Lucy is said of light, and light is beauty in
beholding, after that Saint Ambrose saith: The nature of light is such,
she is gracious in beholding, she spreadeth over all without lying
down, she passeth in going right without crooking by right long line;
and it is without dilation of tarrying, and therefore it is showed the
blessed Lucy hath beauty of virginity without any corruption; essence
of charity without disordinate love; rightful going and devotion to
God.
Saint Lucy, the holy virgin was born in Sicily and extract and
engendered of a noble lineage, in the city of Syracuse. When she heard
of the good fame and renown of Saint Agatha or Agaas, which was
published and spread all about, anon she went to her sepulchre with her
mother which was named Euthicia, which had a malady, named the bloody
flux, by the space of four years, the which no master in physic no
surgery could heal. And when they were at a mass, Lucy said to her
mother: Mother, if ye believe that this which is read be true, and also
that Saint Agatha hath now presently with her Jesu Christ, and also
that for his name she suffered martyrdom, and if ye, with this belief,
touch her sepulchre, without doubt ye shall be anon guerished and
healed. Upon this they, after the mass, when the people were departed,
they twain fell down on their knees on the sepulchre of Saint Agatha in
prayers, and weeping began to pray for her help and aid. Saint Lucy in
making her prayers for her mother fell asleep, and she saw in her sleep
Saint Agatha among the angels, nobly adorned and arrayed with precious
stones, which said thus to her: Lucy, my sweet sister, devout virgin to
God, wherefore prayest thou to me for thy mother, for such thing as
thou mayest thyself right soon give to her? For I tell the for truth,
that for thy faith, and thy good, thy mother is safe and whole. With
these words Saint Lucy awoke all afraid, and said to her mother:
Mother;. ye be guerished and all whole; I pray you for her sake by
whose prayers ye be healed, that ye never make mention to me for to
take an husband or spouse, but all that good that ye mould give me with
a man, I pray you that ye will give it to me for to do alms withal that
I may come to my savior Jesu Christ.
(Légende Dorée, Jacques de Voragine)
Saint Lucy's Mass
Gregorian chants and polyphonies from
mediaeval manuscripts from the Apt cathedral
(11th–14th century)
The city of Apt in Southern France was founded between
45 and 30 BC and an archbishopric since the 3rd century. Until today,
in the cathedral's vault are kept several mediaeval liturgical
manuscripts, which contain among many others the Mass in Honour of
Saint Lucy recorded on this CD by KANTIKA. Since 2005, photographs of
these manuscripts have been on public view in the cathedral.
Churches, cathedrals and monasteries were religious and intellectual
centres during the Middle Ages. Christianity played an important role
in a mediaeval society. Plain chant tries, either as an inner
experience or accompanying praying, to imitate celestial music on
earth. The offices are sung by clerics, monks and nuns, but everybody
can take part in the singing of hymns. Women were not excluded from
liturgical singing and they celebrated the daily offices in their
convents as well. 'Women sing conveniently the psalm; these sweet
chants may be sung by all ages and both sexes' (Saint Ambrose, 4th
century).
The music was then handed down almost exclusively orally and the
singers of the schola cantorum had to learn the whole
liturgical repertory of the year by heart. So, the transmission
happened by singing and repetition. Since the 9th century, plain chant
has been notated in handwritten chant books. The process was initiated
by Pippin the Younger (715-768) and Charlemagne (747-814) when they
reformed the liturgy in their empire. An important number of books had
to be written and a musical notation to be invented in order to
standardize the plain chant. Thanks to these efforts, teaching music
became simpler and faster and the transmission of music was not based
solely on memory anymore. The cathedral of Apt possesses almost forty
mediaeval manuscripts, including some liturgical books from the 11th to
the 14th century. Their different musical notations allow us to follow
the evolution of musical writing in the Middle Ages.
