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New evidence concerning the origin of the monophonic chants in the Codex Calixtinus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2017

SANTIAGO RUIZ TORRES
SANTIAGO RUIZ TORRES*
Affiliation:
santruiz@usal.es
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Abstract

The recent discovery of several fragments of an antiphoner in the Archive of the Cathedral of Sigüenza (Guadalajara) with repertoire for the feast of St James the Apostle sheds new light on the origin of the monophonic chants of the Codex Calixtinus. The dating of the fragments to c.1100 demonstrates the existence of an officium proprium prior to the writing of the famous Compostelan codex, a fact hitherto unknown. Part of the repertoire collected in the Sigüenza manuscript, particularly the antiphon Honorabilem eximii and the responsory Alme perpetue, evidence textual and melodic concordances with Calixtinus. Moreover, some chants in the Sigüenza Antiphoner, and not in Calixtinus, were widely known across the Iberian Peninsula before the Tridentine liturgical unification. This evidence suggests that the compilers of the monophonic Office in the Codex Calixtinus knew the version transmitted in the recently discovered fragments. The consequent remodelling of the St James Office was probably due to the fact that it incorporated many legendary elements. At the beginning of the twelfth century, the Church of Compostela was actively seeking to legitimise its apostolicity, which Rome seriously questioned. To do so, it was essential to offer a liturgical corpus of proven authority, based on the Bible and the patristic literature.

Type
Research Article
Information
Plainsong & Medieval Music , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , October 2017 , pp. 79 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 

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References

1 For a discussion of the dating of A-Sig, see Torres, Santiago Ruiz, ‘¿Vestigios del corpus viejo-hispánico en la composición ibérica de canto llano? El oficio pre-Calixtino de Santiago apóstol’, Revista de Musicología, 38/2 (2015), 400–2.Google Scholar The reasons concern: (1) typology – the antiphoner played a crucial role during the early stages of the Roman rite's introduction to the Peninsula due to its nature as a compilation; (2) script – late Caroline minuscule is unusual in the Iberia; (3) musical notation – tiny Aquitanian neumes of irregular shape without staff lines in most chants; (4) decoration – restricted use of blue ink, only present in an illuminated capital letter. The dating of A-Sig must be considered as terminus ad quem. The chants for the Office of St James were certainly composed earlier. The antiphoner is also catalogued with the number 1.1 in Torres, Santiago Ruiz and Rubio Sadia, Juan Pablo, ‘Catálogo de los fragmentos litúrgico-musicales del obispado de Sigüenza’, Medievalia. Revista d'Estudis Medievals, 20 (2017)Google Scholar, forthcoming.

2 Rius Serra, José, ‘Inventario de los manuscritos de la catedral de Sigüenza’, Hispania Sacra, 3/6 (1950), 431–65Google Scholar, at 446. I was pointed in the direction of this manuscript as a possible source of liturgical fragments by two brief quotations in Pedro A. Olea Álvarez, Sigüenza entre las dos Castillas y Aragón. Historia social, política y religiosa de las tierras de su obispado hasta 1.300 ([n.p.], 2009), 645 and 655.

3 de la Cuesta, Ismael Fernández, ‘La música litúrgica de la peregrinación a Santiago. El Códice Calixtino’, in Santiago, camino de Europa. Culto y cultura en la peregrinación a Compostela, ed. López Alsina, Fernando and Moralejo Álvarez, Serafín (Santiago de Compostela, 1993), 45 Google Scholar.

4 I have located the text incipit of this chant written in three different ways: Alme perpetue (A-Sig), Alma perpetui (CC) and Alme perpetui.

5 The incipit in A-Sig reads ‘[. . .]onorabilem eximi’. The initial is illegible although the round closing of the bottom stroke suggests that it is not an H. As I cannot be sure of the exact text, I have opted for the standard Latin version.

6 Ruiz Torres, Santiago, ‘El Oficio de la Traslación del apóstol Santiago en la Baja Edad Media: a propósito de un fragmento de antifonario hallado en la catedral de Segovia’, Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, 58/124 (2011), 79–98, at 95Google Scholar; reprinted in El Codex Calixtinus en la Europa del siglo XII. Música, Arte, Codicología y Liturgia, ed. Juan Carlos Asensio (Madrid, 2011), see 225–6.

7 The antiphoner includes two other as yet unidentified chant texts. The first reads ‘spe confunditur fiducia adgreditur virtute prostratur’, and the second ‘plenus spiritu sancto relicta Roma eum prosapia . . . populum’. Based on their location and content, I do not believe that they belong to the Office of St James the Apostle.

