the entire foundation remained the commemoration of the dead for the duke and his family. A special benefice served to provide priests with food and drink, “so that they may observe the anniversary of our death”.[29]
In addition, there were dress codes, the designation of the clergy’s positions within the church, and the distribution of Masses among the provost, canons and chaplains. Quantity was of great importance: the dean had to ensure that a total of 51 Masses were sung or said in the church each day, none of which was to be omitted. Most were certainly spoken only. However, there were also regulations concerning singing and the organ. At the end of the canonical hours, which were to be sung “with a clear and high voice”, a Marian antiphon was to be performed “with a bright song”, after Vespers, Matins and None this was to be the Salve Regina. The three daily Masses at the main altars were also to be sung “with a clear and high voice”.[30] The participation of pupils was required for the Masses: 24 of them for the two daily High Masses, and at least 13 for the other High Masses and Vespers. The “masters, students and pupils” were required to take part in the processions of eight major feasts: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, All Saints, All Souls, the Assumption of Mary, Corpus Christi and the ducal memorial day. Here, “der Schullmeister der grossen Schull mit ganzer Universitaet” (the schoolmaster of the great school with the entire university) had to be present and to assist in the singing and processing).[31] It was important to the founder that everyone took part, including the newly-established university. The participation of university members in the processions was, in a sense, part of the foundation itself (cf. Ch. Church and university).
The duties of the cantor are described in the foundation charter as follows:
“Er soll auch innhaben die Orgell und damit orden[tlichen] göttlichen Dienst zu begehen und achten, dass das Gesang zu göttlichen Dienst ordentlichen, gänzlichen und löblichen vollbracht werde, so man immer pest und schenst mag, wann des unser Erlöser, der allmächtig Gott wohl werth ist, und soll auch die Processe richten und ordnen, dass die allzeit ordentlichen vollbracht werde.” (He shall also be in charge of the organ and thereby conduct proper divine service, and ensure that the singing in divine service is carried out properly, completely and commendably, as best and as beautifully as possible, for our Redeemer, Almighty God, is truly worthy of it. And he shall also direct and organise the processions so that they are always carried out properly.)[32]
In the case of processions, the founder makes a clear distinction between those that remain within the church and those that go “into the city”.
[26] On the location of altars and chapels, see Perger/Brauneis 1977, 61–63. I am sincerely grateful to Prof. Barbara Schedl for her advice in this regard.
[27] Ogesser 1779, 80–82. See the list of procession participants from a Liber ordinarius of St Stephen’s (» A-Wn Cod. 4712): » E. SL Corpus Christi Procession.
[28] Zschokke 1895, 30–46; Flieder 1968, 254–266.
[29] Zschokke 1895, 33.
[30] In ecclesiastical service regulations, the Latin equivalent “alta voce” was traditionally used.
[31] Zschokke 1895, 37.
[32] Zschokke 1895, 40.
[1] Perger/Brauneis 1977; Schusser 1986, 17–41.
[2] Zschokke 1895, 2.
[3] Mantuani 1907, 209–210. Flotzinger 1995, 89–90. For general information on organs, see » C. Organs and Organ Music.
[4] Mantuani 1907, 209–210, suspects that the term “organist” refers to an organ builder, who was, however, referred to as “organ master” (e.g. “Petrein the organ master 15 tl” in the city accounts of 1380, » A-Wn Cod. 14234, fol. 39r). This designation is to be understood as a Germanisation of the term magister organorum.
[5] Incorrectly assumed for 1334 by Flotzinger 1995, 90. On the school cantor Peter Hofmaister, see Ch. Development of the Choir School of St Stephen’s.
[6] This and the following information on organs at St Michael’s according to Perger 1988, 91, and the churchwarden accounts in the College Archive of St Michael’s.
[7] On Hans Kaschauer and his father Jakob Kaschauer, who painted the large panel of the high altar between 1445 and 1448, see Perger 1988, 84.
[8] Schütz 1980, 14.
[9] Mayer 1880; Schusser 1986, 66, no. 31/1 (Richard Perger). The university confirmed this regulation on 14 April 1411: see Uiblein, Acta Facultatis 1385–1416, 355.