Troper from the 11th century – Apt, Trésor de la Cathédrale ms. n°17
A troper is a collection of liturgical chants, so-called tropes,
additions to mass chants for main feasts. The first manuscripts known
with tropes can be dated from the beginning of the 10th century; this
tradition continued until the 13th century. The above-mentioned
manuscript has an Aquitanian notation and following musicologist
Charles Atkinson it could have been written in Apt. For our recording
we used ordinary chants and tropes from this manuscript being one of
the oldest books in the cathedral: a Kyrie eleison (d-mode) with its
trope Caelestis terrestrisque uite rector, a Gloria (e-mode)
with the trope Quern cuncta laudant ut bona ualde, a highly
original composition with a melisma repeating the whole melody at the
end of each phrase; a Greek Agios agios agios and an Agnus
Dei in d-mode. The Agios (Sanctus) might astonish the
listener at that place in the mediaeval liturgy. However, the very
melismatic chant is part of a mass for Whitsuntide and offers us a very
nice example of Byzantine elements continue to exist in the Latin
liturgy at a time when the knowledge of the Greek language had already
considerably declined. That is why we can find some errors in the Latin
of this chant. The melody in d-mode is typical Aquitanian with its
beautiful lines and ornaments to make the liturgy as solemn as
possible.
Gradual from the 13th century – Apt, Trésor de la Cathédrale ms. n°6
This gradual written in Aquitanian notation on scratched lines and a
red f-line contains the chants of the Mass in Honour of Saint Lucy
which are notated on the folio 108r-v: the introit Dilexisti
iusticiam (g-mode), accompanying the solemn entry of the priest;
the gradual Dilexisti iusticiam with the verse Propterea
unxit te Deus (g-mode); the Alleluia Diffusa est gracia
(f-mode); the offertory Offerentur regi uirgines (d-mode) and
the communion Diffusa est gracia (f-mode). Almost all the texts
of these chants of the virgin's office have been taken from psalm 44.
The offertory has been completed from another Aquitanian gradual from
Saint-Yrieix (Paris, BNF lat. 903). The verses Eructauit cor meum
and Adducentur in letitia as well as the prosulac Lucis
auctor et celsa laudes and Virginales resonemus iugiter laudes,
added at the end of the chant, originate in this last manuscript.
Collection from the 14th century – Apt, Trésor de la Cathédrale ms.
n°16 bis
This manuscript contains 48 compositions from ars nova and ars
subtilior. It was written in the 14th century. The compositions
testify to the artistic splendour and the magnificence of the Papal
chapel in Avignon at that time. As in most musical manuscripts from
this period, the polyphonic pieces are notated in separate parts. The
notation of the hymns is characteristic of the early ars nova
(1320); following the rhythm of the notes written with black ink, they
are either separate or appear in groups of two or three. We inserted
strophic three-part hymns: Jesu corona uirginum and Ave
maris stella into the mass.
Kristin Hoefener
The papal chapel of Avignon in the 14th century
The 14th century was a turning point in the music history at the
papal court, as we can see at the example of the manuscript n°16 bis of
the Apt cathedral. The popes, since 1309 residing in Avignon, took over
the heritage of the rich Roman liturgy and tried to keep, at least in
the beginning, the old traditions. Pope John XXII (1316-34) condemned
the ars nova polyphony in his famous decree Docta sanctorum
dating from 1324/25. He criticized the very complex movements of the
melody made possible thanks to the new notation systems. These
movements made the liturgical text incomprehensive for the
congregation, which was considered an offence in mediaeval sacred
music.
A new chapelle pontificale was founded during the
pontificate of Benedict XII (1334-42) and the fusion between liturgy
and music got more and more lost. His successor Clemens VI (1342-52)
continued in this direction and engaged singers from Northern France
and Flanders, the regions where the ars nova was born. He built
a big chapel in his palace where professional singers could perform the
new polyphonic compositions. Soon, the chapelle pontificale
became a musical centre in the mediaeval occident and contributed to
increase the prestige of the Papal sovereign.
The manuscript from Apt can be considered as a witness of this musical
evolution. The first composition in the manuscript, a Kyrie with the
trope Clemens pater, has probably been written in honour of
Clemens VI and is one of the earliest examples of the ars nova
repertory sung in the Papal chapel. The manuscript was notated by
different copyists between 1360 and the end of the 14th century.
Probably its last owner was Richard of Bozonville, maître de
chapelle
under the reign of Benedict XIII (1395-1405) and provost of the
Cathedral in Apt, who brought the manuscript to Apt where it has been
conserved since then.
Etienne Anheim
Abbaye Blanche de Mortain