MCE 04-03 Tu thronus es salomonis : Salve mater pietatis : Lux eclipsim nesciens

Edition

Motet

Text (ed. by Eva Ferro)

	Edition	Translation
1	Tu thronus es Salomonis, Cui nullus par in thronis Arte vel materia.	You are the throne of Salomon, to which none is equal among the thrones for its quality or material.
2	Ebur candens castitatis^[1], Aurum fulvum claritatis, Praesignans mysteria^[i].	Shining ivory of chastity, yellow gold of brightness that foreshadows the mysteries.
3	Palmam praefers singularem Nec in terris habes parem Nec in caeli curia.	You hold forth an extraordinary palm branch and you neither have an equal on earth nor among the celestial court.
4	Laus humani generis, Virtutum^[2] prae ceteris Habes privilegia.	You are the praise of the human species; the privileges of virtues beyond all others you possess.
5	Sol luna lucidior Et luna sideribus^[ii] Sic Maria dignior Creaturis omnibus.	As the Sun is brighter than the moon and moon is brighter than the stars, Thus is Mary more worthy than all creatures.
6	Salve, mater pietatis Et totius trinitatis Nobile triclinium,	Hail, Mother of Compassion and noble chamber of the whole Trinity,
7	Verbi tamen incarnati Speciale maiestati Praeparans hospitium.	preparing a special lodging for the majesty of the word made ﬂesh
8	O Maria, stella maris, Dignitate singularis Super omnes ordinaris^[3] Ordines caelestium.	O Mary, star of the sea of singular dignity, you are ordained above all the orders of the heavens.
9	In supremo sita poli Nos assigna tuae proli Ne terrores sive doli Nos supplantent^[4] hostium.	Placed in the very height of heaven, commend us to your Child, lest the terrors or evils of our enemies overthrow us.
10	Lux eclipsim nesciens Virginis est castitas, Ardor indeficiens Immortalis caritas^[iii].	The chastity of the Virgin is a light that does not know eclipse, is a flame that never ceases, is immortal love.
11	In procinctu^[iv] constituti Te tuente simus tuti. Pervicacis^[5] et versuti Tuae cedat vis virtuti, Dolus providentiae.	Ready for battle, may we be safe^[6] as long as you watch over us. May the violence of the stubborn and cunning man give way to your virtue, may the evil intent give way to Providence.
12	Iesu, verbum summi^[v] patris, Serva servos tuae matris, Salva reos, salva gratis^[vi] Et nos tuae claritatis Configura gloriae.	Jesus, Word of the highest Father, preserve the servants of your mother, save the guilty ones, save us without payment and fashion us to the glory of your brightness.

^[1] castitatis] castistitatis Librone 1, B

^[2] virtutum] vitutum Librone 1, B

^[3] ordinaris] ordinaris ris Librone1, C; ordinaras Librone 1, T

^[4] supplantent] supplantent tent Librone 1, B

^[5] pervicacis] pernicacis Librone 1, C T

^[6] may be we safe] simus tuti has been translated here with a present tense passive with respect to the syntactic 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] mysteria] musteria Librone 1, A

^[ii] sideribus] syderibus Librone 1, A B

^[iii] caritas] charitas Librone 1, C A T B

^[iv] procinctu] procintu Librone 1, C

^[v] summi] sumi Librone 1, B

^[vi] gratis] grattis Librone 1, C B

This edition reflects the text transmitted in Librone 1, ff. 87v–90r written by Scribe B, like the other motets of this cycle. He inserted some mistakes (for instance ‘castistitatis’ for castitatis and ‘vitutum’ for virtutum in B; ‘ordinarisris’ in C and ‘ordinaras’ in T for ordinaris) as well as phonetic variants (for instance the typical omission of double consonants as ‘sumi’ (B) for summi or redundant consonants as ‘grattis’ (C B) for gratis).
The text of this third motet of the cycle is again devoted to Mary and was drawn from the same sequence of Adam of Saint-Victor (AH 54, no. 245, pp. 383–86) as in the two preceding motets. The motet is quite long and comprises three parts, for which Gaffurius utilized all of the remaining verses from the sequence (13 to 24). As has been noted before,^[1] Gaffurius utilized the sequence’s text almost without modifications, except for the position of verse 18 (which corresponds to no. 10 in the present edition). Although other explanations are possible,^[2] it is likely that he undertook this modification in order to create a compact block of texts that deal with the semantic field of vision, as the references to light (lux) and flame (ardor) in verse 18 (= no. 10), to the action of seeing (tueri) in verse 23 (= no. 11), and the image of brightness (claritas) in verse 24 (= no. 12) demonstrate. In this subsection of the motet formed by verses 18 (= no. 10) and 23 (= no. 11) Gaffurius is ‘textually’ preparing the scene for the liturgical moment in which verse 24 (= no. 12) finally resounds, namely at the climax of mass, the Elevation of the Host. With these references Gaffurius thus connects the motet to the Elevation of the Eucharist, which in the late Middle Ages was received in a form of ‘ocular’ communion.^[3]