[11] Mantuani 1907, 289, note 1, citing Hauswirth 1879, 15; Czernin 2011, 59.
[12] Mantuani 1907, 289, note 1, citing Hauswirth 1879, 25.
[13] Mantuani 1907, 289, note 1, citing Hauswirth 1879, 29.
[14] See Lind 1860, 11; Mantuani 1907, 289 f., note 1; Perger/Brauneis 1977, 275.
[15] Mantuani 1907, 289, note 1.
[16] Mayer 1895–1937, Part II/Vol. 2, no. 1935.
[17] Vienna City and State Archive, Charter 1935, 21 November 1412; see also Schusser 1986, 139, no. 115.
[18] Boyer 2008, 25.
[19] An attempt to distinguish between chapter cantor (“Sangherr”) and school cantor is made by Mantuani 1907, 287 f.
[20] Zschokke 1895, 25–48; Flieder 1968.
[21] Grass 1967, especially 464–467.
[22] Flieder 1968, 140–148, especially 148.
[23] Edited by Ogesser 1779, Appendices X and XI, 77–83. See also Flieder 1968, 155, 158–160.
[24] A statute from 1367 stipulated that the roles of “choirmaster” (magister chori) and dean should be united in one person (Göhler 1932/2015, 141 f.), which, however, apparently did not occur (Flieder 1968, 173 f.).
[25] Mantuani’s (Mantuani 1907, 288) mistaken equation of “choirmaster” with “cantor” has often been repeated. The German term for the latter was “Sangherr”. Ulreich senior (1365?) was “magister chori et cantor” (Göhler 1932/2015, 142 and fig. 11), i.e. the two titles were not synonymous. On the correct use of the terms, see Ebenbauer 2005, 14 f. (choirmaster responsible for the parish), although Mantuani is cited there without contradiction.
[26] On the location of altars and chapels, see Perger/Brauneis 1977, 61–63. I am sincerely grateful to Prof. Barbara Schedl for her advice in this regard.
[27] Ogesser 1779, 80–82. See the list of procession participants from a Liber ordinarius of St Stephen’s (» A-Wn Cod. 4712): » E. SL Corpus Christi Procession.
[28] Zschokke 1895, 30–46; Flieder 1968, 254–266.
[29] Zschokke 1895, 33.
[30] In ecclesiastical service regulations, the Latin equivalent “alta voce” was traditionally used.
[31] Zschokke 1895, 37.
[32] Zschokke 1895, 40.
[33] Zschokke 1895, 84–91.
[34] Raimundus Duellius, Miscellanea, Augsburg/Graz 1724, Vol. II, 78 and 82.
[35] “Ne quis eciam nimium voces agitare aut in altum audeat elevare habeatque et cantum Bassum et nimis clamorosum ad medium reducere.” (Zschokke 1985, 89 f.) See also Rumbold/Wright 2009, 44.
[36] Archdiocesan Diocesan Archive Vienna (A-Wda), Acta Capituli 1446–1551, Cod. II, fol. 107r.
[37] Grass 1967, 482–487.
[38] On 12 March 1421, over 200 Viennese Jews were burned in Erdberg by order of Duke Albrecht V, as reported, among others, by theology professor Thomas Ebendorfer (Lhotsky 1967, 370 f.).
[39] Zapke 2015, 87 f.
[40] Gall 1970, 85–86; Flotzinger 2014, 44–47, 54 f.
[41] Gall 1970, 34, 86 f.; Zapke 2015, 88 f.
[42] Pietzsch 1971, 27 f.
[43] Mantuani 1907, 283 and note 1; Enne 2015, 379 f.
[44] See Strohm, Ritual, 2014 on the temporal awareness of ecclesiastical regulations.
[45] “Canons” here refers to the “octonarii”, the priests of the collegiate chapter entrusted with pastoral care.
[46] A-Wda, Charter 13391028; see Currency: 1 pound (tl.) = 8 large (“long”) shillings (s.) = 240 pfennigs (d., denarii).
[47] Camesina 1874, 11, no. 36. The distinction between chapter cantor and school cantor is convincingly demonstrated in Göhler 1932/2015, 228 f.