8 Hesbert, René-Jean, Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, 6 vols. (Rome, 1963–79)Google Scholar.

9 Musical transcriptions of the remaining six chants can be found in Ruiz Torres, ‘¿Vestigios del corpus?’, 414–17.

10 In its present state, CC transmits a sufficient number of chants for either the monastic or secular cursus. For example, the twelve responsories and the thirteen antiphons for Matins would fit perfectly in a monastic cursus, but could be reduced to nine. See Hohler, Christopher, ‘A Note on Jacobus ’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 35 (1972), 31–81 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 43; Huglo, Michel, ‘Les pièces notées du Codex Calixtinus’, in The Codex Calixtinus and the Shrine of St. James, ed. Williams, John and Stones, Alison (Tübingen, 1992), 107 Google Scholar; Temperán Villaverde, Elisardo, La liturgia propia de Santiago en el códice Calixtino (Santiago de Compostela, 1997), 112–13Google Scholar; Rankin, Susan, ‘ Exultent gentes occidentales: The Compostelan Office of St James’, in El Códice Calixtino y la música de su tiempo, ed. López-Calo, José and Villanueva, Carlos (A Coruña, 2001), 324–5Google Scholar; and Carlos Villanueva, ‘Música y liturgia en Compostela a partir del Calixtino: El Oficio de Maitines y la Misa de la Vigilia del Apóstol’, in El Códice Calixtino, ed. López-Calo and Villanueva, 337.

11 Ruiz Torres, ‘El Oficio de la Traslación’, 87–97.

12 Rocha, Pedro-Romano, ‘La liturgia de Compostela a finales del siglo XII’, in O Portico da Gloria e a Arte do seu tempo (A Coruña, 1991), 405 Google Scholar.

13 Janini does not confirm such provenance. Janini, José, Manuscritos litúrgicos de las bibliotecas de España, vol. 1 (Burgos, 1977)Google Scholar, no. 168, 145.

14 Ruiz Torres, ‘El Oficio de la Traslación’, 92.

15 Pérez de Urbel, Justo, Santiago y Compostela en la historia (con amor y con verdad) (Madrid, 1977), 203–5Google Scholar.

16 Gudiol, Josep, ‘De peregrins i peregrinatges religiosos catalans’, Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia, 3 (1927), 93–119 Google Scholar, at 106–8.

17 Romano Rocha, Pedro, ‘El peregrino a Santiago y la oración de la Iglesia’, in Santiago, camino de Europa. Culto y cultura en la peregrinación a Compostela, ed. López Alsina, Fernando and Moralejo Álvarez, Serafín (Santiago de Compostela, 1993), 23 Google Scholar.

18 See http://pemdatabase.eu/.

19 Rocha, ‘La liturgia de Compostela’, 407.

20 The Sigüenza Breviary reproduces only the third responsory of each nocturn, a factor that reduces significantly the probabilities of our responsory appearing.

21 Or1 and Or2 are the only sources that duplicate the chant for the same feast. (It figures in the first Vespers and Matins of the feast of 25 July.)

22 Díaz y Díaz, Manuel Cecilio, ‘La Passio Iacobi ’, in De Santiago y de los caminos de Santiago (Santiago de Compostela, 1997), 15–52 Google Scholar.

23 Temperán Villaverde, La liturgia propia de Santiago, 250.

24 Hohler, ‘A Note on Jacobus’, 74.

25 Temperán Villaverde, La liturgia propia de Santiago, 143–4.

26 Pierre David suggests such a possibility when he refers to the antiphons Apostole Christi Iacobe and O lux et decus, included within this group. See his ‘Études sur le livre de Saint-Jacques attribué au Pape Calixte II’, Bulletin des Études Portugaises, 11 (1947), 113–85, at 146.

27 Temperán Villaverde, La liturgia propia de Santiago, 145.

28 Rocha, ‘El peregrino a Santiago’, 31.

29 Et idcirco nemo putet me aliquit ex proprio sensu in eo scripsisse, sed ex libris autenticis utriusque scilicet testamenti, sanctorumque doctorum Ieronimi, Ambrosii, Augustini, Gregorii, Bede, Maximi, Leonis ceterorumque catholicorum . . . Responsoria et missarum cantica, que de evangeliis edidimus et in hoc libro scripsimus, nemo cantare dubitet. Sunt nonnulli qui dicunt esse apocrifa responsoria passionis sancti Iacobi . . . eo quod cuncta que in passionibus apostolorum scripta habentur, non apud omnes pro magna autoritate recipiuntur . . . Quapropter precipimus ne aliquis amplius aliqua R[esponsoria] de eo cantare ad libitum suum presumat, nisi autentica R[esponsoria] evangeliorum, que hic liber continet . . . Quicquid enim de sancto Iacobo cantatur, ingentis auctoritatis esse debet. (Let no one think that anything written here has come from my own mind, but rather from authoritative books; both Testaments, of course, and also from the holy doctors Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory, Bede, Maximus, Leo and many other Catholics writers . . . The responsories and Mass chants that we have taken out and written in this book, let no one hesitate to sing them. There are people who say that the responsories of the Passion of St James are apocryphal, because not everything written in the passions of the apostles is considered authentic . . . Thus we order that no one else dares to sing a R[esponsory] at will, but the real R[esponsories] of the Gospels, contained in this book . . . Because everything sung to St James must be of great authority.) See Liber Sancti Iacobi, book 1, Epistola Beati Calixti Pape, fols. 1–2, from Hesbers, Klaus and Santos Noya, Manuel, eds., Liber Sancti Jacobi. Codex Calixtinus (Santiago de Compostela, 1999), 7–8 Google Scholar. English translation by author.

