MCE 03-07 Salve mater salvatoris
Motet
T1 and T2, mm. 2–11, ‘Salve mater salvatoris, Vas electum, vas honoris’, loosely quote verses 1 (incipit) and 2 from the sequence Salve mater salvatoris (Cantus ID ah54245).
T1, mm. 11–16,‘Vas caelestis gratiae’, quotes the last phrase of verse 4 (‘sana quod est saucium’) from the sequence Veni sancte spiritus (Cantus ID ah54153).
T1 and T2, mm. 16–22, ‘Tu nostrum refugium...Procul pelle vitia’, quote the corresponding verse from the sequence Ave virgo virginum (sung to the melody of Veni sancte spiritus, Cantus ID ah54153).
Text (ed. by Eva Ferro)
Edition |
English translation |
Salve, mater salvatoris, |
Hail, mother of the Saviour, |
Tu nostrum refugium |
You, our refuge, |
Salve, verbi sacra parens, |
Hail, sacred parent of the Word, |
Tu veniae vena, |
You are the vein of forgiveness, |
Filium implora |
Implore your Son |
Dulcis Iesu mater bona, |
Good mother of sweet Jesus, |
Pacem confer sempiternam |
grant eternal peace |
[1] da] dona Librone 3, A B
[2] supernam] was added below the line in Librone 3, C
[i] vitia] vicia Librone 3, C T2
[ii] gratiae] gracie Librone 3, A
This edition is based on Librone 3, ff. 132v–133r, where it was written by Scribe I. The scribe introduced the variant reading ‘dona’ instead of da in A and forgot the word supernam, which had to be added below the line in C.
The subject of this motet is devotion to Mary and all text portions were drawn from different Marian sequences: Salve mater salvatoris (AH 54, no. 245, pp. 383–86) for the first and third verse, Ave virgo virginum (AH 54, no. 285, pp. 432–33) for the second verse, and Ave virgo gloriosa (AH 54, no. 277, pp. 417–19) for the sixth and seventh verse. The source of verses 4–5 remains unidentified. Patrick Macey interpreted them as connected with Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza because of the appearance of what he called Galeazzo’s verset (‘Maria mater gratiae, mater misericordiae’), hinted at here in verse 4 (‘Tu veniae vena, / Mater gratiae, / Confer nobis dona misericordiae’);[1] subsequent scholars, however, notably Nolan Gasser, have qualified this interpretation.[2]
[1] Patrick P. Macey, ‘Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Musical Patronage in Milan: Compère, Weerbeke and Josquin’, Early Music History, 15 (1996), 147–212 at 164–66 and 175–80.
[2] Nolan Gasser, ‘“Beata et venerabilis Virgo” : Music and Devotion in Renaissance Milan’, in Sally McKee (ed.), Crossing Boundaries: Issues of Cultural and Individual Identities in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Turnhout: Brepols, 1999), 203–38 at 215–22.
Measure | Voice | Source | Category | Comment | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
I-Mfd3 | designation of voices | –, Altus, Tenor primus, Tenor secundus, Bassus | |||
I-Mfd3 | clefs | original clefs: c1, c4, c4, c4, f4 | |||
24-26 | 4 | I-Mfd3 | text underlay | notice that T2 is the only voice to sing Flos de spina spina carens (C seems to deliberately skip these words in the ms.; the text-underlay of A and B is patchy, but it does not seem to easily accommodate the phrase) | |
43-44 | 5 | I-Mfd3 | text underlay | lig. splitted between two syllables ([gra]-ti-ae) for a better distribution of the text |
Text
Edition | English translation |
---|---|
Salve, mater salvatoris, |
Hail, mother of the Saviour, |
Tu nostrum refugium |
You, our refuge, |
Salve, verbi sacra parens, |
Hail, sacred parent of the Word, |
Tu veniae vena, |
You are the vein of forgiveness, |
Filium implora |
Implore your Son |
Dulcis Iesu mater bona, |
Good mother of sweet Jesus, |
Pacem confer sempiternam |
grant eternal peace |