[48] A-Wda, Charter 14200525; see http://monasterium.net/mom/AT-DAW/Urkunden/14200525/charter [02.06.2016].
[49] Camesina 1874, 21, no. 94.
[50] Camesina 1874, 21–23, no. 96.
[51] Accounts of the churchwarden’s office of St Stephen’s (in the Vienna City and State Archive), see Uhlirz 1902. Extracts from the account books of St Michael’s in Schütz 1980.
[52] Schütz 1980, 124. Schütz 1980, 15, mistakenly equates the schoolmaster with one of the two cantors.
[53] See Uhlirz 1902, 251 and elsewhere. Knapp 2004, 268, interprets this as a Marienklage (Lament of Mary), which is less likely from a liturgical perspective.
[54] Uhlirz 1902, 364, 384. The Easter sepulchre was an artistically crafted sculpture.
[55] On the locations of the organs, see also Ebenbauer 2005, 40 f.
[56] Uhlirz 1902, 337 (1417).
[57] For example, 1415: Uhlirz 1902, 299.
[58] Uhlirz 1902, 267 (1407).
[59] Vienna City and State Archive, 1.1.1. B 1/ Main Treasury Accounts, Series 1 (1424) etc.: hereafter abbreviated as OKAR 1 (1424) etc. (» A-Wsa OKAR 1-55).
[61] For detailed information on » A-Wn Cod. 4712 see Klugseder 2013; see also » E. SL Corpus Christi Procession. The liturgy of the St Stephen’s chapter is represented by the “Turs Missal” (c. 1430, produced under Provost Wilhelm von Turs), which still belongs to the Archiepiscopal Chapter and is of particular interest for art history.
[62] A-Gu Cod. 756, fol. 185r; see » A. Weihnachtsgesänge.
[63] The former is the earliest dated addition, indicating that the codex must have been created before 1404.
[64] However, the Sunday Vocem iucunditatis was dedicated to St Koloman (» A-Wn Cod. 4712, fol. 54r).
[65] For polyphonic conclusions to monophonic plainsongs, as seems intended here, there is evidence from the fourteenth century in France and Italy.
[66] The procession descriptions in the original corpus of » A-Wn Cod. 4712, a Liber ordinarius of the Diocese of Passau, replicate word-for-word the regulations for Passau itself (courtesy of Robert Klugseder), but are also applicable to Vienna due to the similar ecclesiastical topography of both cities. Added marginal notes clarify the route descriptions with direct reference to Vienna: Klugseder 2013 devotes a separate chapter to the Vienna-related marginalia in Cod. 4712. (See also the digital edition of the Passau Liber ordinarius, http://gams.uni-graz.at/o:cantus.passau). The Corpus Christi procession is represented in Cod. 4712 only by a brief marginal note on fol. 67v. However, the list of participants appears in the appendix (fol. 109r), edited in » E. SL Corpus Christi Procession.
[67] Camesina 1874, 24, no. 101.
[68] Camesina 1874, 26, nos. 113 and 114 (12 and 13 December 1404).
[69] Schusser 1986, 75, no. 50 (Lohrmann).
[70] The claim that the Dorothea Altar stood in front of the rood screen (Perger/Brauneis 1977, 61 and note 214) cannot be derived from the records of 1403–1404. The altar’s income belonged “to the school corporation”, which in this context did not refer to a “brotherhood of pupils” (Lohrmann in Schusser 1986, 75, no. 50), but to the school building itself.
[71] Not to be confused with a canon of the same name, Peter of St Margrethen, active in 1399.
[72] Mayer 1895–1937, Part II/Vol. 2, nos. 2159 and 3076. 1449: OKAR 10 (1449), fol. 28v.
[73] Some of the information in Brunner 1948 is outdated.
[74] Göhler 1932/2015, 228, no. 98.
[75] Mayer 1895–1937, Part II/Vol. 2, no. 2978; a mention of “Peter Marold, cantor” in OKAR 18 (1461), fol. 19v, may refer to another cantor of the same name or be retrospective.