30 Et quoniam ecclesia beati Iacobi rudis et indisciplanata erat temporibus illis, applicuit animum ut consuetudines ecclesiarum Franciae ibi plantaret. Historia Compostellana 1. II, cap. III; PL 170: 1034.

31 López Alsina, Fernando, ‘La posición de la Iglesia de Santiago en el siglo XII a través del Códice Calixtino’, in El Códice Calixtino y la música de su tiempo, ed. López-Calo, José and Villanueva, Carlos (A Coruña, 2001), 25.Google Scholar

32 López Alsina, Fernando, ‘Urbano II y el traslado de la sede episcopal de Iria a Compostela’, in El Papado, la Iglesia leonesa y la basílica de Santiago a finales del siglo XI. El traslado de la sede episcopal de Iria a Compostela en 1095, ed. López Alsina, Fernando (Santiago de Compostela, 1999), 107–27Google Scholar.

33 Wagner, Peter, Die Gesänge der Jakobusliturgie zu Santiago de Compostela aus dem sog. Codex Calixtinus (Freiburg-Schweiz, 1931)Google Scholar.

34 Prado, Germán, Liber Sancti Jacobi Codex Calixtinus II Música (Santiago de Compostela, 1944), 89–93Google Scholar.

35 Huglo, ‘Les pièces notées’, 105–24; idem, ‘The Origin of the Monodic Chants in the Codex Calixtinus’, in Essays on Medieval Music in Honor of David G. Hughes, ed. Graeme M. Boone (Cambridge, 1995), 195–205.

36 Rankin, ‘Exultent gentes occidentales’, 311–30.

37 A summary of all the pre-existing melodies can be found in Villanueva, ‘Música y liturgia’, 339–41.

38 Illuc populi barbari et domestici cunctorum cosmi climatum adveniunt, scilicet. . . et cetere gentes innumerabiles. Cuncte lingue tribus et naciones ad eum tendunt per catervas et phalanges, cum gratianum actione vota sua Domino persolventes, premia laudum deferentes. (To this place come barbarian peoples and those who live in all climates of the world, namely. . . [followed by a long list of 74 inhabitants of several nations] and other countless peoples of all languages, tribes and nations come next to it in caravan and phalanges, fulfilling their vows in thanksgiving to the Lord and carrying the highest of praises.) Liber Sancti Iacobi, book 1, cap. XVII, fol. 78, from Hesbers and Santos Noya, Liber Sancti Jacobi, 89. English translation by author.

39 Rankin, ‘Exultent gentes occidentales’, 328.

40 van der Werf, Hendrik, ‘The Polyphonic Music’, in The Codex Calixtinus and the Shrine of St. James, ed. Williams, John and Stones, Alison (Tübingen, 1992), 125–36Google Scholar.

41 For instance, there is the use of a variety of musical notations closely linked to Nevers. Wagner, Die Gesänge, 11, n. 2; Huglo, ‘Les pièces notées’, 5. See also Fuller, Sarah, ‘Perspectives on Musical Notation in the Codex Calixtinus’, in El Códice Calixtino y la música de su tiempo, ed. López-Calo, José and Villanueva, Carlos (A Coruña, 2001), 183–234.Google Scholar

42 López Alsina, ‘La posición de la Iglesia’, 28.

43 Díaz y Díaz, Manuel Cecilio, El Códice Calixtino de la Catedral de Santiago: Estudio codicológico y de contenido, de Compostellanum, Monografías 2 (Santiago de Compostela, 1988), 255 Google Scholar.

44 López-Calo, José, ‘Dónde y cuándo nació el Códice Calixtino. Aportaciones musicales a la solución de un viejo problema’, in El Codex Calixtinus en la Europa del siglo XII. Música, Arte, Codicología y Liturgia, ed. Carlos Asensio, Juan (Madrid, 2011), 71 Google Scholar.

45 Rocha, ‘El peregrino a Santiago’, 32.

46 Anglés, Higinio, El Codex Musical de las Huelgas, vol. 1 (Barcelona, 1931), 59–71 Google Scholar; López-Calo, José, ‘La notación musical del Códice Calixtino de Santiago y la del de Ripoll y el problema de su interdependencia’, Compostellanum, 8 (1963), 181–9Google Scholar.

