VatS 55, f. 1v, staves 1-2 (discantus)

VatS 55, f. 2r, staves 1-2 (altus)

VatS 55, f. 1v, staves 6-7 (tenor)

VatS 55, f. 2r, staves 6-7 (bassus)

The first opening of this fascicle manuscript is witness to substantial artistic endeavour. Both folios (1v & 2r) have been illuminated with a with a wide colour spectrum. The opening letter K (from Kyrie) of each voice has received lavish attention as do the left-hand margins of each folio.The three principal strokes of the letter are drawn in similar design for all the illuminations which are backgrounded in gold. The left-hand descender is in the form of a pillar using the Roman doric style as its model. A fairly equidistant division of the shaft (between abacus and plinth) is effected through the “attachment” of both ascending and descending flower motifs in blue and green. It is at this point that the upper right-hand and curved ascender in the form of a trumpet is “fastened”.  A sabre-like lower right-hand descender and extending beyond the border of the whole illumination is drawn from the upper stroke about 1/3 along its length. In all cases the K is intricately adorned both within the strokes and on their borders. Each folio is given its own decorative program with an assortment drawn from longated flower-like motifs in green and blue, patterns of filaments in brown and ribbing. Daisy-like flowers are also included in the illuminations and always painted in red. Collectively the Ks which are painted in two shades of pink (one for the verso folio and one for the recto) form filigreed botanical tapestries which are presented in a geometrical balance between the illuminations for the discantus/tenor folio, and those of the contra and bassus.

Central to the discantus and altus illuminations, both graphically and symbolically, is the inclusion of the papal arms of Leo X. Their heraldry draws on the heritage of the Medici family. The five red balls and one blue sphere of the Medici House are maintained with this design being augmented by additions of the crown and keys of the papacy. (Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici who took the name Leo and was the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was elected to the throne of St. Peter in March 1513 where he remained until his death in December 1521.) The non-coat-of-arms illuminations (tenor, f. 1v and bassus, f. 2r) have their lower portion of the K filled in with a central flower, tendrillar forms in green, blue and red and background dots. The upper quadrant of all Ks are similarly filled in with a flower and leaf tendrils.

Completing the decorations are intricate arabesques of leaves in green, blue and red. Central to the swirls are flowers in red with additional flower ends to some of the arabesques. The complete floral patterns are enhanced by gold dots. These schemes occupy the left-hand margin of both folios and extend from top to bottom.

The hedonistic attributes of Leo’s court are seemingly reflected in these illuminations which announce without equivocation the intent to record a repertoire specifically relevant to his chapel. The 17 items preserved in this choir-book manuscript are by composers 5 of whom had a direct association with the chapel. These include both Josquins, Jean Conseil, Andreas de Silva, and Johannes Beausseron. Of notable interest is that 11 of the 17 items preserved in VatS 55 are unique to that source. Of even more interest is that all the Non secundum peccata motets are seemingly found in no other extant manuscript pointing to this source’s integral status in Ash Wednesday observances in the Sistine chapel.

Contemporary accounts of Leo X’s activities clearly show that religious observance was as important to him as was his pursuit secular indulgence.[1] Components of polyphonic music such as those that now comprise VatS 55 and its illuminations are symptomatic of an all-pervading cultural milieu in which the papal chapel choir was one of its constituents. While plainsong may well have been the “bread and butter” of the choir,[2] the contents preserved in this source and indeed in many others represent “special music” for “special occasions”.

[1] Bonnie J. Blackburn, “Music and Festivities at the Court of Leo X: A Venetian view”, Early Music History, 1992, vol. 11, pp. 18 ff.

[2] Adalbert Roth, “Liturgical (and Paraliturgical) Music in the Papal Chapel towards the End of the Fifteenth Century: A Repertory in Embryo”, Papal Music and Musicians in Medieval and Renaissance Rome, (ed. Richard Sherr, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998, p. 137.

I gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to include images from the source on this page.