MCE 03-05 O Maria in supremo sita poli

Edition

Motet

Text (ed. by Eva Ferro)

Edition	English translation
O Maria, In supremo sita poli, Nos commenda tuae proli, Ne terrores sive doli Nos supplantent hostium.	O Mary, placed in the highest spot of heaven, commend us to your Child, lest the terrors or evils of our enemies deceive us.
O Maria, stella maris, Dignitate singularis, Super omnes ordinaris Ordines caelestium.	O Mary, star of the sea, singular in dignity, you are ordained above all the orders of the heavens.
Ave, solem genuisti, Ave, prolem protulisti, Mundo lapso contulisti Vitam et imperium.	Hail, you who have brought forth the Sun, hail you who have borne the Child, you who have bestowed life and power upon the faltering world.
O Maria, Ad te flentes suspiramus, Te gementes invocamus, Evae gens misera.	O Mary, to you we sigh crying, you we invoke moaning, poor people of Eve.
O regina pietatis, Statum nostrae paupertatis Vultu tuae bonitatis Bene considera, O lucerna sanctitatis.	O Queen of pity, consider well the degree of our misery with the countenance of your goodness, o light of sanctity.

The textual edition of this motet is based on one source, Librone 3, ff. 130v–131r, where the motet was written by Scribe I. The scribe made no substantial mistakes in this case.
The topic is again that of Marian devotion. The motet text consists of a series of verses taken from different sequences dedicated to the Virgin Mary, for instance from Salve mater salvatoris, which was used often throughout the repertory of the Libroni; from Verbum bonum et suave, a very popular sequence in late medieval times that was already used in other motets of this cycle (Ave, salus infirmorum; Ave, sponsa verbi summi); and from Ave virgo gloriosa. All verses except the third open with an invocation of Mary (‘O Maria’, ‘O regina’) that in some cases (verses 1 and 4) was introduced even when the model or original sequence did not entail it. This modification generates an impression of greater uniformity in the motet, in which each section begins by addressing Mary directly.

The viewer is loading…

Measure	Voice	Source	Category	Comment
		I-Mfd3	designation of voices	–, Altus, Tenor primus, Tenor secundus, Bassus
		I-Mfd3	clefs	original clefs: c1, c4, c4, c4, f4
4	1 2 3 5	I-Mfd3	musical symbols	barline after the Br with fermata
72		I-Mfd3	rubrics and verbal directions	‘Verte folium’ at the end of f. 131r, pointing to the following motet

Edition	English translation
O Maria, In supremo sita poli, Nos commenda tuae proli, Ne terrores sive doli Nos supplantent hostium.	O Mary, placed in the highest spot of heaven, commend us to your Child, lest the terrors or evils of our enemies deceive us.
O Maria, stella maris, Dignitate singularis, Super omnes ordinaris Ordines caelestium.	O Mary, star of the sea, singular in dignity, you are ordained above all the orders of the heavens.
Ave, solem genuisti, Ave, prolem protulisti, Mundo lapso contulisti Vitam et imperium.	Hail, you who have brought forth the Sun, hail you who have borne the Child, you who have bestowed life and power upon the faltering world.
O Maria, Ad te flentes suspiramus, Te gementes invocamus, Evae gens misera.	O Mary, to you we sigh crying, you we invoke moaning, poor people of Eve.
O regina pietatis, Statum nostrae paupertatis Vultu tuae bonitatis Bene considera, O lucerna sanctitatis.	O Queen of pity, consider well the degree of our misery with the countenance of your goodness, o light of sanctity.

This browser does not support javascript. You may download it to view it offline.