A Transcription of the Manuscript A-Gu30 The Office for St Anne in ...

A Transcription of the Manuscript A-Gu30
The Office for St Anne in its artistic and cultural setting
An essay for MUSIC 759
For Bachelor of Music with Honours
AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY
2010
By Gillian Lander
5134796
Supervised by Dr Fiona McAlpine

1.
A Transcription of the Manuscript A-Gu30
The Office for St Anne in its artistic and cultural setting
This essay is intended to place a transcription and musicological discussion of the Office for St
Anne in the fourteenth century Graz University manuscript MS 30 within the overall artistic
and intellectual context of its time. It is in three sections: Preface, and Parts I and II. The
manuscript has been sourced from http://143.50.26.142/digbib/handschriften/Ms.0001-
0199/Ms.0030/index.html, (197v17 to 201v14)
PREFACE
The manuscript‟s provenance is from the Abbey of Sankt Lambrecht in Austria and the work
belongs in a two volume set of Antiphonals, Graz 29 and 30, now held in the Graz University
Library. These two antiphonals overlap somewhat in their contents, though St Anna only
appears in the latter in the summer Sanctorale. The St Anna Office follows the monastic cursus.
The Antiphonals date from some time in the 14 th century, and some more accurate date may
emerge in the course of this essay.
While the Anna cult was spreading of its own accord amongst laity, especially in England and
Germanic lands, in 1382 Urban VI required its liturgical inclusion for all of England to
popularise the marriage of Richard II to Anne of Bohemia, using a modern marketing ploy
capitalising on Anna‟s popularity. 1 This was a long way from the monasteries of Austria. It
was not until 1584 that her observance became obligatory for the universal church. So, in the
14 th century the local Austrian hierarchy must have been acting ahead of, or independently of,
Rome for a reason. This reason may be connected with the Holy Roman Emperor‟s Golden Bull
of 1356 which afforded the Hapsburgs nothing - they were denied involvement with the
election of the Holy Roman Emperor until their Frederick III actually became such himself. Or it
may be the early Hapsburg Archduke Rudolf IV‟s ambitions for the Stephansdom, St Stephens
cathedral-to-be in Vienna he was rebuilding for the archdiocese of Vienna he wanted in spite of
the Pope. He had ambitions the Pope was thwarting. Or the reason may be the residual Holy
Roman Empire‟s competition with Rome, or family connections with Bohemia and thus Anne in
England - or all these propositions in various combinations. Rudolf IV “The Founder”
(November 1, 1339 – July 27, 1365) was of the House of Hapsburg new in power in Austria, and
he was the self proclaimed Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Styria (where St Lambrecht is)
and elsewhere from his early twenties - 1356.
My reading of the situation is that this was early in the Hapsburgs hold on Austria. They came
to power in 1278, so had only ruled about 75 years by the time Rudolf IV took over, and no
doubt he had concerns to consolidate his position with his subjects, so any project that might
help was useful. He, like the Pope in England, could use St Anne‟s Cult to forge his popularity.
The question might be, who was first to use this method of working the populace, Rudolf or the
Pope?
1 Anne.St. Entry in Oxford Companion to the Christian Church. Oxford 1974 p.59

2.
That might date the Office which follows to the mid to latter part of the 14 th century when
Rudolf was in power, that is, after 1356 and not much later than 1382, the date of the Papal edict
for England.
This first part of the essay will explore the various manifestations, as a result of her cult, of the
Anna narrative as a subject for the other arts, more or less contemporaneous with the liturgical
music under consideration, and will focus on some major works as examples. These works are
Chaucer‟s Canterbury Tales (The Second Nun‟s Prologue, and the Man of Laws Tale), medieval wall
art in some English parish churches, stained glass in various English churches, Massaccio‟s
painting, and Giotto‟s frescoes in the Arena Chapel. A late work for consideration is that of the
Master of St Lambrecht, an altarpiece of the early 15 th century, of signal interest as this is the
same church that gave rise to the manuscript under consideration.
PART I - The Cult Background and Artifacts
Anna‟s cult expanded beyond the Middle Ages and is the subject of more Renaissance art such
as Leonardo‟s family portrait St Anne with Mary and Jesus, and especially altarpieces in Germany
where her cult came to an abrupt end with Martin Luther‟s Reformation.
St Anna, the mother of Mary, does not feature in the New Testament accounts of the Nativity.
However, she is a central character in the 2 nd Century Infancy Gospel of James, otherwise called
the Protevangelium. This apocryphal story was among a number that did not become part of the
canon of the New Testament, but were in circulation thereafter, virtually folklore accompanying
the church. Like the Gospel of Thomas, Infancy James served to satisfy natural curiosity in the
origins and childhood of the Holy Family. In the west though, St Jerome, for instance, took issue
with the possibility that Anna had three husbands in succession, and that Jesus had a wider
family of brothers and relatives than those named in the Four Gospels. That put notions of
perpetual chastity at risk. The regard for the Protevangelium of James in the Eastern Church is
evidenced by the numerous manuscripts remaining in Greek and in Coptic, Syriac, Armenian,
Georgian, Ethiopic, Old Church Slavonic, and Arabic translations. 2
The apocryphal gospel story, in modern publication from the original Greek manuscript,
recounts the sorry predicament of Anna, an elderly barren woman in New Testament times. 3
Joachim, her husband, mortified, departs for the sheepfolds. Anna beseeches heaven (in the line
of Hebrew matriarchs Sarah and Rachel), and finally the angel appears bearing good news.
2 Reames, Sherry L. Ed. Legends of St. Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary: Introduction Originally in Middle
English Legends of Women Saints Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 2003
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/44sr.htm Reames also makes mention of an English 15 th
century manuscript rescencion of the St Anne legend found in [Mirk]London, British Library MS Cotton
Claudius A.ii, fols. 11v-13r, 95v-96v. and [Bokenham]London, British Library MS Arundel 327, fols. 27r-
39r.
3 Miller, Robert. Ed. The Complete Gospels, (Annotated Scholars Version). 1994 California. This is a
publication of the Fellows of the Jesus Seminar, wherein all the gospels, canonical and extra-canonical,
are given a fresh translation and commentary direct from source manuscripts, without church colouring.

3.
Joachim comes home and they decide to dedicate this miracle child wholly to God. Mention of
intercourse is conveniently omitted from the narrative. 4 So, when Mary is three years old they
take her to the Temple and hand her over to priestly care – until she is twelve and about to
reach puberty. Then she had to be found a senior caretaker husband, under strict instructions to
not take advantage of her. So Joseph is betrothed to her, and the story develops akin to the
usual Gospel account. However, both Mary and Joseph‟s predicaments are more clearly
developed once the angels have made their annunciation to Mary. Detail of the nativity story
does differ from the evangelists‟ accounts. Jesus was born in a cave with a Hebrew midwife
attending, and Joseph‟s sons at hand. Perhaps this is the truth. However, the reworking of the
angelic annunciation motif to me simply strengthens the argument that such an unusual birth
was a routine ancient way of saying, “This person is great and to be heeded”, although this
potential prior birth-without-sex could undermine the singularity of the “Virgin Birth” and one
can see why Jerome would want rid of it. Undeterred, the medieval theologians made it
material for developing into doctrines of perpetual virginity, and dealing with Sin, original or
venial. Above all, Original Sin was passed on via sexual relations. Anna‟s grandmotherly
pregnancy, likened to Sarah‟s, builds the Hebrew matriarchal line around Mary and ties her too
into the line of David with an impeccable pedigree.
Over time the story of Anna and her husband Joachim became part of the building of the
prolonged case for the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which is quite different from the Virgin
Birth, finally defined as dogma by Pius IX in December 1854. In the Middle Ages it was but a
doctrine catholics could believe if they wished, and Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux,
for instance, argued opposing opinions on its validity – Bernard of Clairvaux was a supporter.
Aquinas rejected the doctrine. 5 However, Thomist theology was the tool for its ultimate
definition as dogma.
By the time of this Office of Anna under consideration, there was a great cult for her and
especially for Mary in the popular mind. The increasing cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the
12th century had led to new interest in her parents. Anna‟s feast had been kept at Canterbury
from c.1100 and later at Worcester. She was especially revered in England, though her oldest
cult was in the Eastern Orthodox Church where the Infancy Gospel was held in high regard for
centuries, exemplified by the icon Example 1 (below) in which Anne is marked in her red attire,
and the couple is called “Ancestors of God”. 6 The 8 th century Egyptian St Anna in Example 2
(below) has a Coptic Church provenance. According to Reames: 7
4 The Jesus Seminar translation is quite clear on the avoidance of explicit sexual relations. The word
“rested” is used when Joachim first came home. This could be a euphemism for sexual relations, but the
message to him was that Anne was already pregnant, and the same word is used with literal meaning
soon after when Joseph “rested” because he was tired upon returning home, a very pregnant Mary at
hand. “Copulator” can be construed as poetic licence – or „joined‟. See discussion of Antiphon 1.1.
5 Astell, Ann W. Chaucer's "St. Anne Trinity": Devotion, Dynasty, Dogma, and Debate. Studies in
Philology, Vol. 94, No. 4 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 395-416 University of North Carolina Press
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4174588 Accessed: 19/08/2010 21:36 Astell‟s article is the starting point for
the Chaucer discussion herein.
6 “St Anne, St Joachim, Ancestors of God”. (12 th cent.) The Museum of History and Architecture,
Novgorod, Russia Cat No. 2175 Non commercial reproduction allowed. http://www.icon-art.info/index
7 Reames, Op cit.