[76] All except Neuburg are listed in Czernin 2011, 87 f. This list also includes the chapter cantors Ulreich Musterer (†1426), Wolfgang von Knüttelfeld (†1473), Hanns Huber (1474), Brictius (1470s), and Conrad Lindenfels (1479–1488, previously school cantor 1449–1457); a “Kaspar” (1448) may be identical with choirmaster Kaspar Wildhaber (1423/24). The additional names in Flotzinger 2014, 57, note 49, all refer to “choirmasters”, whom Flotzinger, following Mantuani 1907 and Flieder 1968 mistakenly equates with cantors. See Ch. The institutional foundation of the St Stephen’s chapter.
[77] Melk, Abbey Archive, Charters (1075–1912), no. 1436 I 27, http://monasterium.net/mom/AT-StiAM/archive [02.06.2016].
[78] OKAR 5 (1438), fol. 92r.
[79] OKAR 6 (1440), fol. 98r, and OKAR 7 (1441), fol. 111r.
[80] The latter note is based on kind information from Prof. Barbara Schedl, Vienna.
[81] Mayer 1895–1937, Part II/Vol. 2, no. 2656 (3 July 1438). Other, partly contradictory, details cited in Ebenbauer 2005, 38 f.
[82] A-Wda, Charter 14401105.
[83] See also Flotzinger 2014, 56 f.
[84] Boyer 2008, 36 f.
[85] Mantuani 1907, 289 f., note 1. On Martin von Leibitz and his Caeremoniale (A-Wn Cod. 4970), see Schusser 1986, 82, no. 65, and » A. Melk Reform.
[86] OKAR 6 (1440), fol. 97v. The cantor received 60 d.
[87] For example, OKAR 7 (1441), fol. 112v (five weeks; from November before St Martin’s Day to St Lucy’s Day, 13 December).
[88] For example, OKAR 8 (1444), fol. 139v. In addition, 24 “peace masses” were sung daily until the Friday after Laetare (4th Sunday in Lent), for which “Hermann and the boys were paid 32 d. for each mass sung”.
[89] For example, OKAR 8 (1444), fol. 140r. The cantor received 21 d. for each “votive”. The dean, levites (probably choirboys), sacristan, and organist are also mentioned.
[90] For example, OKAR 9 (1445). The (unnamed) cantor received 3 s. (= 90 d.).
[91] Mayer 1895–1937, Part II/Vol. 3, no. 3848; Camesina 1874, 92–93, no. 437.
[92] OKAR 8 (1444), fol. 37r.
[93] As often stated in older literature, e.g. Strohm 1993, 507. Corrected in Rumbold/Wright 2009, 47.
[94] Camesina 1874, 78–80, no. 364 (1445, undated).
[95] See Weißensteiner 1993.
[96] OKAR 9 (1445), fol. 51r; the city accounts for 1446–1448 are lost. See Rumbold/Wright 2009, 48–50.
[97] OKAR 10 (1449), fol. 32r.
[98] Mayer 1895–1937, Part II/Vol. 2, no. 3333 (for 1449); OKAR 15 (1457), fol. 41r.
[99] Zschokke 1895, 375; Rumbold/Wright 2009, 50–51. Lindenfels quickly became unpopular after his installation in 1479 by claiming, as chapter cantor, the right to choose his canon’s residence ahead of more senior canons (A-Wda, Acta Capituli 1446–1551, Cod. II, fol. 18r).
[100] OKAR 18 (1461), fol. 82v. The total cost for the carpenter and locksmith (for iron bars to secure the choir books) amounted to 160 d.
[101] OKAR 15 (1457), fol. 118v. The total cost for the carpenter and painter amounted to 95 d.
[102] OKAR 16 (1458); OKAR 36 (1474), fol. 22r.
[103] OKAR 42 (1478), fol. 32v.
[104] Text provided, among others, in Mantuani 1907, 285–287; see also Gruber 1995, 199; Flotzinger 2014, 58 f.
[105] See Strohm 2014.
[106] Uhlirz 1902, 477.
[108] A-Wda, Charter 15060119; see http://monasterium.net/mom/AT-DAW/Urkunden/15060119/charter [02.06.2016].
Recommended Citation:
Reinhard Strohm: “Musik im Gottesdienst. Wien ”, in: Musikleben des Spätmittelalters in der Region Österreich <https://musical-life.net/essays/musik-im-gottesdienst-wien-st-stephan> (2016).