MCE 06-02 Alma redemptoris mater

Edition

Motet

Text (ed. by Eva Ferro)

Edition	English translation
Alma redemptoris mater, quae pervia caeli	Kindly mother of the redeemer, you who remain as an open gate of heaven,
Porta manes^[1] et stella maris, succurre^[i] cadenti	and star of the sea; succour the people
Surgere qui curat populo. Tu, quae genuisti,	who fall, but seek to rise. You who begot
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum genitorem,	as Nature marvelled your holy begetter,
Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore	virgin before and after, from Gabriel’s mouth
Sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.	accepting that famous Ave, have mercy on sinners.

^[1] manes] manens Librone 1, C A T B

^[i] succurre] sucurre Librone 1, A T

This edition is based on Librone 1, ff. 135v–136r, where the text was written by Scribe A. The copyist inserted a single phonetic variant and a mistake: all voices read ‘manens’ (a present active participle) instead of manes (the second person singular of the present active indicative of the verb manēre) with which Mary is addressed directly as ‘You’. This has been emended in the text, corresponding with the ‘standard’ text of the very widespread hexametrical Marian antiphon Alma redemptoris mater.^[1] This antiphon was sung during Advent and the Christmas season, a period of the liturgical year in which Mary played an important role, and the text, which focuses on the virgin birth (‘Virgo prius ac posterius’) and Mary’s motherhood (‘Tu, quae genuisti, / Natura mirante, tuum sanctum genitorem’), making this motet cycle suitable to be performed during Advent or the Christmas season.

^[1] See Herbert Musurillo, ‘The Mediaeval Hymn Alma Redemptoris: A Linguistic Analysis’, The Classical Journal, 52, no. 4 (1957), 171–74.

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Measure	Voice	Source	Category	Comment	Image
		I-Mfd1	designation of voices	–, Contra Altus, Tenor, Contra bassus
		I-Mfd1	clefs	original clefs: g2, c2, c3, c4
	3	I-Mfd1	clefs	except for the first and the last one, the clefs have been rewritten, after erasing the previous incorrect ones
	3	I-Mfd1	key signatures	except for the first and the last one, the key signatures have been rewritten, after erasing the previous incorrect ones
	4	I-Mfd1	key signatures	except for the first stave (with a single key signature), double key signature (b-flat and e-flat) on all the following staves
1	3	I-Mfd1	pitch and rhythm	Br e probably written over an erasure	Show
9	4	I-Mfd1	accidentals	Mi e with flat, even if the flat in the key signature refers to the same note (and thus is unnecessarily redundant); this flat has been added during the copy process, as indicated by the wide space left by the scribe between the two Mi which frame it. Probably, the scribe decided just afterwards to add the second flat to the key signature
11	1	I-Mfd1	musical symbols	traces of erasure over the first Sb b (probably fermata with dots)	Show
11	2	I-Mfd1	musical symbols	traces of erasure over the Sb d' (probably fermata with dots)	Show
11	3	I-Mfd1	musical symbols	traces of erasure above the Sb b (probably fermata with dots)	Show
11	4	I-Mfd1	musical symbols	traces of erasure over the Sb B (probably fermata with dots)	Show
12	4	I-Mfd1	musical symbols	traces of erasure over the Sb d (probably a flat referring to the following Sb a)	Show
38	3	I-Mfd1	pitch and rhythm	Sb d' with a different (rounder) shape, probably added later on an erasure	Show
41	4	I-Mfd1	pitch and rhythm	the four blackened notes seem to have been filled in a second moment (the ink of the internal part is much clearer than that of the outline); Sb a was Mi (emended by erasing the stem)	Show
44	1	I-Mfd1	accidentals	no ficta has been added to the Mi e' in order to follow the melodic movement of this voice, despite the presence of an e-flat in the B
44	1	I-Mfd1	text underlay	ave
50	1 2 3 4	I-Mfd1	pitch and rhythm	Mx instead of Lo

Edition	English translation
Alma redemptoris mater, quae pervia caeli	Kindly mother of the redeemer, you who remain as an open gate of heaven,
Porta manes et stella maris, succurre cadenti	and star of the sea; succour the people
Surgere qui curat populo. Tu, quae genuisti,	who fall, but seek to rise. You who begot
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum genitorem,	as Nature marvelled your holy begetter,
Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore	virgin before and after, from Gabriel’s mouth
Sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.	accepting that famous Ave, have mercy on sinners.

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