The Veneration of §T. Katheidne in Fifteenth

GAUDE VIRGO KATHERINA: THE VENERATION OF §T. KATHEIDNE IN FIFTEENTH... CENTURY ENGLAND SUSAN KIDWELL How CAN WE UNDERSTAND the early Renaissance motet? Accord ing to James Haar, we must leam to hear them, for "to hear in the fullest sense is to understand" (14). Of course, this task involves more than analyzing sonic features of individual motets; it requires us to contem plate questions about who heard early Renaissance motets and in what context(s) before we can attempt to interpret and understand them. These questions are not easy to answer, since the motet encompasses a variety of types that were heard in a variety of public and private con texts. In addition, it is quite possible that a single motet could have ful filled multiple functions and thus could have been heard in multiple contexts. Since practices varied over time and by region, any attempt to understand the motet in general must begin with a consideration of how individual motets fit into particular times and places. The present study focuses on questions of interpretation and func tion as related to two motets written by the fifteenth-century English composer John Dunstaple about St. Katherine of Alexandria. This topic is doubly hampered by our incomplete knowledge about Dunstaple' s life and career and by the fragmentary nature of surviving manuscripts of early Renaissance polyphonie music. As Margaret Bent points out in her 1981 monograph on the composer, about all we know for sure is that John Dunstaple, an astronomer and musician associated with the Duke of Bedford, was widely recognized as the leading English composer of the fifteenth century; he died on December 24, 1453 and was buried in St. Stephen's church in London (1-9). Subsequent research by Andrew Wathey links Dunstaple withJoan, the dowager queen ofHenry IV, and with Humphrey, the Duke of Gloucester. 1 We do not know the date and place of his birth, the spelling of his name ("Dunstable" or "Dunsta ple"),2 the place he received his musical training, the exact nature of his service to the Duke of Bedford, or the amount of time (if any) he spent on the continent. EIRC25 (1999): 19-39 19 20 EXPLORATIONS IN RENAISSANCE CULTURE About half ofDunstaple's approximately fifty-five compositions are classified as motets.3 Of these, twelve are large-scale, isorhythmic works that, in accordance with late medieval customs, were probably composed for particular ceremonial occasions. Since most of Dunstaple's isorhyth mic motets honor specific saints, it seems likely that there was "a special connection between that saint and the place [or occasion] for which the motet was written" (Noble 186). For instance, D. R. Howlett has pro posed that Dunstaple could have writtenAlbanus roseo rutilat GD 23) for the Abbey of St. Alban's, which he might have visited as a member of the Duke ofBedford's chapel on St. Alban's Day in 1426 (81-84); Marga ret Bent believes that Preco preheminencie GD 29) was performed at Can terbury Cathedral in 1416 during a thanksgiving service for Henry V and Emperor Sigismund (8); andBrian Trowell has suggested that Dunstaple wrote Salve scema sanctitatis GD 30), an isorhythmic motet based on a tenor for St. Katherine of Alexandria, to mark the 1420 wedding be tween Henry V and Catherine of Valois (Bukofzer 208-09). This cere mony, performed in accordance with the Treaty of Troyes, certainly stands out as a prominent occasion on which St. Katherine would have assumed symbolic significance. Unfortunately, the lack of biographical documentation for Dunstaple makes it difficult to match each isorhyth mic motet with a specific occasion or commission. The remaining mo tets by Dunstaple, fourteen settings of predominantly Marian texts, are considerably simpler in construction and more song-like in style. In terms of function, twelve of these motets could have been sung in a monastic, cathedral, or collegiate context as part of frequent devotions to the Virgin Mary (Harrison, Music 81-88), while 0 crux gloriosa GD 53) complements Dunstaple's settings of processional antiphons for the Holy Cross. But how can we understand Dunstaple's setting of Gaude virgo Katherina GD 52)? 1t is neither a large-scale isorhythmic work, which might have adorned a ceremonial occasion, nor a more intimate setting designed for one of the many English votive services for the Blessed Virgin. Margaret Bent has already puzzled over this work and has stated that a possible connection with the isorhythmic motet Salve scema and the royal marriage of Henry V and Catherine of Valois "should not be ruIed out" (8). AIthough I have no additional evidence to support or refute this hypothesis, I will attempt to place Salve scema and Gaude virgo Katherina in the broader context of fifteenth-century English devo tion to St. Katherine. .

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