A Gift for the Newly Minted Emperor: The Alamire Choir Book A-Wn Mus.Hs. 15495
The choir book A-Wn Mus.Hs. 15495 belongs to a group of more than 60 surviving choir books and partbook sets that are known in current research as “Burgundian-Habsburg music manuscripts”.[10] These manuscripts were produced in a highly professional scriptorium located in the vicinity of the Burgundian-Habsburg courts of Archduke Philip the Handsome, Archduchess Margaret of Austria, and Archduke Charles (the later Emperor Charles V) in Brussels and Mechelen. The music manuscripts, copied from around 1495 to 1534, initially on parchment, i.e., the highest quality material, are sometimes elaborately illuminated and served in Habsburg circles as valuable gifts. The splendid manuscript A-Wn Mus.Hs. 15495 is the first choir book from this scriptorium, produced under the direction of the professional copyist, singer, and diplomat Petrus Alamire.
Abb. Kyrie Salve diva parens
Eröffnende Doppelseite des Prachtchorbuchs » A-Wn Mus.Hs. 15495, fol. 1v–2r, mit dem Kyrie aus Jacob Obrechts Missa Salve diva parens (» D. Obrechts Missa Salve diva parens).
The » Abb. Kyrie Salve diva parens shows the richly illuminated opening pages of the choir book, which comprises a total of 105 folios (i.e., 210 pages). The miniatures show, in the upper left, the scene of the birth of Christ (Christmas); in the upper right, Emperor Maximilian in prayer, behind him his guardian angel; in the lower left, the coat of arms of Emperor Maximilian; in the lower right, the marital coat of arms of Maximilian and his wife Bianca Maria Sforza. Based on the heraldry, the creation time of the manuscript can be narrowed down to the period between spring 1508 (Maximilian’s proclamation as emperor) and December 1510 (the death of his wife)(» D. Obrechts Missa Salve diva parens).[11]
The musical text is – typical for the time – notated voice by voice in individual reading fields, not in a score: in the upper left, the discantus (the highest voice), below it the tenor (Nota bene: with the underlaid text “Salve diva parens”, not “Kyrie eleyson”!), on the upper right side the altus (here designated as “Contra[tenor altus]”), below it the bass. Such an arrangement is called “choir book notation”. A large ensemble (choir) could perform the various voices from this one book (» Abb. Kaiser Maximilians Kapelle), and the participation of individual instruments with the singing voices was conceivable and is iconographically documented (» Abb. Triumphzug Kantorei).
[10] For this, see among others, Kellman 1999; Bouckaert/Schreurs 2003; Saunders 2010; Burn 2015.
[11] Lodes 2009, 248.
[1] For this, see recently Gasch 2015, especially pages 362–371.
[2] Petition to King Ferdinand I in 1530; A-Whh Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv, Niederösterr. Kammer, Rote Nr. 7. Reprinted in Birkendorf 1994, Vol. 3, 248.
[5] Strohm 1993, 519–522; Edition in 4 volumes: Noblitt 1987–1996.
[6] For the secular sources („Liederbüchern“) related to Maximilian’s court, see » B. Lieder 1450–1520, Kap. Aufschwung der Liedkunst unter Maximilian I. and » B. Lieder 1450–1520, Kap. Liederdrucke.
[7] See Heidrich 1993.
[8] Birkendorf 1994. The compositions are often recorded without text.
[10] For this, see among others, Kellman 1999; Bouckaert/Schreurs 2003; Saunders 2010; Burn 2015.
[11] Lodes 2009, 248.
[12] Missa Faisantz regretz and Missa Une mousse de Biscaye – the latter of which, although passed down under Josquin’s name, was probably not composed by him.
[13] For the historical-political context, see among others, Wiesflecker 1971–1986, Vol. 4, 1–27.
[14] The print was produced in two editions (one with a summary in Dutch, the other with a summary in Latin) and is available as an annotated facsimile: Nijhoff 1925, with a translation of the two motets by Charles Van den Borren as an appendix. See also Schreurs 2001 and Wouters/Schreurs 1995. For a complete digital copy of the Latin edition, see: http://depot.lias.be/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE4756261.
[15] Earlier in Antwerp, a music print with the imperial coat of arms and that of the Margraviate of Antwerp had already been produced: » Principium et ars tocius musice, Antwerpen: Jost de Negker (c. 1500–1508). However, this is a representation of the Guidonian Hand with mensural notes and comments, not a polyphonic composition. See Schreurs/Van der Stock 1997; also a facsimile on page 173.
[16] Schlegelmilch 2011, esp. 443–447.
[17] Benedictus held the position of organist at the Antwerp Church of Our Lady from 1512 to 1516 and then went to the English court. Only these two compositions of his are known.
[18] Victoria Panagl particularly points out the lines “Ergo Cesar quum nec deus / rerum metas neque tempus / tuo dat imperio” (7th stanza; “Therefore, Caesar, because God sets no spatial or temporal limits to your rule”), which as a quotation from Virgil emphatically refer to Maximilian’s claim to power (as successor to the Roman Empire): In the Aeneid (1,278: “his ego non metas rerum nec tempora pono”), Jupiter speaks these words, looking ahead to the glorious rulers of the Roman Empire (see Panagl 2004, esp. 73–81, here 78).
[19] See Dunning 1970, 61–64.
Empfohlene Zitierweise:
Birgit Lodes: “Musikalische Huldigungsgeschenke für Maximilian I.”, in: Musikleben des Spätmittelalters in der Region Österreich <https://musical-life.net/essays/musikalische-huldigungsgeschenke-fur-maximilian-i> (2017).