Ave Maris Stella
Life of the Virgin Mary in Plainsong
Ave Maris Stella
Life of the Virgin Mary in Plainsong
Ever since the appearance of the Gospel
according to St. Luke, where, in the Magnificat (Luke 1,46-55), the
Virgin Mary herself sings: "Behold, from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed" the anthems praising her have not ceased to
resound. Countless poets, scholars and travelling students have sung
Mary's praises in their poems, songs and prayers.
Generations of the faithful have taken part in celebrations of the
holidays devoted to her that take place with fixed regularity in the
course of the church year. Along with the holidays devoted to the Lord
and the name days of the saints, the holidays of the Mother Mary occupy
an especially prominent place in the calendar of the ecclesiastical
year.
Although following local traditions, the number of these holidays was
much greater than we can imagine today, only the Marian holidays with
central significance are to be of concern to us here.
The eight holidays devoted to the Virgin Mary presented in our musical
selections are framed by the title hymn of our collection, "Ave maris stella",
one of the most widely-known and popular hymns to Mary of the Middle
Ages. Our selections are also framed by the pieces closing the holiday
cycle, the two prayers to Mary "Sancta Maria succurre miseris" and "Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae".
In this way, a metamorphosis from anthem of praise to prayer for
intercession, discernible in many Marian hymns, can also be observed
here. While "Sancta Maria succurre miseris" plainly represents an archetypal prayer of enormous urgency, "Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae"
can well be considered the most important of the four great Marian
antiphons, performed here in the festive style of singing attributed to
the monk Hermannus Contractus (Hermann the Lame, 1013-1054) of Reichenau.
Texts of praise or entreaty to the Virgin Mary have provided an
inexhaustible source of inspiration for musicians of all ages.
Especially in the compositions of hymns, sequences, tropes and canzone,
the Middle Ages witnessed the development of a richness of invention
that demonstrated a very high level of achievement in both poetic and
musical terms. The collection of pieces on this recording is meant to
present as great a variety in form, content and style of musical
composition as possible within the framework of the chosen area of
interest, the Marian holidays. Thus, neither a compilation of the
oldest sacred songs nor the presentation of a complete mass for the
Virgin Mary was considered. This recording contains instead a variety
of sacred songs of different periods and origins and includes more than
one setting of the same text, for example, of the Magnificat.
Some of the holidays devoted to Mary are very closely related to the
holidays of the Lord. The sequence of the pieces performed on this
recording does not follow the occurrence of the holidays in the
ecclesiastical year, but instead, the chronological order of events in
Mary's life.
After the opening hymn "Ave maris stella" in the
Cistercian tradition, which has venerated the Virgin Mary for
centuries, the selections concerning the individual holidays follow.
I. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(December 8th).
This holiday, in which Mary was chosen by the Lord to be the Mother of
Christ, marks the beginning of the healing work of the Saviour. This
feast is opened by the powerful and joyful Introit "Gaudens gaudebo", in the phrygian mode and continues in the radiant Gradual "Benedicta es to Virgo Maria"
in the fifth, the lydian mode. The solo verse of the Gradual describes
Mary in the most noble terms: "Tu gloria Jerusalem, to laetitia Israel,
to honorificentia populi nostri."
II. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(September 8th).
This is one of the three birthdays celebrated by the church, the others
being Christmas and the birthday of St. John the Baptist. The short
Responsory in the sixth mode, "Ave Maria" - one of the most beautiful examples of melodic composition for sacred songs - and the Antiphon "Nativitas tua", sung to the canticles Magnificat and Benedictus, here represent this feast.
III. The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(March 25th).
The angel's message at the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, the
"angelic greeting", became the most famous of all prayers to Mary, the "Ave Maria".
Numerous hymns to Mary emphasize this feast's relationship to the
celebration of Christmas on December 25th. Many tropes and sequences
also underline this connection, so that in the Feast of the Birth of
Jesus Christ, the Mother of Our Lord is also accorded a prominent
place, in the poetry as well as in the music. The three sacred songs
chosen for presentation here demonstrate this relationship and have
especially joyful melodic contours, expressing clearly the meaning of
this feast.
IV. The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (July 2nd).
The visit of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth makes references to passages of the Magnificat.
This text has been set more often than all other Marian texts in the
history of music - much more often than the Ave Maria. This text
appears in the hymn repertoire, as well - as an antiphon/responsory and
even as an independent, most solemn setting of the Gospel. The latter
can be found in a 14th-century Prague manuscript, while the Magnificat
responsory has been taken from the Cistercian repertoire.
