Catholic Marian music shares a trait with some other forms of Christian music in adding another emotional dimension to the process of veneration and in being used in various Marian ceremonies and feasts. Marian music is now an inherent element in many aspects of the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Catholic Mariology.
Throughout the centuries Marian music has grown and progressed, and witnessed a resurgence along with the Renaissance, e.g. with the composition of the Ave Mariamotet by Josquin des Prez. The tradition continued with a number of great composers up to the late 19th century, e.g. with Giuseppe Verdi's Ave Maria in 1880 followed by his Laudi alla Vergine Maria.[1][2]
Saint Ambrose
One of the oldest Marian intonations is credited to Saint Ambrose of Milan (339-374). The Church names an ancient liturgy after him (Ambrosian Rite), which is actually older but nonetheless traditionally attributed to him.[3] Some 870 parishes in the diocese of Milan still use the ancient Ambrosian rite. Several Ambrosian rite Marian texts were intonated[further explanation needed], for example the famous Gaude:[4]
Gaude et latare
Exultation angelorum
Gaude domini virgo
Prophetarum gaudium
Gaudeas benedicta
Dominus tecum est
Gaude, que per angelum gaudium mundi suscepisti
Gaude que genuisti factorum et Dominum
Gaudeas que dignas es esse mater Christi
Marian hymns by Ambrose include the Confractorium from the Christmas liturgy and in a poetic creation of Saint Ambrose celebrating the Mother of God: Intende, qui Regis Israel.[5]
Marian music for the Liturgy of the Hours
One of the earliest medieval Marian compositions is the popular Salve Regina in Latin from a Benedictine monk at the Reichenau Island (Lake Constance), which exists in several Gregorian versions. The liturgy of the hour includes several offices to be sung. At the close of the Office, one of four Marian antiphons is sung. These songs, Alma Redemptoris Mater, Ave Regina caelorum, Regina caeli, and Salve Regina, have been described as "among the most beautiful creations of the late Middle Ages."[6]
Other Marian supplications exist in numerous Latin versions as well.[7] It is difficult to trace the beginning of non-Gregorian Marian liturgical music. In the year 1277 Pope Nicholas III prescribed rules for liturgy in Roman churches.[8] Three years later, in 1280, Petrus de Cruce published his Marian anthem Ave virgo regia, Ave gloriosa O maria Maris stella. Later, composer Pérotin followed with his Alleluja, Navitatis gloriosae virginis, to be sung at the feast of the birth of Mary. Marian motets became very popular in the Middle Ages, a large collection of which is in St. Paul Cathedral in London.[8]Pope John XXII (1316–34) issued the apostolic constitutionDocta SS Patrum about Church music. It was the first modern music regulations for musical presentation during the liturgy[8]
Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine contains distinctly Marian texts among its 13 movements, though the composer's intention for the work as a whole is debated. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed in honour of the Virgin Mary Latin Masses and several shorter operas.[9] Other known classic composers with Marian compositions mainly in Latin include Orlando di Lasso and Franz Schubert.
In 12th century France the tradition began of Christmas dramas, in which the nativity events are reproduced by actors. This became popular in other European countries and is seen as the origin of popular Christmas carols, which were an integral part of the Christmas drama. These early Christmas songs are largely devotions to the Mother of God. Early manifestations are in Bavaria in the 12th century.[12] At the same time, Easter songs are often converted into Marian hymns, for example the hymn Te virgini Mariae laudes concinant Christianae. The assumption of Mary is praised in numerous songs from the 10th century,[13] In several songs, Mary is praised to be above all saints and angels and participates in the kingdom of her son. Her assumption is “wished by the faithful people” in a song from the 12th century.[14] The Marian songs and hymns in this epoch are too numerous to mention. They include pious excitement, even some exaggerations, and valuable insights into the Marian belief, especially in the assumption.
The Marian music in the baroque period is strongly influenced by the Latin tradition, but develops its own characteristics. Marian songs venerate her exceptional sanctity. Many Marian songs have the form of litanies, expressing veneration of Mary. Others moralize the faithful in light of her virtuous life.[18] In Poland and Hungary, baroque Marian compositions stress her national protective powers for the Polish and Hungarian nation, an aspect largely missing in Italy, France, and Germany, where Mary is likely to be called upon to protect a city or region rather than a nation.[19] Many Latin Marian hymns are now translated into a vernacular language, especially in Germany under the influence of Lutheran use of the vernacular in liturgy. Latin texts are often enriched with flowery reverences and Marian praises. Like Marian poetry, Marian music has flourished most in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France, countries uninfluenced by the reformation.[20]
Before the German secularisations of 1802 many religious congregations had their own composers. In the monastery of Andechs, Father Nonnosus Madleder, in Ottobeuren, Father Franx Schnizer, in Irsee, Father Meinrad Spiess, and in Banz, Father Valentin Rathgeber, OSB, (1682–1750): 43 Masses, 164 offertories, 24 concerts, and 44 Marian antiphones. [further explanation needed]
Marian music in the Enlightenment era
Besides the above-mentioned Vespers, Joseph Haydn wrote several Marian compositions including two famous Marian Masses, the Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, No. 5 in E flat major, also known as the Grosse Orgelmesse (Great Organ Mass) (H. 22/4) (1766) and the Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae No. 3 in C major (H. 22/5) (1766–73).