47 Huglo, ‘The Origin of the Monodic Chants’, 200.

48 Rey Olleros, Manuel, ‘Dos piezas musicales y otras partes del Calixtino en fragmentos de la catedral de Ourense’, Porta da Aira: Revista de historia del arte orensano, 9 (2002), 309–25Google Scholar, at 312 (O lux et decus and Venite omnes Christicole). Concordant melodic readings to the Calixtinus for O lux et decus are found in Br3 (fols. 18r and 105v), Br4 (fol. 278), in a processional of the Cathedral of Segovia (Segovia, AC, Música-19, sixteenth century, fol. 40v) and an antiphoner sanctorale (Barcelona, BCat, Ms. 2322, fourteenth century, fol. 95v); Venite omnes Christicole in a neumed breviary from the Monastery of Santa Cruz de Coímbra (Oporto, BM, ms. 1151, end of the thirteenth century, fol. 100v); and, finally, Apostole Christi Iacobe in a choirbook of the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Barcelona, BCat, ms. M 39, sixteenth century, fol. 149v) and in a processional of the Monastery of Sijena (Huesca, AHP, ms. S-48, fourteenth–fifteenth century, fol. 145v).

49 I have found a melodic reading of the responsory that differs from the version in CC in a processional probably from Seu d'Urgell (Barcelona, BCat, ms. M 39, sixteenth century, fol. 146v) and in a processional of the Colegiata of san Isidoro (Colegiata of san Isidoro, León, ms. LIV, fifteenth century, fol. 143r). Although these sources are quite late compared with CC, I suspect that the responsory melody is older than the CC antiphon because the former is concordant with two late manuscripts used in distant geographical locations. From the late Middle Ages onwards it is quite usual that the new plainsong composition is local; that is, the work of a chorister linked to a particular church or monastery and, therefore, without spreading outside the immediate environment. See Ruiz Torres, Santiago, La monodia litúrgica entre los siglos XV y XIX. Tradición, transmisión y praxis musical a través del estudio de los libros de coro de la catedral de Segovia, PhD diss., Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2012), 327 Google Scholar; see also http://eprints.ucm.es/22332/1/T34688.pdf.

50 Ruiz García, Elisa, ‘El Codex Calixtinus: un modelo de “Work in Progress”’, in El Codex Calixtinus en la Europa del siglo XII. Música, Arte, Codicología y Liturgia, ed. Carlos Asensio, Juan (Madrid, 2011), 68 Google Scholar.

51 Ruiz Torres, ‘¿Vestigios del corpus?’, 402–13.

52 Ibid ., 412–13.

53 To take a case in point, that change would have raised considerable opposition among the Compostelan clergy given that the feast of December attracted a greater number of pilgrims. The solution would lie in creating two feasts days of St James, namely 25 July dedicated to his martyrdom and 30 December in which is commemorated his apostolic vocation and the translation of the relics to Galicia. See David, ‘Études sur le livre’, 10 (1945), 1–41, at 12–13, 19; and 11 (1947), 113–85, at 130–1, 154.

54 Huglo, ‘Les pièces notées’, 107, n. 11.

55 Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, ms. W. 299, fols. 489–93. This manuscript contains the antiphons Honorabilem eximii (first Vespers, fol. 489r) and Accipe tibi baculum, Tunc ille accipiens and His itaque gestis (third nocturn of Matins, fol. 491v). I am grateful to Chiara Valle for this information.

56 Huglo was unable to locate this Office in the breviaries of Angers conserved in Paris. Huglo, ‘Les pièces notées’, 107, n. 11.

57 Namely the antiphons Honorabilem eximii, Accipe tibi baculum, Tunc ille accipiens and His itaque gestis and the responsory Alme perpetue. The antiphons are mentioned by Giacomo Baroffio in ‘Materiali per lo studio del culto di san Giacomo’, in El Codex Calixtinus en la Europa del siglo XII. Música, Arte, Codicología y Liturgia, ed. Juan Carlos Asensio (Madrid, 2011), 138, 140 and 143. I wish thank to Giacomo Baroffio and Juan Carlos Asensio for assistance provided in the consultation of this antiphonary.

58 It is noteworthy that Bra3 contains similar melodic versions to A-Sig for the responsory Alme perpetue and the antiphons Accipe tibi baculum, Tunc ille accipiens and His itaque gestis. Bra4 offers a similar melodic reading to A-Sig for the responsory Alme perpetue.

59 Baroffio, ‘Materiali per lo studio’, 126.

60 See http://cantusindex.org/ (consulted on 18/11/14).

61 Guido Maria Dreves, Clemens Blume et al., eds., Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi, 55 vols. (Leipzig, 1886-1922).