4.
In the Eastern church the cult of Anne herself may go back as far as c. 550, when Justinian built a
church in Constantinople in her honour. The earliest sign of her veneration in the West is an
eighth-century fresco in the church of Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, which shows her with a halo,
holding the infant Mary. But not until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is there unmistakable
evidence that the Western church was honouring St. Anne in her own right, rather than just an
adjunct to Mary.
Ex 1. Russian Icon. ‘St Anne, St Joachim,
Ancestors of God’. (12 th cent.) Permission
given
Ex.2 Coptic Anna - source Wikipedia (public
domain) National Museum in Warsaw,
Arkady, Warsaw – copyright expired
Relics of her were obtained and some found their way back to England, as well as Chartres,
Ghent and elsewhere on the continent via the Crusades.
It is apt that an essay concerning medieval cults should find a place for one or more of the
Canterbury Tales, yarns spun in Chaucer‟s creation as his band of pilgrims make their way
down the Old Kent Road to Becket‟s shrine at Canterbury – from whence they never returned.
Anna is referred to in the prologue to the Second Nun‟s Tale- Invocacio ad Mariam thus, in the
same breath as Mary and Christ: 8
Be thou my advocate in that high place
Where endlessly the angels sing “Hosanna”
Mother of Christ, dear daughter of St Anna!
Chaucer began this passage with a reference to St Bernard “And thou that art the flower of
virgins all/of whom St Bernard had such skill to write...”. Using the person and voice of the
second nun he works the typical religious and clerical understanding of chastity and Anna, a
key figure in the Immaculate Conception argument of which St Bernard was a supporter. The
lily-white character Cecilia, in the ensuing convoluted tale, manages a “chaste” natural
marriage outside the convent, albeit through deceit, with Valerian, and finally attains blissful
sainthood. This must have been amazing to the red-blooded audience hearing these tales, who
because of their obvious fallen sexual nature, would have given up all hope of redemption, and
would bear yet more guilt.
8 Coghill, Nevill. transl Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales 1958 UK pp452ff

5.
In the Man of Laws Tale, Constance the heroine becomes embroiled in Islamic perfidy, and is the
object of the Sultan‟s lust. She is eventually accused by the Muslims of murder: 9
She fell upon her knees and she prayed:
“Immortal God, thou who didst save Susanna
Falsely accused, and thou, merciful maid
And mother, Mary, daughter of St Anna,
Before whose child the angels sing Hosanna,
If I be innocent of this felony
Let me not die, support and succour me!”
It is a similar naming of Anna in context with Mary and Jesus. While the story gives Chaucer an
opportunity to explore issues around the spread of Islam, it also allows him to voice the
opposing Christian theological view of marriage to that of the surreal Second Nun‟s Tale.
Cecelia‟s „marriage‟ spoke of the fruitfulness of consecrated virginity. Thomas Aquinas argues
by philosophic reasoning against the Immaculist view, that Mary was sanctified in the womb,
not conceived immaculate. Constance‟s story reiterated the sanction for Christian marriage, and
through Thomas‟ reasoning Anna is the patron of long suffering wives and godly widows,
marriage and the family. Could this be the source of her strong following ? Anna was a saint
close to the earthy reality of life. These two theological views (to me a tangled sex-guilt
obsession) were in tension at the time. Both stories use parts of the legend to suit their own end.
Of additional interest to this essay is the grouping of Mary, Jesus and Anna, as another Trinity.
The “Trinity” of which Ann Astell writes is intriguing. The Holy Trinity doctrine was defined in
its simplest form at the Council of Nicea in 325CE, but more recently given classical shape in the
late medieval mind by St Thomas Aquinas (1225-74). With Aquinas being such an influential
teacher, it is quite strange that the visual and concrete artefacts that resulted from this Anna-
Mary-Jesus “trinity” were allowed at all, least of all under the church roof, and given any
credence by the hierarchy. Somehow they escaped being classed as heresy, if not blasphemy.
Underpinning the cult, there must have been an active but unvoiced need for a strong powerful
mature woman figure in addition to Mary as counterpoise to the Patriarchy, (both in Heaven
and Earth ) the more so as Anna is placed visually as it were as “God” the Father (quite
explicitly in eastern orthodox icons - Ex 3 below). She had been named in the East as an
“ancestor” of God as in Ex 2. Anna in this instance is in green, her other colour, perhaps owing
to the limited palette of the work. 10
9 Coghill, Op cit p157
10 I am told by modern icon painters that in the Russian tradition, blue and green represent earthly
natures, whereas reds and yellows denote heavenly souls. Mary, then in addition to her ultramarine must
have a dash of red somewhere.

6.
Ex 3. Byzantine - Source untraced. Ex. 4 Massacio (1401-28)- in collaboration
with Masolino. (Public Domain.) - Wikipedia.
The fourth example is Masaccio's early work, a collaboration with the older and alreadyrenowned
artist, Masolino. Masaccio likely painted the more important Virgin and Child.
Masolino's figures of angels and St Anne are delicate, graceful and somewhat flat, while
Masaccio's are solid and well modelled, pointing to the humanism of the Renaissance. The work
shows the typical western „Seated in Majesty‟ iconography – Anne bigger, Mary a bit smaller
and the child on her knee, and mini-angels around. 11Anne is marked with the iconographically
requisite red cloak, (her identifying marker was a red gown, with perhaps a green cloak) the
virgin in ultramarine, made from ground lapis-lazuli, the most expensive of pigments.
The “trinity” image (or “Anna Selbdritt” as explained in the footnote below) developed further
to include the motif of Anne teaching the virgin to read. An open book is included. The example
5 below, shows a larger Anna bearing a doll-like Mary and the child Jesus in one arm and in the
other an open book, probably a prayer book as these were the most usual books of the time. The
children are paying attention to it by pointing and their downcast eyes following their fingers.
Jesus seems to be in on the lesson. Mary is a little adult crowned as Queen of Heaven. The
remnants of Anna‟s painted red robe remain. The work is undated in my source, but it would
appear to be late medieval by the relative sizes of the figures, and V folds in the drapery, and
the arcading of the niche containing them, but also points to the Renaissance by the realism of
the faces. It has been suggested as 15 th century as this is when the chapel was added to the
cathedral.
11 Art historians have devised the technical term for German images of their "Anna Selbdritt" (translated roughly as
"herself making a third") that expressed the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Within the iconography were
essentially two traditions. The first one conformed closely to a Byzantine prototype and characterized by a blocklike,
hierarchical grouping, with Anne at the apex (as in my Ex 3). The other, what has been termed the "trinitarian
arrangement," gives more parity to the Virgin and child, and is better suited to the growing naturalistic styles of
Northern Europe.

