MCE 03-07 Salve mater salvatoris

Edition

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, Vas electum, vas honoris, Vas caelestis gratiae.	Hail, mother of the Saviour, chosen vessel, vessel of honour, vessel of celestial grace.
Tu nostrum refugium Da^[1] reis remedium, Procul pelle vitia^[i].	You, our refuge, grant sinners a remedy, banish vice far away.
Salve, verbi sacra parens, Flos de spina spina carens, Flos spineti gloria.	Hail, sacred parent of the Word, flower from a thorn, lacking a thorn, glory of the thicket.
Tu veniae vena, Mater gratiae^[ii], Confer nobis dona Misericordiae.	You are the vein of forgiveness, mother of grace, grant us the gifts of mercy.
Filium implora Ut donum veniae Donet mortis hora Nobis, ut gloriae Regno praesentemur.	Implore your Son to grant us the gift of forgiveness at the hour of our death, so that we may be presented to the kingdom of glory.
Dulcis Iesu mater bona, Mundi salus et matrona Supernorum civium,	Good mother of sweet Jesus, salvation of the world and matron of the celestial citizens,
Pacem confer sempiternam Et ad lucem nos supernam^[2] Transfer post exilium, O Maria.	grant eternal peace and transfer us to the celestial light after our exile, O Mary.

^[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.

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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
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

Edition	English 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.
Tu nostrum refugium Da reis remedium, Procul pelle vitia.	You, our refuge, grant sinners a remedy, banish vice far away.
Salve, verbi sacra parens, Flos de spina spina carens, Flos spineti gloria.	Hail, sacred parent of the Word, flower from a thorn, lacking a thorn, glory of the thicket.
Tu veniae vena, Mater gratiae, Confer nobis dona Misericordiae.	You are the vein of forgiveness, mother of grace, grant us the gifts of mercy.
Filium implora Ut donum veniae Donet mortis hora Nobis, ut gloriae Regno praesentemur.	Implore your Son to grant us the gift of forgiveness at the hour of our death, so that we may be presented to the kingdom of glory.
Dulcis Iesu mater bona, Mundi salus et matrona Supernorum civium,	Good mother of sweet Jesus, salvation of the world and matron of the celestial citizens,
Pacem confer sempiternam Et ad lucem nos supernam Transfer post exilium, O Maria.	grant eternal peace and transfer us to the celestial light after our exile, O Mary.

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