Among the six motetti missales cycles copied in the Milanese Libroni between the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century under Franchinus Gaffurius’s supervision, Salve mater salvatoris is the only one composed by the Italian choirmaster.^[1] Gaffurius was very keen to claim paternity of this work, as he not only ascribed this cycle to himself in the index of Librone 1, listing it among the missales as ‘Salve mater salvatoris gaffori cum tota missa’, but also added his name or his initials at the beginning of each single motet in the upper margin of the folios, after Scribe B had finished copying the work.^[2] The cycle must have been composed within a precise span of time, between Gaffurius’s arrival in Milan (1484) and the binding of Librone 1 (1490).^[3] At that time, Gaffurius already knew the motetti missales by Loyset Compère and Gaspar van Weerbeke, which had been composed around a decade earlier, and was surely influenced by them.^[4]

However, unlike the other five missales cycles itemized in the index of Librone 1, Salve mater salvatoris consists of four motets instead of eight.^[5] Each of the four motets, in turn, is divided into two or three sections and the total length of the resulting ten parts corresponds to that of the other missales. The arrangement of the ten sections is the following:

Section 4c was in fact entered in the index of Librone 1 as a separate composition, bringing the total number of motets to five; however, the rationale behind this list is not clear and most scholars consider no. 4c as the third part of motet 4.^[6] Indeed, two elements confirm this assumption: on the one hand, Scribe B did not insert any bar line between sections 4b and 4c, thus indicating that one is the continuation of the other, in line with his habit in regard to the other two- and three-part motets composing this cycle.^[7] On the other hand, Gaffurius himself intervened later, adding both custodes and a ‘verte folium’ rubric to connect nos. 4b and 4c, but did not insert his name at the beginning of no. 4c, in contrast to what he did at the beginning of the four motets (nos. 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a). In any case, the formal subdivision of the cycle makes no difference from the point of view of the performance, since according to the most recent research on the missales, the motets were meant to be sung one after the other.^[8] The same applies to the assumption of Thomas L. Noblitt, who, while considering no. 4c as the third part of the last motet, divided the cycle into five motets, splitting the two parts of motet 1 in two distinct compositions, based on the double bar lines at the end of no. 1a, and the fact that it ends with an authentic cadence.^[9]

No loco rubrics were inserted in the cycle, and it is not clear whether they are somehow implied, since the ten sections of Salve mater salvatoris do not fit the eight-part structure of the missales with specified rubrics.^[10] In his own edition of the cycle, Luciano Migliavacca proposed a far-fetched solution, which resulted from an arbitrary adaptation: first, he considered no. 1a and 1b as a single section and not as two, thus obtaining a total number of nine parts instead of ten; then he suggested for the second part the rubric loco Kyrie, a label which is recorded nowhere in the other motetti missales.^[11] In the current understanding of motetti missales, however, the position and role of the motets (or parts) within the cycle is virtually interchangeable; only the Elevation motet is clearly recognizable, both for its text and for is homorhythmic music, since it must be synchronized with the liturgical action.^[12] In the cycle Salve mater salvatoris, the Elevation part corresponds to the second half of no. 3c, which, therefore, may be considered loco Sanctus.^[13] However, Gaffurius’s cycle also differs from the other missales in this regard: the text of the Elevation section is an invocation to Christ, and does not refer at all to the sacrifice of his body on the cross nor specifically to the Eucharistic moment.^[14] As stated above, Gaffurius composed his own missales cycle a few years after those of Weerbeke and Compère that were copied in the same Librone 1, and it is possible that, at that time, the customs were changing. The cycle Salve mater salvatoris might then be seen as a transition point between the other five cycles labelled missales and the number of shorter cycles with different configurations entered in the Libroni complex.^[15]

As for all the other works by Gaffurius, with the only exception of a Magnificat also found (fragmentary) in a manuscript preserved in Paris,^[16] all the motets of Salve mater salvatoris are unica and most likely they were composed expressly for the cathedral’s chapel. The Marian theme, which permeates the four Libroni and is linked to the particular devotion to the Virgin in the Milanese environment of that time, is also dominant in this cycle.^[17] In contrast to the other missales cycles, however, the texts chosen for Salve mater salvatoris are not centones, but are almost entirely drawn from two well-known sequences dating back to the twelfth century: Adam of St- Victor’s Salve mater salvatoris (for the first three motets) and the anonymous Imperatrix gloriosa (for the last one).^[18] Litany-like interpolations drawn from the Litaniae Lauretanae were added towards the end of the last motet and their original melody retained; their appearance in the motet is highlighted by the antiphonal rendering: two voices acclaim Mary and the other two answer with ‘ora pro nobis’. The two sequences chosen for this cycle are linked generically to Marian feasts, but Gaffurius might have intended it to be sung in particular on the occasion of the feast of the Nativity of Mary on 8 September, both because Adam’s sequence refers specifically to this feast and because the cathedral of Milan is consecrated ‘Mariae nascenti’.^[19]