Ex 5 St. Anna Selbdritt, Burgos Cathedral
Spain, Capilla del Condestable. Public Domain
Ex 7. Corby Glen, Lincolnshire – St
Anne teaching Mary to read
7.
Ex 6 unsourced ?13 th century
Ex 8 Bradwell Abbey - St Anne teaching
Mary to read. Both used with permission.
The image of Anne teaching the Virgin to read became a subject in its own right, significant for
educators, and became widespread throughout England and Europe. It was worked in stone in
Chartres Cathedral, stained glass in France and in England, and in modest English parish
churches as wall paintings in fresco – which have barely lasted – see above. These last must
surely bear testament to Anna‟s appeal to lowly folk. The images are quite naive in execution,
almost graffiti.

8.
Anne Marshall, who in retirement from the Open University has developed the website
devoted to these artworks, describes her images thus: 12
Of the Corby Glen work: The Virgin‟s mother St. Anne is the taller figure at the left, dressed like a
pious 14th century lady and with her left arm around her daughter. The Virgin, dressed in a robe
which was once blue, haloed like St. Anne and with her hair loose, is reading not from a
conventional book, but from something that looks like an alphabet primer or horn-book used to
teach medieval children their letters. She is probably now the youngest Virgin painted in the
English parish church, the few scenes that remain of her own birth being barely identifiable.
Of the Bradwell Abbey work: St Anne is the taller figure wearing a white headdress and
inclining, with hands held open and apart, towards her daughter, a tiny child-figure at the right.
The young Virgin shares the very curly hair of Gabriel in the Annunciation and she holds her
small hands apart in a similar way to her mother. The attitudes of the two figures, and some very
faint but regular straight lines between St Anne‟s extended hands suggest that she may once have
been holding an open primer or horn-book, much as her daughter does in the contemporary
example at Corby Glen, and that the child-Virgin may have been reaching upwards to grasp it,
possibly as evidence of her intellectual precocity.
The complete absence of haloes is very odd, and at Bradwell this cannot simply be put down to
fading. There is not the slightest hint of a halo anywhere in the scene, even at huge magnification.
This should give us pause, perhaps, but I cannot suggest any other subject that the scene might
represent, and it seems to have been accepted as St. Anne teaching the Virgin from an early
date. 13
The Bradwell work also shows Anna clad in green with white head gear. Maybe this is more
common in more simplistic or much older representations.
One thinks first of the educational role of stained glass in the medieval church in a pre-literate
society, so Ayers Bagley of the College of Education at Minnesota University has examined the
place of St Anne as an educator with reference to her imagery in hundreds of settings. 14
Thus examples of St Anne as motherly teacher especially of young children, (and a girl at that)
will be doubly meaningful, especially as early images of Anne can be equated with Grammar,
the prime liberal art of the trivium, and so, learning to read. (See Examples 9-12 below.)
Prudence in a similar role, appealed more narrowly to the educated classes. These examples are
taken from English churches and chapels. In Ex.9 (Ross on Wye) Anna is seated with the Virgin
who is holding the book on her knee, and at their feet a supplicant bishop with crozier who is
not getting much attention. He may of course be the donor. Anne wears the requisite dark red
cape. In the Ex.10, Anna is actively teaching, pointing to the text. Mary appears more of a
teenager standing beside her. Anna is depicted as a matronly lady in the dress of the day, and
wearing a dark purple robe, whereas golden-haired Mary is in red, with ermine trim, no less.
This work must be addressed to the bourgeoisie rather than the poor of the day. Mary and
Anna are “one of them”. In the Mulbarton window (Ex 11) neither figure has a halo and the
usual iconography of dress is missing. The artist has used a neutral palette, and it is difficult to
discern detail other than the book is held where both can see it and Anna is clearly making a
12 Marshall, Anne. www.paintedchurch.org This is a British website devoted to researching this subject.
13 I shall make reference to this observation over haloes later in discussing the Giotto works.
14 Ayers Bagley, St. Anne Teaching the Virgin 14th-15th centuries
http://iconics.cehd.umn.edu/St_Anne/St_Anne_Text.htm

point. The fourth window is a good close-up of the little teaching moment, with all the classic
iconography. Mary has now progressed to writing as well, as she holds a pen. And that may
well be her own work for correction in the book. 15 The text she is working with is from Psalm
142.
Ex 9. Ross on Wye Window Ex 10. Norbury Window Detail
Ex 11. Mulbarton Church window,
Norfolk, England
9.
Ex 12 All Saints Church, North St, York,
England
15 In an attempt to read the page, the image has been digitally enlarged to screen/life-size and rotated left. The text is
discerned as “Dne.. exaudi orationem auribus percipe ob...ii – (-sentionem)” So Anne is learning Latin.

10.
A little later than our period, literacy for women outside the convent gradually became a
possibility with the invention of printing, and especially of the Gutenburg Bible, in the mid 15 th
century, so this would in part account for the spread of this particular image.
The narrative of Anna and Joachim as a whole, as a preface to the New Testament Life of Jesus,
features in frescoes by Giotto. At the turn of the new 14 th century the Scrovegni family in Padua,
Italy, had built a private family chapel dedicated to Santa Maria della Caritas, and according to
Linda Jacobus by 1304 a papal bull granted indulgences to visitors to this chapel on the major
Marian feasts, suggesting that by then it had semi public status. 16 The Scrovegni family were
upwardly mobile, having made their name first as moneylenders who feature infamously in
Dante‟s Inferno. However, by this time they were regretful of family failings, and were now
intent upon climbing the social ladder, and for that money was no object. The chapel thus was
adorned with art by Giotto by 1309 that instructed in virtues, the life of Jesus, and in the upper
levels the life of Anna and Joachim – models for ideal family life. The artistic setting was the
Padua of the day, identifiable staff included. There are seven works by Giotto along one top
wall that relate to the Infancy Gospel of James, though Jacobus states that the source was a
contemporary text of Jacopo da Voragine‟s The Golden Legend, a popular thirteenth-century
reworking of the apocryphal texts – which she does not name. This may account for the issues
that follow.
In the Giotto works, examples 13-16 below, and in others not shown, cartoon-like, Anna
appears in the same dress, a full red gown with gold embroidery across the chest, even when
abed in childbirth. She is a solidly built woman and her hair is plaited back on her forehead,
and is of mature years. Several people, such as the woman in white, reappear in different
works. This woman in white is reputed to be a staff member. Giotto by this stage would have
been in his forties, his maturity, and past his initial Byzantine phase. By this time he was
painting realistic, accurate human figures with defined features and explicit emotions for which
he was a trail blazer in art history. There are two Annunciations. That in Ex 14 is in the top line
of works, and is clearly the angel speaking to Anna, while example 15 is found on the facade to
the apse. The angel stands in the complementary arcade on the opposite wall facing in. It would
seem that it is easy to construe this Annunciation as that to Mary, but the figure is that of a wellbuilt
mature woman in profile, clad in Anna‟s gear, and with her plaited hairdo. If it is not
Anna again, then Mary has aged dreadfully, and this when Giotto is fully able to depict
youthfulness. While it is natural to expect this to be the main Annunciation painting in the
chapel, I must wonder what Giotto is doing. Is there artistic licence at work, or mischief, or a
mistake? All artists and their staff do make mistakes – which are sometimes left as is, especially
if the work is in egg tempera on a ground that is do-or-die fresco.
However, having noted this discrepancy, further reading and discussion has produced an
article by Andrew Ladis. 17 The door has been opened on issues that are beyond the scope of
musicology, and beside the purpose of this essay. It appears Giotto has a witty side, especially
in this private commission in a family chapel.
16 Jacobus, L. (1998), Piety and propriety in the Arena Chapel. Renaissance Studies, 12: 177–205.
doi: 10.1111/j.1477-4658.1998.tb00399.x
17 Ladis, Andrew. The Legend of Giotto's Wit and the Arena. The Art Bulletin, Vol. 68, No. 4 (Dec., 1986), pp. 581-596
Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3051042Accessed: 03/11/2010 19:11

11.
Ex 13 The return of Joachim (all Public domain) Ex 14 The Annunciation
Ex 15 The Annunciation Ex 16 The birth of the Virgin
Ex 17 The nativity Ex 18 Nativity detail
It all becomes more intriguing though in the Nativity, painted on a lower wall, clearly
depicting a cave, as in the Infancy Gospel, and an easy assumption is made that the figure
bending over Jesus is his mother, since we assume that the halo says as much. But, who is the