Vespro della Beata Vergine, SV 206, is a musical setting by Claudio Monteverdi of the evening vespers on Marian feasts, scored for soloists, choirs, and orchestra. It is an ambitious work in scope and in its variety of style and scoring, and has a duration of around 90 minutes. Published in Venice as Sanctissimae Virgini Missa senis vocibus ac Vesperae pluribus decantandae, cum nonnullis sacris concentibus, ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accommodata, it is sometimes called Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610.
Queen of Heaven is a title given to the Virgin Mary, by Christians mainly of the Catholic Church and, to a lesser extent, in Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Tomás Luis de Victoria was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Renaissance, and was "admired above all for the intensity of some of his motets and of his Offices for the Dead and for Holy Week". His surviving oeuvre, unlike that of his colleagues, is almost exclusively sacred and polyphonic vocal music, set to Latin texts. As a Catholic priest, as well as an accomplished organist and singer, his career spanned both Spain and Italy. However, he preferred the life of a composer to that of a performer.
Cristóbal de Morales was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Pierre de la Rue was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance. His name also appears as Piersson or variants of Pierchon and his toponymic, when present, as various forms of de Platea, de Robore, or de Vico. A member of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, and a long associate of the Habsburg-Burgundian musical chapel, he ranks with Agricola, Brumel, Compère, Isaac, Obrecht, and Weerbeke as one of the most famous and influential composers in the Netherlands polyphonic style in the decades around 1500.
Loyset Compère was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. Of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, he was one of the most significant composers of motets and chansons of that era, and one of the first musicians to bring the light Italianate Renaissance style to France.
Jean Mouton was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was famous both for his motets, which are among the most refined of the time, and for being the teacher of Adrian Willaert, one of the founders of the Venetian School.
Leonel Power was an English composer of the late Medieval and early Renaissance music. Along with John Dunstaple, he was a dominant figure of 15th century English music. Primarily a composer of sacred music, Power is the best represented contributor in the Old Hall Manuscript.
"Regina caeli" is a musical antiphon addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary that is used in the liturgy of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church during the Easter season, from Easter Sunday until Pentecost. During this season, it is the Marian antiphon that ends Compline and it takes the place of the traditional thrice-daily Angelus prayer.
The "Salve Regina", also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The Salve Regina is traditionally sung at Compline in the time from the Saturday before Trinity Sunday until the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. The Hail Holy Queen is also the final prayer of the Rosary.
Marian hymns are Christian songs focused on Mary, mother of Jesus. They are used in both devotional and liturgical services, particularly by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. They are often used in the month of May devotions. Some have also been adopted as Christmas hymns. Marian hymns are not popular among Protestants, as many Protestants see Marian veneration as idolatry. However, the practice is very common among Christians of Catholic traditions, and a key component of the Eastern Orthodox liturgy. There are many more hymns to Mary within the Eastern Orthodox yearly cycle of liturgy than in Roman Catholic liturgy.
"Alma Redemptoris Mater" is a Marian hymn, written in Latin hexameter, and one of four seasonal liturgical Marian antiphons sung at the end of the office of Compline.
Marcin Mielczewski was, together with his tutor Franciszek Lilius and Bartłomiej Pękiel, among the most notable Polish composers in the 17th century.
Joseph Leopold Eybler was an Austrian composer and contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
José Joaquim Emerico Lobo de Mesquita was a Brazilian composer, music teacher, conductor and organist.
The ensemble A Sei Voci was a French vocal group founded in 1977 and which ceased in 2011.
↑ Dixit & Magnificat KV 193: C-Major, Regina Coeli KV 108: C- Major, Regina Coeli KV 127: B- Major, Graduale Sancta Maria KV 273, Offertorium Alma Dei creatoris KV 277, Litaniae de Beata Maria Virgine KV 109
↑ In Germany, in the monastery of Andechs, Father Nonnosus Madleder, in Ottobeuren, Father Franx Schnizer, in Irsee Father Meinrad Spiess, and in Banz
↑ Dixit & Magnificat KV 193: C-Major, Regina Coeli KV 108: C- Major, Regina Coeli KV 127: B- Major, Graduale Sancta Maria KV 273, Offertorium Alma Dei creatoris KV 277, Litaniae de Beata Maria Virgine KV 109
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