Gaffurius probably chose the texts himself; compared to the standard text of the two sequences given in Analecta hymnica, a few differences^[20] in the forms of the verbs or in the choice of the words (e.g. ‘praesignans’ instead of ‘praesignant’ in no. 3a, or ‘assigna’ instead of ‘commenda’ in no. 3b) could be linked to different paths of transmission,^[21] but, at least in certain cases, they could also have originated during copying. The only major differences are found in 2a, in which the two paired verses are switched, and in 3b and 3c, with the postponement in Gaffurius’s cycle of the verse ‘Lux eclipsim nesciens’, which in Analecta hymnica is placed immediately after the verse ‘Sol luna lucidior’, to which it is semantically linked.^[22] The reason for this shift, apparently not attested elsewhere,^[23] is not clear: in fact, not only do these two verses make more sense one after the other, but also the new arrangement has no impact on the musical setting of the cycle.^[24] Concerning the switch between the two paired verses of 2a, however, it is probably a means of highlighting the verse ‘Salve decus virginum’, now in the first position at the beginning of the motet. This version makes a better parallelism with the beginning of no. 1a (‘Salve mater salvatoris’) and stresses the link with the motet Salve decus genitoris, which was entered in Librone 1 just before the Gaffurian cycle.^[25]

At the present state of research, no cantus prius factus has been found. However, at the beginning of section 2a, Cantus and Tenor sing a melody which resembles that of a plainchant on Salve mater salvatoris (see Fig. 1),^[26] which returns later in the cycle as a head-motif (no. 3a, mm. 1–2, C) and also in inversion (no. 1b, mm. 30–31, C).^[27]

As already noticed, the music of the litany part of no. 4c is clearly derived from the Litaniae Lauretanae, and in particular, as noticed by Noblitt, the shape of the melody corresponds to that used during Rogation days, although at a different pitch.^[28]

Gaffurius inserted litany-like fragments in other compositions in the Libroni;^[29] in this regard, it should be noted that the duo Cantus–Altus corresponding to the words ‘Sancta Maria’ in no. 4c, mm. 168–69, is identical to the same voices in Virgo dei digna, mm. 14–15 (and then repeated an octave lower by Tenor and Bassus, mm. 16–17); in addition, the entire music section corresponding to ‘Sancta Maria ora pro nobis’ (mm. 168–71) appears in Virgo dei digna with the text ‘Sancte Ambrosi ora pro nobis’ a few bars later (mm. 52–55).^[30]

As with the head-motif already discussed, other recurring melodies show that the four Gaffurian motets were conceived as a cycle from the beginning.^[31] In particular, the head-motif at the beginning of the Cantus of no. 1a (mm. 1–4: g'-a'-g'-f'-g'-a'-b'-a'), repeated, slightly modified, by the Tenor (mm. 2–5), comes back later in a shorter form (no. 1a, mm. 9–11, C and T; no. 1b, mm. 35–37, B; mm. 38–41, C; mm. 39–41, T; no. 2a, mm. 3–5, B). Another unifying procedure consists in softening the full texture using different combinations of two or three voices, or, vice versa, adding weight with homophonic blocks corresponding to significant words or expressions: ‘spina sumus cruentati’, ‘rosa patientiae’, ‘ebur candens’, ‘nec in caeli curia’, ‘sol luna lucidior’, ‘praeparans hospitium’, ‘ne terrores sive doli’, ‘et nos tuae claritatis’, ‘generosa’, ‘honorans ut domina’, ‘res miranda’, and the final ‘amen’.^[32]

Regarding the position of Salve mater salvatoris within Librone 1, a few considerations can be added. This cycle is preceded by Gaffurius’s Salve decus genitoris, a celebratory motet in praise of Ludovico Sforza, who ruled as duke of Milan from 1494 to 1499, but had been regent on behalf of his nephew Gian Galeazzo since 1481.^[33] Although this motet is independent of the missales cycle, as shown by its position in the index of Librone 1, it is surely linked to it somehow. Not only at first glance do the words ‘Salve decus genitoris’ recall immediately the textual incipit of motet no. 2a (‘Salve decus virginum’), but, more importantly, the two motets begin with a common motif of four notes (which correspond to the first head-motif cited),^[34] each of which is heard twice in Salve decus genitoris, and the complete first phrases of their Cantus closely resemble each other (see Fig. 2).

