MCE 04-01 Salve mater salvatoris : Salve verbi sacra parens

Edition

Motet

Text (ed. by Eva Ferro)

Edition

Translation

Salve, mater salvatoris,
Vas electum, vas honoris,
Vas caelestis gratiae.

Hail, mother of the Saviour,
chosen vessel, vessel of honour,
vessel of celestial grace.

Ab aeterno vas provisum,
Vas insigne, vas excisum
Manu sapientiae[i].

Vessel foreseen from eternity,
outstanding vessel, vessel carved
by the hand of Wisdom.

Salve, verbi sacra parens,
Flos de spina, spina carens,
Flos spineti gloria.

Hail, holy mother of the Word,
flower [blossomed] from a thorn, flower lacking any thorns,
Glory of the thicket.

Nos spinetum, nos peccati
Spina sumus cruentati
Sed tu spinae nescia.

We are the thicket, we are tortured[1]
by the thorn of sin,
but you know not this thorn.


[1] we are tortured] cruentati sumus has been translated here with a present tense passive with respect to the syntactical phenomenon called ‘periphrastische Passivierung’ observed by Peter Stotz, Handbuch zur lateinischen Sprache des Mittelalters, Vierter Band: Formenlehre Syntax und Stilistik (Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck, 1998), ix, §77.1, p. 350: ‘Im Vlat. und im Rom. sind die kompakten Passivformen der Prs.-Tempora vom Typus amor durch Periphrase abgelöst worden, v. a. nach dem … Typus amatus sum’.


[i] sapientiae] sapiencie Librone 1, C

This edition reflects the text transmitted in Librone 1, ff. 84v–85r, where it was written by Scribe B, like all other motets of this cycle.
The text was copied very carefully and there are no variant readings or mistakes. Phonetically the text presents all typical phenomena of medieval Latin (c for t, u for v, e for ae and so on).
The devotion to Mary is the topic of this motet and of the whole cycle, whose textual material was drawn from two sequences. For this motet Gaffurius used verses 1 to 4 of the Marian sequence Salve mater salvatoris ascribed to Adam of Saint-Victor (AH 54, no. 245, pp. 383–86). In the first two verses of the motet Mary is compared to a beautiful vase (‘Vas electum, vas honoris, / Vas caelestis gratiae’; ‘vas provisum, / Vas insigne, vas excisum’) since she was selected to be the vessel for God’s incarnation. These verses correspond thematically to the image of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. In verses 3 and 4 the floral metaphor in which Mary is compared to a rose without thorn (‘Flos de spina, spina carens’) leads to reflection on the situation of sinners, who, in contrast to Mary, are indeed tortured by the thorn of sin (‘nos peccati / Spina sumus cruentati’). The rhythmic verse structure of the sequence corresponds to 8p/8p/7pp and thus results in a strong trochaic rhythmic movement.
The sequence was extremely widespread and was popular particularly in France and the German-speaking regions. Some Italian manuscripts that transmit this sequence attest that the piece was appreciated in Italy as well.[1]


[1] See Eva Ferro, ‘“Old Texts for New Music”? Textual and Philological Observations on the Cycles “Salve Mater Salvatoris” and “Ave Domine Iesu Christe” from Librone 1’, in Motet Cycles between Devotion and Liturgy, ed. Daniele V. Filippi and Agnese Pavanello, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Scripta 7 (Basel: Schwabe, 2019), 189–218, at 200.

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Measure Voice Source Category Comment Image
I-Mfd1 rubrics and verbal directions ‘F. Gafforus’ added later by Gaffurius
I-Mfd1 designation of voices –, Contra acutus, Tenor, Contra gravis
I-Mfd1 clefs original clefs: c1, c3, c4, c4
2-3 2 I-Mfd1 pitch and rhythm the pattern d’- f’- e’- c’ is wrongly written twice
9-10 2 I-Mfd1 pitch and rhythm the tie is editorial
30 4 I-Mfd1 mensuration and proportion signs C instead of C cut
42 2 I-Mfd1 pitch and rhythm the tie is editorial
Text
Edition Translation

Salve, mater salvatoris,
Vas electum, vas honoris,
Vas caelestis gratiae.

Hail, mother of the Saviour,
chosen vessel, vessel of honour,
vessel of celestial grace.

Ab aeterno vas provisum,
Vas insigne, vas excisum
Manu sapientiae.

Vessel foreseen from eternity,
outstanding vessel, vessel carved
by the hand of Wisdom.

Salve, verbi sacra parens,
Flos de spina, spina carens,
Flos spineti gloria.

Hail, holy mother of the Word,
flower [blossomed] from a thorn, flower lacking any thorns,
Glory of the thicket.

Nos spinetum, nos peccati
Spina sumus cruentati
Sed tu spinae nescia.

We are the thicket, we are tortured
by the thorn of sin,
but you know not this thorn.