Program Notes on:
An English Ladymass
13th- and 14th-century chant and polyphony in honor of the Virgin
Mary
"A certain parish priest, a man of upright life, knew no other Mass
than the Mass of the Blessed Virgin, which he constantly chanted in her
honour. Being accused thereof to the bishop, he was forthwith arraigned
before him. When he avowed that he knew no other Mass, the bishop harshly
upbraided him as an impostor, suspended him from his cure, and forbade
him to chant the said Mass thereafter. The following night the Blessed
Mary appeared to the bishop, belaboured him with reproaches, and demanded
the reason of his ill treatment of her servant; and she further said that
the bishop would die within thirty days unless he restored the priest to
his office. All atremble, the bishop summoned the priest and begged his
forgiveness, commanding him to celebrate no other Mass than that of the
Blessed Virgin." (The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, 13th century.
G. Ryan & H. Ripperger, trans., Ayer Company [Salem, NH, 1987], p.
528. Reproduced by permission.)
Stories of the miracles of the Blessed Virgin abound from the late middle
ages. Her powers of intercession with her Son were apparently limitless;
murderers, thieves, and every variety of miscreant could turn to Mary to
be saved from their well-deserved punishment. She was the key to heaven
— the kindly Mother who would not fail to
smuggle an erring child into Paradise. And her cult was strong.
In the 13th century, a Mass to the Virgin, a Ladymass, was offered daily
in the Lady chapel of Salisbury Cathedral. Most large churches had Lady
chapels where such votive Masses were celebrated, either daily, as at Salisbury,
or on Saturday, a day especially dedicated to Mary. Of the English polyphony
preserved from this time, almost all of which is sacred, roughly two-thirds
is in honor of the Virgin; much of this music could play a role in the
Ladymass. For this recording, we have used liturgical polyphony and chant,
along with other devotional works from the 13th and early 14th
centuries, to create a composite Ladymass.
Among the works included in our Ladymass are motet-like settings of
Mass chants. The introit Salve sancta parens, the gradual Benedicta et
venerabilis, and the alleluia Per te dei were part of the Ladymass liturgy
from the feast of the Purification (February 2) to Easter. The sequence
Missus Gabriel de celis, the offertory Felix namque and the communion Beata
viscera were sung during Advent. The latter two lack surviving polyphonic
settings, and are here performed in their plainchant versions from the
13th-century Sarum Gradual. The three-part song Beata viscera sets a poetic
paraphrase of the communion chant, to which it is not musically related.
There is no direct association of items of the Mass Ordinary (Kyrie,
Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus dei) with the plan of the Ladymass. We have
chosen a polyphonic Kyrie and Gloria pair that survive in the same manuscript,
both of which feature virtuosic swirls of ornamental pitches. The Kyrie
has additional text (a "trope") in honor
of Mary, the "Christifera" or Christ-bearer. The Agnus dei is set in
"alternatim" style, the liturgical plainchant alternating with a polyphonic
Marian trope. The ritual Mass dismissal Ite missa est is an early example
of four-voice composition, filled with rollicking melismas and unabashed
dissonances.
Since it was often permissible to substitute a new work for the prescribed
liturgical sequence, we have used some of these works to augment our Ladymass.
Missus Gabriel de celis occurs at the usual place for the sequence. The
other sequences are Gaude virgo salutata and Gaude virgo gloriosa from
the plainsong Dublin Troper, and Jesu Cristes milde moder, a two-voice
English setting of the Stabat mater text.
We have also included devotional works in other genres: strophic songs
or conductus (Edi beo thu hevene quene and Salve virgo virginum), motets
with multiple texts (Spiritus et alme/Gaude virgo salutata), and a rondellus
(Flos regalis), a particularly English breed of composition that features
a round-like exchange of tunes among the voice parts. We close with the
simple and lovely vespers hymn Ave maris stella, from a 13th-century manuscript
at Worcester.
The fragmentary and scattered state of 13th- and 14th-century English
polyphonic sources makes the creation of an edition a daunting task. There
exists not even one substantial intact manuscript source from which to
work. Instead, there are hundreds of strips, scraps, pastedowns, and flyleaves
to be found, matched, deciphered, and transcribed. Reconstructions, ranging
from a few notes to an entire voice part, are often necessary. Imaginative
scholarship as well as subtle musical grace were apparent in all of Ernest
Sanders’ transcriptions and restorations in the editions from which we
drew these polyphonic works for our Ladymass. It has been a pleasure to
bring them to life.
SUSAN HELLAUER
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