Moreover, Salve decus genitoris contains a few passages very similar to those found in other motets of the cycle Salve mater salvatoris;^[35] in particular, in the cadences on G, the suspension of the main note in the Cantus is combined with a recurrent formula in the Altus (dotted minim f' and the semiminims e'-d'-c', followed by a d').^[36] Other aspects that recur both in this motet and in the cycle are progressions that use melodies with dotted rhythms. These similarities and cross-references suggest that Salve decus genitoris might have been sung together with the following missales cycle on particular feasts, possibly in the presence of Ludovico Sforza.^[37]

The missales cycle is then followed by three Gaffurian motets, O beate Sebastiane, Omnipotens aeterne deus, and Virgo dei digna.^[38] In his doctoral dissertation on Compère’s works, Ludwig Finscher considered the motets of Salve mater salvatoris and these three motets a single cycle,^[39] but a few years later, in the introduction to the edition of Compère’s motetti missales, he changed his mind and assigned to the cycle Salve mater salvatoris the right pages, up to no. 4c (i.e. ff. 84v–93r).^[40] In fact, the hypothesis of a single cycle including three more motets is untenable, since these three compositions differ from the Gaffurian missales (and also among them) in their tonal type; moreover, any textual link with them is missing and no. 4c ends with the word ‘Amen’, to underline the cycle’s completion.^[41] However, if the insertion in Librone 1 of Omnipotens aeterne deus is belated and responds to the logic of filling the last page of a gathering and the first of the new one, once the volume was bound,^[42] the two Gaffurian motets O beate Sebastiane and Virgo dei digna were probably placed there on purpose, since they share their litany-like style with no. 4c. Moreover, it might be accidental, but the first four notes of the Cantus – in long values – of no. 4c correspond exactly to the plainchant incipit of O beate Sebastiane sung by the Tenor at f. 93v, and, as already noted, the invocations of Virgo dei digna recall those contained in no. 4c. It seems, then, that the litany-like section no. 4c and the two litany motets were gathered here on purpose, probably because they could have been used on the same occasions. If this were the case, then, as I have suggested above regarding Salve decus genitoris, the cycle Salve mater salvatoris was probably open to different adjustments according to the situation. Seen in this way, it is possible that no. 4c was listed separately in the index not because it was necessarily considered as an independent motet within the cycle (something that the paratext seems to deny), but because, under certain circumstances, it could have been performed independently from the cycle, in combination with the two following litany motets.

The entire cycle was copied by Scribe B straddling gatherings 11 and 12. Later Gaffurius added his name at the top of the first folio of each motet and custodes and a ‘verte folium’ rubric at the end of no. 4b. The copying work is quite accurate; a few errors were emended at a later stage, although some still remain.^[43] It is not clear if the emendations in the music are due to Scribe B himself or to Gaffurius, since the typology of corrections does not permit us to recognize a particular hand. It is, however, certain that Gaffurius revised the cycle at a certain point, as a few interventions by his hand in the text show:

• 85v: ‘cela’ added in the Tenor;
• 92r: ‘nubes’ added in the Altus at f. 92r, after deleting ‘con-’ and rewriting it at the beginning of the following staff;
• 92v: ‘va’ added in small characters above the wrong ‘gramur’ in the Cantus;
• 92v–93r: mensuration signs added at the beginning of no. 4c, where no place had been left for them;
• 93r: ‘ergo’ added in a small font between ‘nobis’ and ‘clemens’ in the Bassus.

Gaffurius’s revision of the text, however, was not entirely accurate, given that a few errors remain, among which the glaring ‘ordinaris ris’ in the Cantus (f. 88v) and ‘supplantent tent’ in the Bassus (f. 89r).^[44]

The cycle Salve mater salvatoris has already been edited by Luciano Migliavacca in the series Archivium Musices Metropolitanum Mediolanense;^[45] however, that edition was not properly ‘critical’, because the apparatus is lacking^[46] and neither errors nor different layers of interventions are recorded. Moreover, a few errors were inserted in the music:

• 1b, m. 61, B: semibreve d wrongly transcribed as e;
• 2b, m. 64, A: semibreve d' wrongly transcribed as c';
• 2b, m. 74, A: minim d' wrongly transcribed as c'.

Regarding the text, major mistakes occurred in the text underlay (‘O convallis humilis’ instead of ‘Tu convallis humilis’, ‘Vox eclipsim nesciens’ instead of ‘Lux eclipsim nesciens’), which change its meaning compared to that given in the manuscript.

A more reliable edition – although with the apparatus reduced to the minimum – is contained in the appendix of Sergio Lonoce’s dissertation.^[47]

Basel, September 2020