12.
young maid behind the pole, minus a halo? And is not the figure holding Jesus a mature
woman of forty-ish, hair in plaits as before, and wearing the same red dress with gold braid ? It
might appear that Anna has moved in on the traditional Nativity scene, and all is well.
Grandma will take over. There is even a knowing smirk on the baby‟s face. The lack of halo for
Mary may be an oversight – or failing fresco, there is blue ground revealed around her – and
the same about the angels, and over the bedding. The white wimple might be enough to signify
Mary. This girl looks to be the right age and is certainly far too young to be a mid-wife, though
Andrew Ladis accepts that she is such. It is to be remembered that the Infancy Gospel has a
Hebrew mid-wife at the scene and Joseph‟s sons too. We assume the men on the right are
shepherds, but clearly they are not interested in the birth. Perhaps there is more artistic licence
here and Giotto is taking a punt, since the story gives a certain freedom from the usual Gospel
account. I suspect that Giotto‟s wit is at work, requiring much of the viewer. Whatever, we are
caught in a condundrum, maybe the Immaculate Conception to be considered. This Nativity
image though brings a very warm human dimension to a story that the theologians of the day
could make bizarre for simple folk.
St Anna has been the subject of modern studies, especially in the feminist, literary and
sociological fields. Contributors to Ashley and Sheingorn‟s book Interpreting Cultural Symbols,
have discussed the phenomenon of the cult from a basically feminist angle. Sautman in this
work explored the folk tradition and how medieval culture apprehended a deeply abstract
concept - Time.
The ever-waning quality of human life and the harsh reality of the irreversible passing and
disappearing of things are made more familiar and less threatening, and on the symbolic plane
are eventually conquered. Anne‟s late childbearing through divine intervention is the most
powerful element in that portrayal. 18
In the introduction to the same book, Sheingorn and Ashley, quoted by Michael Orr, have noted
that Anna was a “polysemic” cultural symbol, “whose image could reference a multiplicity of
meanings and associations.” 19Anna became for simple folk a patron not only of women and
their issues, but also, by symbolic association, patron of woodworkers (the tree of Jesse),
seamen, miners, vintners (her day was associated with grape harvest), sources of
water/drought. Countless tales can be found of miracles great and small that people have
attributed to her powers, quite apart from their church association.
The more affluent in society found in Anna a reflection of their values - the „Holy Kinship „.
Anna with her three marriages (trinubium), and wide apostolic family, and fine blood line, was
the epitome of family life. She was one they could identify with.
18 Sautman, Francesca. Saint Anne in Folk Tradition in Ashley and Sheingorn, Interpreting Cultural
Symbols- Saint Anne in Last Medieval Society. Georgia 1990. p 69
19 Orr, Michael. The FitzHerbert Hours: St Anne teaching the Virgin to read. (Dunedin Public Libraries
ReedMS5) p 221 in Hollis, Stephanie. Migrations: Medieval Manuscripts in NZ. UK 2007. Orr makes the
point that images of Anna can have the potential to serve as “triggers”for a variety of meanings not just
one dominant meaning – (a counterpoise to his own theories)

13.
Anna‟s following in the professed church had Carmelite interest. But the hierarchy was also
mindful of the power Anna exerted over the laity, by this time many of whom were developing
independent spiritual lives. Here was something that needed control and could be used.
Of the symbolic thinking of a past culture, Kathleen Ashley has argued
"Anne, more than any other saint who was popular during the late Middle Ages, embodied ideas
of kinship, connection and relationship. It is not surprising that Saint Anne should prove so
useful a mediating symbol for a culture whose major ideological and institutional formations
were being profoundly reshaped." 20
Such is the possible mediating role of Anna in the painting which follows.
Belatedly we add the work of the Master of St Lambrecht – his altarpiece. The Abbey of St
Lamprecht, the source of the Graz Antiphonal containing the Office for Anna, was a Benedictine
foundation dating from 1076. It continued as a monastery until its closure in 1786-1805, and
reopened after World War II in 1946. At this point, various 15 th century frescoes were
discovered, and also this altarpiece, now in the collection of the Landesmuseum Joanneum,
Graz, Austria. It is a work after the „International Gothic‟ style of Simone Martini – refined
equestrian figures, slim turreted buildings, but much more Jerome Bosch-like activity therein. It
was painted possibly by Hans von Judenburg or Tübingen (fl.1410-40) who was both painter
and woodcarver. While he was early 15 th century, he was working just a little later than the
time of writing the office of Anna, perhaps within living memory.
Ex.19 Votive panel from St. Lambrecht Abbey, The Virgin of Mercy (c. 1430). In the collection of the Landesmuseum
Joanneum, Graz, Austria. Permission has not been sought – source Wikipedia.
Discussion of the work is centred on its “votive” nature. Mary, Queen of Heaven, is placed far
left, with Jesus in her arms, and at her feet is apparently depicted the painting‟s donor, the
supplicant former abbot of the monastery, now wearing a mitre, and religious colleagues all
around, and possibly Blessed Emma of Gurk, while all hell is let loose in the right of the work –
20 Ashley, Kathleen. Interpreting Cultural Symbols- Saint Anne in Late Medieval Society. Georgia 1990

14.
the battle against the Ottoman invaders in nearby Hungary. 21 Specific mention of the other
main figure has not been made – a mature woman in wimple, red gown and halo, somewhat
larger than the other characters and importantly, of the same size as Mary. This would indicate
to me someone of similar spiritual ranking to Mary, or nigh to it. Anna would have a strong
claim, as she was also currently in great vogue in Austria. She is placed strongly and
significantly upon, and helps to create, the diagonal line that separates the hell on earth (upper
right) from the serenity of the heavenly sphere (lower left). It may well be St Anna in a new
pose and role as intermediary, and supplicant. The St.Anna Selbdritt layout has been reshaped.
The figure is bearing a generalised model of a church, not of Gurk Cathedral, so this petition
could be for the well-being of Christianity in the region, under threat from the infidel. But the
figure may also be Blessed Emma (980–1045), a loved local saint. However, the iconography of
Emma, a woman of wealth, has her usually wearing a black Benedictine habit, or an expensive
black dress with white headgear, or in red, holding a dead child in her arms as in Examples 20-
22 below. 22 She had been a mother, and her husband and children were murdered, whereupon
she devoted herself to works of mercy and the religious life. She was beatified by the time of
this painting, and finally canonised in 1938, nine hundred years after her death. 23
Ex 20. St Emma with dead child.
Uncertain date, provenance. It
could be 19 th century. From St
Emma convent PA. website
Ex.21. St Emma. Painting. Sebald
Bopp d1502/3 – Nuremburg.
Ex 22. Apotheose der seligen
Hemma; J. F. Fromiller 1745 –
source unknown.
Depicted as a noble lady with either a model of a church, a legal deed or a rose, or distributing alms.
21
Furlong, George J. Austrian Gothic Art in Vienna The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs
Vol 49, No. 285 (Dec., 1926), pp. 280-281+284-285
http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/stable/863018 The article is a critique of an exhibition in
Vienna. The writer makes a connection with the Austrian Ducal Court and states that the battle is a
meaningful cavalry fight. The work is attributed to Hans von Tübingen. I have searched articles online
since and there is little mention of this work or artist, so my conclusions concerning St Anne are not
countered
22 This is the result of exploration of imagery available online. No documentation of fact.
23 One can wonder too at the Vatican‟s motivation for this for Austria on the eve of World War II. St
Emma had not made it into the 1961 edtion of the Liber Usualis, so she still lacks status as a saint.