V. Advent and Christmas (December 25th).
Naturally, the Advent season and the Feast of the Birth of Jesus Christ
provide ample opportunities to remember the Mother of God. Many hymns
give examples of the veneration of Mary in this period. Our Kyrie-trope
is drawn from a late manuscript in a hymnal setting from the Premontre
Seminary Schlägl dating from the beginning of the 16th century. This
trope is completely devoted to Christmas. The commonly-known Marian
Introit "Salve sancta Parens" by Sedulius (5th century), which is the only Introit setting using a hexametrical structure, and the Marian sequence "Alma redemptoris Mater"
represent on this recording the Christmas season. The sequence, drawn
from a collection of such pieces found in Rheinau, quotes at the
beginning and at the end both the melody and text of the corresponding
antiphon. This citation justifies "the melisma at the beginning,
unheard-of for a sequence" (Peter Wagner). It is yet another example of
how, also in Germany, the medieval veneration of the Mother Mary found
its most direct expression in the form of sequences.
VI. The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Candlemas Day, February 2nd).
The Feast of the "Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple" 40 days after
his birth, according to Mosaic Law and related to His Mother's
"Purification" ritual, was celebrated in Germany by the blessing of
candles and a procession of the faithful carrying lighted candles,
making this holiday a "Candle-Mass" (= Candlemas Day). Here, the famous
antiphon "Lumen ad revelationem", together with the canticle of the old man Simeon "Nunc dimittis servum tuum"
are obligatory parts of this celebration. In the repertoire of the
entire ecclesiastical year there is no more prominent example of
responsorial singing with recurring antiphon and psalmody than is shown
in this piece. The theme of "light" clearly articulates the relation of
Epiphany to Easter. "Adorna thalamum", one of the most
important and remarkable antiphons, was probably never connected with
the psalmody, that is, it was always performed as an independent piece,
by itself. This work conveys the impression of being a "King's hymn"
(D. Johner) through its melody's constant revolving around the note C,
on a tonal level thus operating simultaneously as a final and as a
tenor.
VII . Feast of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Friday in Passion Week and September 15th).
The feast of the suffering of Mary in union with the Passion of Her Son
was not celebrated in Germany until the 15th century, when it was
introduced in connection with the Order of the Servites (originally
from Italy). Not only the Tract, with a melody that probably originated
in the 11th century, but also the more famous sequence "Stabat mater dolorosa"
portray the moving situation of Mary at the cross of Her Son. The poet
of this once so popular sequence has remained unknown to this day.
Although the version of the melody performed here is a late product of
the Renaissance of sacred song in France, it does make reference to an
ancient sequence melody, which is quite unusual. The Offertory "Recordare virgo mater"
also represents a rarity among pieces of its kind. During the last
extended melisma on "a nobis" a trope suddenly appears in the form of a
short sequence, containing a prayer for intercession in the suffering
of the Holy Mother. Truly a most unusual phenomenon within the
framework of an Offertory.
VIII. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(August 15th).
This most significant of all Marian Feasts underwent several changes,
especially in terms of its music, in the course of liturgical history.
On several occasions almost all of the hymns of this holiday's Proper
of the Mass were exchanged for other pieces. This may appear strange at
first; it becomes understandable, however, when one considers the inner
theological dynamics of this holiday. The Introit "Gaudeamus"
was older in origin and often subjected to adaptation: it also appears
as an Introit on other holidays. Its joyful, festive character and its
naturally balanced compositional structure mark this piece with
distinction. The Offertory was also not originally conceived
for this holiday, but instead was taken from the Proper of the Mass for
Easter Monday. Nonetheless, this hymn makes an extremely striking
impression on the listener, especially in the settings of the words
"gaudent" and "collaudantes": the joy of the angels is portrayed in the
heightened melismatic writing of these passages.
Among the selections presented here, the setting of this day's reading
provides the only example of the manner in which composers extended the
use of early polyphonic practices to the composition of masses, thereby
creating very remote forms. In this piece, drawn from a Bavarian
manuscript of the Order of St. Augustine, principles of Bourdon and of
melodic variation play equal roles in the compositional makeup. The
nature of this composition reveals more about Gregorian polyphonic
perfomance practice than it does about the compositional techniques
used for organum.
Konrad Ruhland
(Translation: Deborah Hochgesang)