^[1] 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 197–99.

^[2] See also the Introduction to the cycle.

^[3] Thomas Lentes, ‘“As far as the eye can see...”: Rituals of Gazing in the Late Middle Ages’, in The Mind’s Eye: Art and Theological Argument in the Middle Ages, ed. Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Anne-Marie Bouché (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 360–72, at 362.

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Measure	Voice	Source	Category	Comment	Image
		I-Mfd1	rubrics and verbal directions	‘F. G.’ added later by Gaffurius
		I-Mfd1	designation of voices	–, Contra acutus, Tenor, Contra gravis
		I-Mfd1	clefs	original clefs: c1, c3, c4, c4
100	3	I-Mfd1	pitch and rhythm	c' Sb and b Mi (written in smaller size) are probably a correction of a previous mistake	Show
139-140	4	I-Mfd1	rubrics and verbal directions	‘Verte’ direction at f. 89r (B), pointing to the conclusion of the piece on the following opening, and corresponding to the passage between mm. 139 and 140 in the edition
161	3	I-Mfd1	pitch and rhythm	the Br g, smaller than the others and with a slightly different shape, has probably been added later	Show
204	2	I-Mfd1	musical symbols	fermata missing

Edition	Translation
Tu thronus es Salomonis, Cui nullus par in thronis Arte vel materia.	You are the throne of Salomon, to which none is equal among the thrones for its quality or material.
Ebur candens castitatis, Aurum fulvum claritatis, Praesignans mysteria.	Shining ivory of chastity, yellow gold of brightness that foreshadows the mysteries.
Palmam praefers singularem Nec in terris habes parem Nec in caeli curia.	You hold forth an extraordinary palm branch and you neither have an equal on earth nor among the celestial court.
Laus humani generis, Virtutum prae ceteris Habes privilegia.	You are the praise of the human species; the privileges of virtues beyond all others you possess.
Sol luna lucidior Et luna sideribus Sic Maria dignior Creaturis omnibus.	As the Sun is brighter than the moon and moon is brighter than the stars, Thus is Mary more worthy than all creatures.
Salve, mater pietatis Et totius trinitatis Nobile triclinium,	Hail, Mother of Compassion and noble chamber of the whole Trinity,
Verbi tamen incarnati Speciale maiestati Praeparans hospitium.	preparing a special lodging for the majesty of the word made ﬂesh
O Maria, stella maris, Dignitate singularis Super omnes ordinaris Ordines caelestium.	O Mary, star of the sea of singular dignity, you are ordained above all the orders of the heavens.
In supremo sita poli Nos assigna tuae proli Ne terrores sive doli Nos supplantent hostium.	Placed in the very height of heaven, commend us to your Child, lest the terrors or evils of our enemies overthrow us.
Lux eclipsim nesciens Virginis est castitas, Ardor indeficiens Immortalis caritas.	The chastity of the Virgin is a light that does not know eclipse, is a flame that never ceases, is immortal love.
In procinctu constituti Te tuente simus tuti. Pervicacis et versuti Tuae cedat vis virtuti, Dolus providentiae.	Ready for battle, may we be safe as long as you watch over us. May the violence of the stubborn and cunning man give way to your virtue, may the evil intent give way to Providence.
Iesu, verbum summi patris, Serva servos tuae matris, Salva reos, salva gratis Et nos tuae claritatis Configura gloriae.	Jesus, Word of the highest Father, preserve the servants of your mother, save the guilty ones, save us without payment and fashion us to the glory of your brightness.

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