One can wonder at what was going on at this abbey and in Austria at large concerning the
Anna cult that caused this painting, and, in its recent history, the Anna music manuscripts.
PART II
Preface to transcription
15.
The Office of St Anne of St Lambrecht Abbey (Gu 30) seems to share a great deal of unique
material, text and chant, in common with that from the Salzburg Antiphonal A-VOR 287 dated
from the first half of the 14 th century – though later this work has plenty of “mistakes” noted by
the scribe according to CANTUS. Was this then a “copy” of the Graz material? We do not have
a more precise date for the Graz manuscript. Of the forty or so chants for Matins in Graz Gu-30,
twenty nine of them are found only in this other manuscript. Then often there is material they
both share with A-Wda D-4 which is late 15 th century from St Stephens Cathedral, Vienna, and
likely originating from collegiate chapter of St Pancras, Kirnberg. Then there is some material
in common from A-KR VI/258, a fragmentary manuscript of Augustinian liturgy dated 1250-
1280, probably from St Hippolytus in Pölten, Austria, and now with the Benedictines of
Kremsmünster. All of this shows a deal of collaboration between the scriptoria of Austria and
some uniqueness in their work. There are very occasional chants that are shared with
Worcester, Ljubljana, Paris and Mainz, but they relate to usage for the Common of Virgins.
There are 820 chants and their texts overall for the Anna office described in CANTUS. Clearly
something or someone energised their unique Austrian production for local conditions. Anna
was important in Austrian liturgy in her own right.
Source of text and its treatment. CANTUS is the source of the Latin text, and it is written in the
middle column in “sans serif” as downloaded, cut and pasted, from this database. It remains
thus as a direct quote. Emendations and comment run beside it. The CANTUS text is sourced
from the Analectica Hymnica.
Monastic Cursus of psalms. This is Ferial psalmody - marked thus in the manuscript. Since it
is Ferial (and this means Anna is not a high feast day) the psalms will run as they do for
weekdays though this may clash with other more important feasts which may coincide on that
date as for instance, on Sundays. The entire psalter was sung in the course of a week, with seven
daily offices. This meant that there was more than one psalm per office, and of course at the
main hours there could be nine or twelve. Nine was usual for the secular office of matins,
twelve for the monastic cursus. Anna at this time (14 th century) was not a day of Obligation and
her marking was relatively new in the liturgical calendar.
Ranking. Some comparisons: St James, just preceding Anna in the manuscript, is remembered
on 25 July, with an abbreviated office and is nowadays a „Double of the Second Class‟ as he was
an Apostle. St Panteleon, Martyr, is just “simple”. According to the modern LU, St Lawrence of
Brindisi Confessor and Doctor is III class. July 1, „Most Precious Blood of Our Lord‟,is “Double
of the First Class”and on a par with the Triduum. This Anna Office is two hundred years
earlier than the 1584 requirement for it to be marked by the Universal Church and a day of Holy
Obligation. The modern LU has Anne a „Double of the Second Class‟, drawing from the

16.
Common of Holy Women for Vespers and Little Hours. She has been well upgraded since the
14 th century. (The only chant remaining today is Diffusa est gratia).
Role of Invitatories. The Venite (Ps 94/95 - O come let us worship..) is the standard opening
psalm in the Night Office. It is prefaced by its own antiphon, called Invitatory, which sets the
psalm tone for the Venite.
Role of Antiphons: It would appear to me that with the entire Psalter worked through each
week, year in and out, the routine would become hopelessly boring to even the saintliest
without the aid of antiphons. These texts and chants allow the mind to focus on one aspect or
idea that could resonate with the psalm text that could be especially relevant to the lections, or
season, time of day, calendar, occasion, and so open the way for further contemplation and
spiritual insight – in effect, a chapel application of Lectio Divina. They are sufficiently short and
prayerful to be effective, and have over the centuries become numerous now to suit all
occasions.
Role of Responsories and their history. These have an ancient history in the call and response
method of singing the psalms in the early church. A cantor then would sing the verse and the
congregation would answer with a simple sung reply. (It is happening again today.) In time the
chant became more elaborate requiring rehearsal and training, and the psalm texts truncated,
and finally the form became a monodic rehearsed choral work with a soloist singing but one
psalm verse, which is then followed by a shortened repeat of the choral section, making a
ternary design, not unlike the Gradual in the Mass.
Source of Responsorial tones: I have relied upon the information about these in Grove Online.
The Old Roman and Gregorian tones that form the basis of this repertoire in older plainsong
have been cut and pasted into the discussion in the rare places where they may apply. Whereas
they were designed for prose texts, and could be stretched to suit the text, in the new rhymed
office they were not always useful. Centonisation in the Responsories has also been noted –
indicated by paired brackets in the score.
The above rising–falling centonisation motive has been identified and will be noted in the
analysis. It has a variant B which extends it, and this is equally useful to the composer. And a
third pattern is discerned – C.
Rhymed offices and their oddities. St Anne Matins is a rhymed office typical of the late
medieval repertoire. All the source information has been downloaded from CANTUS as fields
of data. There seems to be nothing untoward in the sequence of Modes for the antiphons and
responsories through 1-8-1 for the nine lessons. However, the scribe has managed to give us

17.
thirteen antiphons – six of Anna‟s own in Nocturn 1, three in Nocturn 2 with another three from
the Common of Virgins, and yet another Felix Anna in Nocturn 3 which is reused in Lauds.
VESPERS I
8 7 8 7
abab
THE TRANSCRIPTION
Annae sanctae celebremus
inclyta sollemnia
ut per eam impetremus
natae patrocinia
The rhyme scheme and metre match.
This opening antiphon is in four phrases and as do most of these rhymed chants, bears a
resemblance to plainsong hymnody in its counterpoise of elements, the peak of adventure in the
third phrase for instance, centred about the dominant. While the rhyme scheme suggests
otherwise, the melody in the first two phrases has common material approaching the cadences
on D, marked with a lined bracket. The dotted brackets mark material that bears a common
idea. It is in the requisite Mode I. There are two instances of liquescent notes. In the LH margin
is a boxed „a‟ which indicates Mode 1. The scribe has a refined hand easily read, but there is
quite a bit of ghosting from the ink on the page reverse. There follows the ferial psalm and the
hymn, Stella maris – incipit given below.
RESPONSE
8.7.8.7
abab
Quadam die soli stanti
angelus apparuit
et ne fleret contristanti
Joachim prohibuit
VERSE Audi filia et vide et inclina aurem
tuam
R. Quia concupivit rex speciem
tuam
This work is only mentioned by
abbreviated name in the manuscript at
this point, Qdam die soli (stan – in
another hand) It has been borrowed
from Matins and appears again in full
below – Mode 4 with its verse.
This Versicle/Response is from the
Common for Virgins. In Gu 29/30,
Anna at this stage has been ranked
with Mary Magdalene.

8 8 8 8 7
aabbc
18.
O beata Christi ava
sordes nostras prece lava
tuae natae interventu
ut locemur in concentu
beatorum omnium
The rhyme scheme and metre do not
bear a great connection, though the last
line has a new ending both by rhyme
sound and only 7 feet. This is balanced
by being given an extended melisma
instead on omnium.
This antiphon is in Mode 5, and is typical of that as much of the melody is anchored about the
dominant C (dotted lines, and ellipses at cadences). The first phrase cadences on c, and the
second extends the range to f and again cadences on c, the third descends to cadence back on F,
the fourth goes back to cadence on c, and the fifth phrase moving back to F, is much more
melismatic on “omnium”. The whole is unified by rising or falling groups of three stepwise
notes marked with heavy lines. The underlying F-a-c-(f) is a frame for the melody. Those leaps
of a 4 th occurring at the black arrows serve to strengthen this „triad‟ either by outline or
resolution. B flat avoids the tritone. The scribe has inserted a b flat key signature on three of his
four staves, so I have made this standard for all. There is a modal indication in the LH margin –
Ub - mode 5, with second differentia for this mode.
MATINS
8.8.7
aab
Sit laus nostro salutari
qui per Annam generari
matrem sibi voluit
This rhyme scheme and metre are
related.
The Invitatory is in effect the antiphon prefacing the Venite, (Ps 94/5) which is the opening
invitation psalm to sing praise in psalmody in the Office – (O come let us sing unto the Lord....)
Here it is in Mode 2, plagal D. The opening phrase is a simple undulation about D where it
cadences. Phrase two leaps the typical fifth to a and cadences thereon. The final phrase drops
back to D. There is a tenuous similarity of material between the first and last phrase – marked
with brackets.

