Reception and Symbolism in Obrecht's Missa De Sancto Johanne Baptista

Michael Alan Anderson ‘His name will be called John’: reception and symbolism in Obrecht’s Missa de Sancto Johanne Baptista Downloaded from he Missa de Sancto Johanne Baptista (hereafter, Johanne Mass. Obrecht’s selective use of elements from Tthe Sancto Johanne Mass) was long considered Busnoys’s well-known L’homme armé Mass illumi- to be an anonymous Mass for the early 16th-century nates some heretofore unnoticed symbolic struc- http://em.oxfordjournals.org/ papal chapel, owing to its lack of attribution and its tures within the Sancto Johanne Mass. These features survival in only one Vatican source (Vatican City, combine to reorientate the L’homme armé template Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ms. Cappella Sistina towards one for John the Baptist. 160 (hereafter, cs160)).1 It is well known that this If the survival in no fewer than seven manuscripts manuscript was prepared at the Alamire scrip- is any indication, Busnoys’s Missa L’homme armé torium along with two related sources (cs34 and had considerable appeal. It became the basis not only cs36) and sent to Pope Leo X, probably between 1516 for the Sancto Johanne Mass but also for Obrecht’s and 1519.2 Based on its multiple cantus firmi and on own L’homme armé Mass from the late 1480s, all at University of Rochester on January 18, 2012 other stylistic grounds, the Sancto Johanne Mass is three works sharing a common mensural scheme. now attributed to Jacob Obrecht between c.1485 and Moreover, the tenor in Obrecht’s Sancto Johanne c.1491; it has also come to light that this Mass is Mass assumes the precise rhythmic layout of that extensively modelled on Antoine Busnoys’s Missa found in Busnoys’s unfolding of the L’homme armé L’homme armé from the later 1460s. Rob Wegman melody.4 Most striking in the Sancto Johanne Mass, has suggested that the Sancto Johanne Mass might however, is the fact the composer supplanted the have been commissioned by a private endowment L’homme armé tune with eight antiphons from the in the city of Bruges, where the composer wrote at nativity feast of John the Baptist (24 June), which least two other Masses with multiple cantus firmi.3 are fitted masterfully into the rhythmic design of Although numerous churches in the Low Countries Busnoys’s cantus firmus. As Wegman has explained, had altars dedicated to John the Baptist, a definitive this full-scale modelling on a pre-existent Mass— endowment or other precise context for Obrecht’s from the perspective of rhythm alone—is rare for Mass awaits discovery. the 15th century and provides us with a new dimension For all the attention that has been paid to the of intertextuality to consider with late 15th-century origins of Obrecht’s Sancto Johanne Mass, little has compositions.5 Each of the eight antiphons is fully been said about the reception of the work by Leo X. texted, possibly to be articulated by the singers. This article brings to light the special meaning of Several antiphon texts among the eight stitched John the Baptist for the recipient of this Mass, who into the fabric of Obrecht’s Sancto Johanne Mass was not simply devoted to the forerunner saint, bring together strands of the first chapter of Luke’s but embodied the role of a ‘precursor’ himself in gospel describing events around the life of John the the early 16th-century papacy. In addition, this Baptist, especially his conception (Luke i.13–15) and study revisits the distinct borrowings of the Sancto circumcision (Luke i.60–7).6 The emphasis in the Early Music, Vol. xxxix, No. 4 © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. 547 doi:10.1093/em/car083, available online at www.em.oxfordjournals.org Advance Access published on November 9, 2011 antiphon texts is not simply on the early life of the Sancto Johanne Mass. In fact, five of the eight anti- Baptist but, more importantly, on the name and phons contain a form of the word ‘Johannes’ in their naming of John.7 One of the antiphons—Johannes texts, and, significantly, these five John-naming vocabitur nomen eius (‘His name will be called antiphons are heard in seven of the ten subsections John’)—is marked for importance, as it is repeated of the Mass that contain the cantus firmus. One of three times in the Mass (Table 1). Not only did Obrecht the antiphons from the Credo, Innuebant Patri eius, arrange this antiphon symmetrically in bookend conveniently contains the text ‘Johannes est nomen positions in the Mass (first Kyrie and last Agnus), but eius’ as part of the Baptist’s narrative, providing not he also bisected the Mass with this antiphon in the only increased aural emphasis on the name of John very middle of the work (the ‘Et incarnatus’ of the but also unmistakable reference to the ‘governing’ Credo), a moment that has produced much discus- antiphon of the Mass (Johannes vocabitur nomen sion in the parallel case of Busnoys’s Mass.8 eius). Also, in a striking case of compositional as- In addition to the dominant antiphon Johannes sertiveness, Obrecht overrode the traditional text Downloaded from vocabitur nomen eius, other antiphon texts partici- at the end of the antiphon Apertum est os Zachariae pate in the emphatic naming of John in Obrecht’s in the first Agnus Dei setting, substituting the mantric Table 1 Cantus firmus identification and distribution in Obrecht,Missa de Sancto Johanne Baptista http://em.oxfordjournals.org/ Mass section Antiphon as cantus firmus Translation Scriptural source Kyrie Ia [Johannes vocabitur ‘His name will be called John, and Luke i.13–14, 60 nomen eius] many will rejoice in his nativity’ Kyrie II Inter natos mulierum ‘Among those born of women, none has Matthew xi.11 arisen greater than John the Baptist’ Gloria (‘Et in terra’) Iste puer magnus ‘This boy will be great in the sight of the Luke i.15 (sung twice) Lord, for His hand is with him’ at University of Rochester on January 18, 2012 ‘Tu solus Dominus’ Reges videbunt ‘The kings shall see and the princes will Isaiah xlix.7 rise up and adore the Lord your God, who has chosen you. Alleluia.’ Credo (‘Patrem’) Elisabeth Zacharie ‘Elizabeth of Zechariah bore a great man, [Luke i.13]b John the Baptist, Precursor of the Lord’ ‘Et incarnatus’ Johannes vocabitur ‘His name will be called John, and many Luke i.13–14, 60 nomen eius will rejoice in his nativity’ ‘Confiteor’ Innuebant Patri eius ‘They signalled to his father, to find out Luke i.62–3 what he would like to name him. He wrote saying: His name is John.’ Sanctus Puer qui natus est /Inter ‘This boy who was born, is greater than [Matthew xi.9 or Luke natos mulierumc a prophet: this is the one, about which vii.26]d / Matthew xi.11 the Saviour said, “Among those born of women. .”’ Agnus Dei I–II Apertum est os Zachariae ‘The mouth of Zachary was opened Luke i.64, 67 and he prophesied saying, “John is his name”’ Agnus Dei III Johannes vocabitur ‘His name will be called John, and Luke i.13–14, 60 nomen eius many will rejoice in his nativity’ aThe opening folio of the Mass is missing, so the superius and tenor (cantus firmus) are lacking. bThe antiphon text only loosely resembles the first part of Luke i.13: ‘Elisabeth pariet tibi filium. .’ c The first part of the antiphon Puer qui natus is heard at the opening of the Sanctus. The ‘Pleni sunt’ has no cantus firmus, but the remainder of antiphon (beginning with ‘Inter natos’) resumes at the ‘Hosanna’. d The scriptural concordance only occurs with the second part of the antiphon ‘plus quam prophetam’. �� earlyrly music nnovovember 2011 text ‘Johannes est nomen eius’, a point taken up followed a long papal tradition of assuming a new below. name as pontiff. In doing so, he selected one sym- Despite being saddled with setting eight anti- bolic of his native city: the heraldic lion—leo, known phons in the Sancto Johanne Mass, Obrecht was in Florence as the Marzocco.11 Reigning from 1513 obviously eager to imprint the name of John across until 1521, Leo X was best known for his excom- the work. The frequent and overt naming of the munication of Martin Luther at the dawn of the Baptist in the Mass on the whole suggests that the Reformation. His other deeds and qualities have person who provided the endowment for the work received less attention but form a more complete was named ‘John’ (Jean, Jan, Jehan, Johannes, etc.). biographical picture. The second son of Lorenzo Wegman has put forward two possible candidtates— the Magnificent, the new pope revitalized the city Jean Cordier (singer and friend of the composer) and of Rome through his ardent promotion of litera- Jan Obrecht (Obrecht’s relative and guardian)— ture, science and the fine arts. The centrality of artistic who could have reasonably commissioned such patronage in Leo’s entourage will surprise no one, Downloaded from a Mass. Both would appear to have the necessary given that his father spared no expense in sur- personal connection to the composer (and financial rounding himself with the most reputable musical means) to establish a privately endowed Mass and talent available. While poets showered the pope move the composer to such an impressive compos- with verses for exorbitant sums, musicians were also itional undertaking.9 Unfortunately, the documen- among those treated lavishly in the papal curia. Leo http://em.oxfordjournals.org/ tary evidence is lacking to support further speculation attracted the finest musical practitioners and compensated them so well as to bankrupt the papal about the patron of the Sancto Johanne Mass.

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