Perotin: Beata Viscera Marie virginis



History
A type of Latin poetry that became very popular in the Middle Ages is what is known to scholars as a versus or a conductus: versus is a general term, while conductus refers specifically to something sung during a procession. Both were freely composed material by a specific composer, that is to say, they were not material associated with the great history of chant, nor material said to have divine origin.
This work Beata Viscera celebrates the mystery of the Virgin Mary, and was sung during a Mass celebrated for the Virgin Mary. The Mass for the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 September), whose Communion chant also focuses on the "blessed flesh" seems a likely candidate.
Adoration of the Virgin became increasingly popular in the late Middle Ages and it is no surprise to find all manner of music devoted to her. Such veneration was frowned upon in the later church and the current understanding is that while Mary can be seen as an intercessor to Christ, veneration of Mary, in place of Christ, is idolatry.
The music of this work was composed by Perotin, one of a circle of composers who lived around the turn of the 12th century in Paris and whose work revolutionized music as we know it. The text was written by Philip the Chancellor. Philip served as the head of the cathedral school and was responsible for maintaining the library's non-musical collection and overseeing all unsung portions of the liturgy at Notre Dame. Philip's great contribution to the history of thought was hisSumma de bono, in which he discusses the nature of "good."

Things to Note
The regular pattern of stresses in the poem contributed enormously to the way these poems were set to music. Unlike chant texts, this poem has a clear sense of meter as well as parallelisms between individual lines and stanzas: in rhythm, punctuation and the recurrent refrain of "O mira novitas." Like the poem the musical setting is strophic: the melody of each verse is the same. Further, there are musical parallelisms within the strophes. Note the excitement gathered in the highest note, which arrives at the beginning of the refrain "O." Note also how Perotin distinguishes the verse from the refrain by choosing different modes of text setting: the verse is mainly syllabic using one note per syllable of text, while the refrain is mainly melismatic, using many notes for each syllable of text.
The seven strophes of poetry are no coincidence. In medieval numerology, seven represents the Virgin. (cf. the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin, the Seven Joys of the Virgin, etc.)

Listening Chart

Perotin: Beata Viscera Marie virginis (circa. 1220)

Beata viscera Marie virginis 0:00 Soloist sings phrase (a) of Verse 1.
cuius ad ubera rex magni nominis 0:22 Soloist repeats melody (a) with new words.
veste sub altris .... 0:34 New melodic phrase (b)

O mira novitas 0:55 First instance of Refrain. First melodic phrase (c) of refrain.
et novum gaudium, matris integrita. 1:13 Second melodic phrase of refrain (d)
post puerperium 1:23 Modified repeat of melodic phrase c. (c')

Populus gentium.... 1:39 Verse 2: Repeat of music of Verse 1 with new words.
Legis mosayce... 3:04 Verse 6: Repeat of music of Verse 1 with new words. (Verses 3-5 omitted)
Solem, quem libere... 4:30 Verse 7: Repeat of music of Verse 1 with new words.


Translation
Beata viscera
Marie virginis
cuius ad ubera
rex magni nominis;
veste sub altera
vim celans numinis
dictavit federa
Dei et hominis

O mira novitas
et novum gaudium,
matris integrita
post puerperium.

Blessed flesh
of the Virgin Mary,
at whose breasts
the king of eminent name,
concealing, under altered guise,
the force of divine nature,
has sealed a pact
of God and Man

O astonishing novelty
and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure
after childbirth.

Populus gentium
sedens in tenebris
surgit ad gaudium
partus tam celebris:
Iudea tedium
fovet in latebris,
cor gerens conscium
delicet funebris,

O mira novitas
et novum gaudium,
matris integrita
post puerperium.


The people of the nations
huddling in the darkness
rise up at the joy
of so celebrated a birth.
Judea nourishes its resentment
in the shadows,
its heart bearing the knowledge
of the fatal crime.

O astonishing novelty
and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure
after childbirth.

Fermenti pessimi
qui fecam hauserant,
ad panis azimi
promisa properant:
sunt Deo proximi
qui longe steterant,
et hi njovissimi
qui primi fuerant.

O mira novitas
et novum gaudium,
matris integrita
post puerperium.


Those who drunk the dregs
of the most villanous ferment
hasten at the promises
of unleavened bread;
they are the ones
who had long stood close to God
and these the newest
who were first.

O astonishing novelty
and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure
after childbirth.

Partum quem destruis,
Iudea misera!
De quo nos argues,
quem docet littera;
si nova respuis,
crede vel vetera,
in hoc quem astruis
Christum considera.

O mira novitas
et novum gaudium,
matris integrita
post puerperium.


The birth which you destroy
O wretched Judea!
of him whom you denounce to us
because he teaches the law;
if you refuse the new law
then believe the old law,
in this One, whom you accuse,
behold the Christ.

O astonishing novelty
and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure
after childbirth.

Te semper implicas
errore patrio;
dum viam indicas
errans in invio:
in his que predicas,
sternis in medio
bases propheticas
sub evangelio.

O mira novitas
et novum gaudium,
matris integrita
post puerperium.


You entangle yourself always
in the ancestral error;
as you point the way
wandering aimlessly:
among those things which you preach
you strew into the midst
the prophetic foundations,
below the gospel.

O astonishing novelty
and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure
after childbirth.

Legis mosayce
clausa misteria;
nux virge mystice
nature nescia;
aqua de silice,
columpna previa,
prolis dominice
signa sunt propera.

O mira novitas
et novum gaudium,
matris integrita
post puerperium.


The mysteries of the Mosaic Law
have been closed;
the fruit of the mystical rod
is unknown to nature;
water from a stone,
a column leading the way,
are early signs
for the people of God
.
O astonishing novelty
and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure
after childbirth.

Solem, quem librere,
Dum purus otitur
In aura cernere
visus non patitur,
cernat a latere
dum repercutitur,
alvus puerpere,
qua totus clauditur.

O mira novitas
et novum gaudium,
matris integrita
post puerperium.


Vision does not endure
to behold in its radiance
the sun, unconcealed,
as he rises forth, pure.
Let the wholly enclosed womb
of the woman delivered of child
behold from the side
as it is reflected.

O astonishing novelty
and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure
after childbirth.


Translation: Barbara DeMarco



Enthroned Virgin and Child, Paris (c. 1226-1270)


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All text © Todd Tarantino 2002-2012.
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