HYMN – Stella Maris
name only
8.8.7
aab
Anna pio virgo munda
diu tamen infecunda
copulatur Joachim
19.
I have chosen an editorial “pia”. “pio” *
is stated both in the manuscript and in
the CANTUS download.
It could be a scribal “mistake” as it appears once only as Anna pia virgo... in A-VOR 287 in
CANTUS. Anna pio viro munda does not occur there. If it is not a mistake, then perhaps the poet
is playing upon mixed meanings. [Anna pia virgo.. (Ann, pure dutiful maiden) versus Anna pio
viro..(Ann, by a dutiful man..)] But, could it be yet more a mistake all round for “pie” – adverb –
piously, dutifully? “Copulator” could be construed as sexual union, but that detail is avoided in
the Anna/Joachim legend. It might be simply “joined” with Joachim. Much would depend
upon the poet‟s position on the Immaculate Conception doctrinal argument.
This antiphon in Mode I begins the series of twelve (as in the monastic use) which does in fact
follow through in this Office 1-8-1 in strict order. However, the 3 Nocturns are in bundles of 6, 6
(ie. 3new+3old) and 1 antiphon, and this is curious since Steiner suggests that the monastic
cursus would usually have two nocturns of 6+6 for feasts. The first two phrases share cadential
material coming to close on the dominant, a. The opening arabesque including the leap D-a –c
is a significant outline and underscoring of the importance of pio/pia/pie whatever its meaning.
8.8.7
aab
Simul ergo quae habebant
peregrinis dividebant
templis et egentibus
The rhyme scheme and the cadential
material are related. (bracketed arrows)
This antiphon is in Mode 2, plagal D. The range is a 7 th from A to g. This lower range is outlined
in the figure (boxed) which defines D as final at the outset, and serves to unify the first and last
musical phrases which otherwise have differing metre and rhyme. The widest leap, a fifth in the
second phrase, also serves to balance the prior D-g leap.

8.8.7
aab
20.
Sic per annos duodenos
peragebant et octenos
caelibe conjugium
There is no melodic connection with the
rhyme scheme or metre.
The third antiphon is in Mode 3 – E authentic. The very first word takes the melody up to g
where it remains focussed for much of latter part of the work - dotted lines. But for one leap
(white arrow) it is stepwise to the end, moving from the subfinal D, and eventually rises to d,
then slowly falls back. The circled notes mark a standard mode 3 intonation, rising to a
recitation set on c as tenor - briefly. The cadences are on b and g then finally E.
7.7.6
aab
Illis non habentibus
prolem cum gemitibus
domino voverun
There is no melodic connection with
rhyme scheme or metre. Cantus has a
spelling mistake on „voverun‟. Foveo =
to pamper, support, favour, cherish, the
Lord. The manuscript is quite clearly
foverunt - the „~‟ over the „u‟ indicating
the abbreviation of „unt‟
The fourth antiphon is in Mode 4, E plagal. Curiously E features in this work eleven times,
mostly in passing passages, as opposed to g but eight times. In my experience so far, phrygian
mode chant usually moves away from E to focus elsewhere until the final cadence, and there is
a clear focus otherwise on g. The wavy line indicates the underlining of non in the text. It is
more a roulade than full melisma.
7.7.6
aab
Se daturos tenerum
habituros puerum
templo serviendum
The CANTUS „habituros‟ is „habiturum‟
in the manuscript, though there is a
mark ~ over the „u‟ which indicates an
abbreviation. The difficulties of
translation of such condensed texts defy
even advanced Latin scholars. These
couplets are like Japanese Haiku.

21.
This composer is perhaps showing a personal stylistic “fingerprint” in the increasing use of
ascending/descending four or five note scalewise passages or roulades to ornament or extend
a syllable, such as are marked here with wavy lines. The work is set in Mode 5, authentic F
mode, and again the F-a-c “triad” is a frame for the melody, and c becomes a tenor note. The
cadences c, c, F, mirror the metre and rhyme scheme. B flat is used to spare the tritone with F.
7.7.6
aab
Assecuti proprium
tandem desiderium
caelitus fuerunt
Metre and rhyme scheme match.
This antiphon set in the plagal Mode 6, has all three cadences on F, several occasions where the
B flat is necessary and only in the second phrase uses the F-a-c that is usual. Again the
descending, now sequential four note scale line occurs here in the middle phrase. The only
wider leap, down to D, boxed, suggests the plagal form as well as reinforcing the final, as does
the next F-a leap.
VERSE / RESPONSE Diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis
R. Propterea benedixit te deus
in aeternum
8.7.7.7
abab
7.7.
aa
R. Ex Nazareth originem
Joachim produxerat
Annam sed in Bethlehem
clara stirps [produxerat]
V. Ambo aeque nobiles
devotos et dapsiles
Versicle and Response for the Common
of Holy Women -many of them, as this
chant applies in a good one hundred
cases on CANTUS.
The text downloaded from CANTUS
has a repeated produxerat, whereas the
manuscript has genuerat.

22.
Musically, and quite apart from the poetic non-psalmody text, this Respond and its Verse
suggest comparison with the Gradual in the almost rhapsodic quality of the chant. It is much
more complex than the preceding antiphons. The opening phrase has nothing unusual for
Mode 1, undulating about the D. The second phrase begins with a typical D-a leap and a
roulade on the name of Joachim, and then descends an octave to A before the second cadence, on
D. Again a D-a leap to begin the third phrase which is focussed about a the dominant. The
fourth phrase begins down a 6 th on C-D and develops in a mild melisma over the final words to
finish on D. The Verse leaps up again to a for most of this phrase. And then at last, it drops
another 6 th to C for the return to D final. This has been quite an expedition, but there are yet
more adventures to come. This Verse chant is unique to this manuscript according to CANTUS.
8.7.8.7
abab
7.7.
aa
R. Quadam die soli stanti
angelus apparuit
et ne fleret contristanti
Joachim prohibuit
V. Exauditas nuntiat
preces quas obtulerat
There is no relationship between the
metre, rhyme scheme and music. Phrase
3, as often in hymns, is the highest, with
contrasting material.
Respond– There is centonised material using the C pattern bracketed - die soli, -ti Joachim
Verses- There are no connections with old chant formulae.
This Respond and its Verse is set in Mode 4, plagal Phrygian and abounds in the rising/falling
four-note scalewise passages mentioned before, marked with a heavy line. Cadences are on E, E,
b, E, and D,E. As is usual g becomes a focus for the melody avoiding E, (dotted lines) and there
are occasions when the melody drops to subfinal D, which then leads to E, a way of confirming
E as final to come. (heavy arrows) The boxes outline a figure D-g-E, yet another E confirmation.
It is a wide ranging melody covering a 10 th. While the roulade is used frequently over a syllable,
the first true extended melisma in the Office occurs at the end of phrase four – prohibuit.
Responsory 1.3
Veni electa mea et ponam in te
thronum meum quia concupivit
rex speciem tuam
Source is the Common for (yet more)
Holy Women. Hundreds of uses in
CANTUS. Music is not included.

7.7.8.8
aabb
7.7
aa
R. Joachim ex nuntio
tremiscens angelico
senem sese cogitabat
intra sese haesitabat
V . O prolixa tempora
et exstincta femora
V2. Gloria....
23.
No relationship between music, metre
and rhyme scheme. CANTUS has sese
repeated in the last line instead of se sic.
Respond There is one point of centonisation using C on tremiscens angeli
The roulades continue over syllables and become a modest melisma over the last word in the
response – hesitabat. Set in Mode 3, the cadences occur on g, E, G, E, and E, E. The Verse 1. takes
the melody to B though it falls in each phrase to the cadence on E. Verse 2, a line from the Gloria,
reuses the same material as Verse I, but truncates it to suit the new text, largely by cutting or
modifying notes marked with the ellipse. This Response concludes the first Nocturn which ends
with the Gloria, as is usual.
7.7.7
aab
Legis improperium
dum ad sacrificium
simul eunt audiunt
This is the first work in 7.7.7. metre in
the Office. Cadences and rhyme match.
This is the first appearance of Mode 7 – Mixolydian – authentic, in the Office. So far the
antiphons have run in modal sequence. While there is a tendency to rest around c, (dotted lines)
as a tenor, there is also a framework of G-b-d –(f) and the c‟s are often a lower auxiliary to d, the
dominant (circled) There is also a changing note-like figure about g – (rectangle boxes), and at
the outset a mode 7 antiphon sign g-c-b (ellipse). The F-a-c outline beginning the final phrase is
also a typical Mode 7 trait, stepping around g. The scalewise motifs reoccur (marked by heavy
lines.)

7.7.7
aab
Infecundos arguit
sacerdos et respuit
oblatum munusculum
24.
This antiphon is set in Mode 8, plagal mixolydian, and has a modest range as far up as c. Much
of it undulates about g, often approached from F. The sole D in the work (circled) at the outset
could fix it in the plagal form. Otherwise it is a comparatively unadorned work.
8.8.8
aab
Hunc et illam consolatur
angelus dum spes donatur
nasciturae sobolis
The opening of this antiphon has music script strongly shadowed from the underneath recto
page so that the correct script needs deciphering. It is back in Mode 1. The opening phrase
traces an arc from the D through the D-F-a outline to rest awhile on a (ellipses) as dominant,
and back to cadence on D. Phrase two cadences on a, and the final on D. It is a largely stepwise
work, with a little reference to the scale passages and some material shared (open brackets).
Antiphon 2.4
Antiphon 2.5
Antiphon 2.6
Versicle
Surge aquilo et veni auster
perfla hortum meum et fluent
aromata illius
Nigra sum sed formosa filia
Jerusalem ideo dilexit me rex
et introduxit me in cubiculum
suum
Aquae multae non potuerunt
extinguere caritatem
V. Specie tua et pulchritudine
Antiphon from Common of Holy
Women- Hundreds of uses in CANTUS
cao5070
Antiphon from Common as above. 123
in CANTUS. cao3878
Not mentioned in CANTUS for this
office . The name of the antiphon is just
given in rubrics in the Manuscript.
cao1470 – Common for virgins. The
Versicle Specie tua has 767 examples in
CANTUS in a variety of modes, but our
scribe has not made a choice. No music
is given.

8.7.8.7
abab
8.7
aa
25.
R. In exemplum statim Saram
angelus proposuit
edidit prolem quae caram
nec aetas prohibuit
V. Sic Racheli factum fuit
Joseph quando genuit
This Responsory is in Mode 5 – Lydian. F-a-c is its backbone with cadences on c, a,F, F and c,F. It
has several melismatic passages beginning in the first phrase on exemplum, and lastly on
prohibuit. The first phrase has c as effective tenor, (ellipses) and material from this phrase is
repeated in the next phrase (square brackets). The scribe has put a key signature B flat
indication at the beginning of each stave, though not accurately place, as B flat features
regularly to avoid the tritone with F. This and the leap of 4 th F-B flat or c-F-B flat, make a very
angular vocal line on prohibuit, in contrast to the mainly stepwise movement. For the first time
in the manuscript a note which seems to be a bleed from the recto, is confirmed as a worn note –
see boxed. There the diamond g is a podatus repeat of that earlier in the work. But it is very
hard to discern were it not for the repeat. I cannot discern any centonisation, though there is
material that comes close to the A and B motives usually bracketed.
8.8.7.7
aabb
8.7
aa
R. Fidem ergo confer dictis
nec discedas ut confictis
Annae namque gravidus
tunc apparet uterus
V. Felix illa dies erit
prolem cum genuerit
„discordas‟ (nor do you disagree)
„tunc‟ is also a mistake.

Respond – There are two instances of centonisation using A and B motives, fidem and uterus.
26.
This second Responsory of the second Nocturn is in Mode 6 – Lydian plagal. It is the most wide
ranging work so far – from C to f. The first phrase runs about F- up to b flat and down to C,
cadencing on F. The second phrase spells out the F-a-c backbone and cadences on c, which again
is a tenor (dotted lines) for most of this phrase. The third phrase ranges from top f to cadence on
F, and the last phrase brings a balance back about the final with a fall to C from b flat thence to
the F cadence. The Verse stays within this range. Throughout there is again the scalewise
motive used often in descending sequence – as in cum genuit, and gravidus - and significantly
for the name of Anna in the top register. As seems usual, the work opens with a short melisma
over the first word, Fidem, and another longer melisma runs in the last phrase over uterus, and
shares common material with the first.
RESPOND 2.3
No music, but a text incipit
8.8.7.7
aabb
7.7.
aa...
Ista est speciosa inter filias
Jerusalem sicut vidistis eam
plenam caritate et dilectione in
cubilibus et in hortis aromatum
R. Cum producet illa foetum
totum mundum reddet laetum
inde salus prodiet
quae numquam deficiet
V. Gignet enim filiam
gratia plenissimam
V. Gloria patri...
R/V from common for virgins which is
in 184 manuscripts on CANTUS
Respond – The centonised B material occurs once in the responsory at its end - - ci-et.
Verse – The opening phrase looks also to be based on the centonised A material.
This Responsory is the end of the Second Nocturn and seems to be the high point of the office
music. It is in Mode 5, confirmed thus more I expect by the Verses which are clearly Mode 5,

27.
than the Response itself which seems to suggest the plagal Mode 6, with the venture down to C
both at the outset and in the closing melisma. However, the third phrase also rises to f making it
a wide-ranging melody and perhaps securing the Mode 5. Works that combined both plagal
and authentic ranges tend to be assigned as authentic. The final melisma also is much longer
than others in the office and about two thirds of the Responsory seems to be set as melisma.
Much use is made of the four or five note roulades which occur in sequence too. Behaviour is as
expected with this Mode. The line from the Gloria uses the same material as Verse 1, modified
to suit the prose.
ANTIPHON 3.1. The sole
antiphon for the Third
Nocturn is named in the
MS at this point but the
music is added for the end
of Vespers II
Versicle and Response.
Listed in abbreviation in
the MS but no music
7.7.7.7
aabb
8.9
aa
Felix Anna que matrona
legitima beati Ioachim meruit
generare felicem filiam nomine
Mariam
Adjuvabit eam deus vultu suo
R. Deus in medio ejus non
commovebitur
R. Tandem Anna sobolem
parturivit nobilem
et juxta oraculum
indidit vocabulum
V. Quae peracto triennio
caeli dicatur obsequio
Respond - „A‟ fragment is evident and bracketed on Anna sobolem.
The scribe is saving time and space.
From here on it seems there is a sprint
to the finish and one can almost smell
the warm porridge awaiting. This
makes a thirteenth antiphon for Matins.
From the Common for Virgins – 694 of
them in CANTUS – cao6042
There are occasions marked * where the
Latin in the Manuscript is unintelligible,
but not decipherable as quoted in
CANTUS.
This work is set in Mode 8 – mixolydian plagal, so its range is D-d about g. Cadences are by
step to g,g, D, a, and g,g. Again the roulades seem an essential for this composer, both ascending
and descending, and c becomes a tenor through the second phrase. The top d does not occur
until the verse. There is a melisma as usual on the last word of the responsory, vocabulum, but it
is not as long as previously. One gets the sense that now the end is in sight things can relax.

8.8.8.8
aabb
7.7
aa
28.
R. Jesu Christe nepos cujus
tu es ob amorem hujus
molem tergens peccatorum
regno transfer nos polorum
V. Fecundatos inclytis
castitatis meritis
Respond – Fragment B is used once – bracketed on polorum.
The second cadence is out of sync with
the rhyme scheme and metre. (large
box)
This chant is set in Mode 5 – Lydian authentic, and uses the full gamut. The first cadence on d,
is unexpected, almost interrupted, as it falls from f. The second cadence moves stepwise to F,
but does not fit with the rhyme scheme of metre. The third cadence is on c, and all is as usual
with c operating as tenor. The last phrase employs melismatic passages rather than one long
melisma (Wavy lines), and ranges from C to f, to cadence on F as final. This last melisma seems
constructed from the roulades and rising/falling motives - heavy lines. The opening words Jesu
Christi bear a modest melisma like figure (dotted lines) as an emphasis. The Verse contains
nothing untoward, except the widest interval traversed in the entire Office- F-f . Again I detect a
sense of relaxation. The scribe has placed b flats casually at the beginning of two staves, though
he has extended one into the margin probably having made a mistake. And having shifted the
clef he has to insert another where it is needed.
Responsory 3.3
An incipit only is given
R. Fulcite me floribus stipate
me malis quia amore langueo
There are fifteen other manuscripts with
this chant on CANTUS.

8.8.7.7
aabb
7.8
aa
29.
R. Laetus ergo praestolatur
ut effectu compleatur
promissum mirificum
allatum per angelum
V. Sic et uxor gravida
partum exspectat avida
V. Gloria patri
Respond – No source material is evident
Verse - No source material is evident
This is the concluding responsory for the Night Office. It is in Mode 7 – G authentic, and has a
wide range from top g‟ reached in the first phrase, to D in the second phrase. Cadences are all
by step, but for the first which falls a third, and are on d, F, d, g and in the verses g and g. There
is manly stepwise movement, and pivotal notes are g, b, d. And d is a frequent occurrence
(circled)as a tenor. There is a modest melisma to finish. The personal print of the composer
remains. The Gloria reworks the same material the Verse1, just shaped to the prose text.
While the text was decipherable in the manuscript, ink bleeding from the reverse of the page
made transcription slow. The enlarged digitised page had to be flipped to its opposite to see the
imprint to be ignored- especially with „ergo‟ and „angelum‟ where the porrectus beneath has been
inky. (This page flip may not be possible on all PC systems) It has been suggested that „ergo‟
requires cd-bcdb and „mis‟ of promisum a podatus bd. (the white arrows indicate) However, this
page 200v is generally being badly affected by 200r but especially so in some parts if one refers
back to staves 4,5,6 of 200r. The C clefs and the B flats before them are reflected at the end of the
comparable lines in 200v. What might have been a porrectus over ergo is in fact a porrectus

30.
running the opposite way on deficiet at the beginning of the line. The podatus seemingly over
„mis‟ is the C clef followed by a reversed flat. Similarly, flying wide over –um of angelum is part
of a porrectus that is a heavily drawn neume on the first syllable of spiritui of the Gloria on 200r.
The parchment must have been quite thin at this point, and the scribe perhaps had a new nib.
LAUDS
7.6.7.6
abab
Sedem Anna domino
decoram paravit
intra quam a saeculo
manens se locavit
This antiphon in Mode 2, (Mode 1 was used for the last antiphon of Matins) begins a series
which runs through to Mode 7. Being the plagal form of D mode, it ranges from bottom A to c,
and most of the work lies D-a, with Cs leading to the Ds. The four phrases suggest a hymn-like
format ABCB with shared material in the second and last phrases, and new ideas in the third
phrase.
7.7.8
aab
Terra laudet dominum
virginem qui virginum
nasci de Anna statuit
At * the neumes over Anna might
suggest a liquescent note.
The antiphon is in Mode 3 – E authentic. There is a little more fluid writing and a suggestion of
the composer‟s liking for roulades.

8.8.10
aaa
31.
Obstruxit deus omnium
os Joachim dicentium
maledicto (legis) obnoxium
* Legis is missing in the CANTUS text,
but it complicates the metre.
The antiphon is in Mode 4 – E plagal, and has a very limited range B-a and is almost entirely
stepwise, with a modicum of elaboration. The porrectus and torculus have unified these last
two antiphons, which are otherwise quite bland.
7.7.7.7
abab
Israeli convenit
Deum(deo) benedicere
qui de ipso voluit
matrem sibi sumere
CANTUS has Deum, whereas the
Manuscript uses Deo.
This antiphon runs in Mode 5 – F authentic, and exhibits the usual f-a-c outline, plus the g-a-c
figure, and c as a focal point. It bears a simple hymn-like structure ABCB‟ with shared material
in the second and last phrases, including bivirga (boxed) with the rhythmic lengthening.
7.7.7.7
aabb
Vobis Sion filiae
magnae sint laetitiae
dei pro hospito
praeparato filio
There are text discrepancies between
CANTUS and this Manuscript marked *
This antiphon is set in Mode 6.- F plagal. The numerous B flats in the work are not all
designated thus in the manuscript but the scribe has drawn a flat wide of the staves, so a key
signature has been included. The roulades are used again, as are the belated bivirga for
rhythmic effect. A possible liquescent note on Sion is included. The manuscript is indistinct, but
the notehead is angled as are other liquescent notes.

Reused from earlier and
elsewhere
32.
R. Adjuvabit eam / R. Specie
tua et pulchritudine tua/
Intende prospere procede et
regna
1800 uses of the chant in CANTUS
A later scribe has clearly scraped out
„adjuvabit‟ and replaced it with „Specie
tua‟
HYMN - O quam praeclara Noted as abbreviation – “O qm pclara”
7.6.7.6.7.7.6
ababccd
Miserendi patribus
tempus adventabat
Mariam cum angelis
venturam monstrabat
quae cum matre postulet
ut nos pie visitet
oriens ex alto
There are discrepancies of rhyme
scheme. Some words differ in CANTUS.
„Praestolor‟ may replace postulet, but the
manuscript is clear at this point. Postuloare,
to demand. Praestolor – to wait for.
The latter makes sense that the BVM
awaits the annunciation with her
mother. This is the first mention of
Mary.
This antiphon is set in Mode 7, and ranges the full octave g-g‟. It is the most involved of the
antiphons of Lauds which otherwise are fairly routine fare. The roulades feature, and while it is
not melismatic, there is embellishment of text. The melody moves away from g to focus around
d for much of the work.
VESPERS II

7.6.7.6.7.7.6
Anna sonans gratia
nobis gratiosa
sis obtenta venia
ne nos criminosa
ultra premat actio
sed det satisfactio
loca gaudiosa
33.
This is set in Mode 4 – E plagal. There are more cadences on E than is usual, with one only on G,
and one on C. The whole work has an easy fluidity using rising and falling roulades as
embellishment of syllables, also serving as unifying devices. A modest melisma concludes it,
more in the line of a responsory.
Felix Anna que matron legitima
beati Joachim meruit generare
felicem filiam nomine Mariam
Metre and rhyme scheme not present.
Prose text. Mary is named again in the
text at the very last.
This alternative antiphon for the Magnificat is in Mode 1, and was earlier run as the sole
antiphon in the third Nocturn of Matins. Like the previous work, it uses the rising /falling
roulades, which must be a personal stylistic trait of the composer, in a relaxed manner over the
irregular length phrases. The work behaves as one in D mode ought.
OBSERVATIONS
In transcribing this manuscript, I have had the sense that a particular person is behind its
creation, not just a scribe working as an intermediary for faceless predecessors in centuries past
doing routine copying. The composer is much closer to the scribe – maybe known to him by
name, reputation or monastery, perhaps in living memory. This may also apply to the poet.
Given the localised Austrian nature of this Office, these people may have all belonged to the
first three houses mentioned in this discussion – St Lambrecht, St Hippolytus in Pölten, and that
home to the Salzburg Antiphonal.
The composer has a ready understanding of classical plainsong, and all his works adhere to
modal practices, but there is a sense in which there is a loosening of the classical neumes, so that
his own mind shows through. Nearly all the works show some imprint of him, especially the
rising and falling roulades, though these are also typical of this later phase in plainsong. He
resorts to centonised fragments in the responsories, and these are very close to the shape of the
roulades. For a short while he indulges in some rhythmic play with bivirga, and then lets that

34.
be. He adheres to the formulae of Rhymed Offices almost to the end, with modal schemes and
metre well considered. All the Antiphons are in strict order of Mode. However, he was not
above taking short cuts, using more generally available chants at times. By the middle of the
second Nocturn of Matins he was certainly resorting to other chant. And the third Nocturn is
definitely truncated. Lauds required him or his colleague to write six more antiphons, which are
recycled in Second Vespers, and in the Little Hours he re-uses antiphons/responsories from
Matins. I had a definite sense of things easing off as I worked in the latter part of the
manuscript.
The scribe had a confident precise hand, clearly defined, although his ink had often bled
through from the underside of the parchment so that digital enlargement was necessary and
some checking back to back especially when he was writing the diagonals of the porrectus. He
seemed in half mind about using a b flat as a “key signature” at the beginning of a staff line. The
accidental was not placed precisely and was not consistent. I was unsure how firmly to follow
this, but decided in the end to make it a key signature, as without exception the final was an F.
The clefs were stable in most works, though in a couple the C clef made several shifts, and
needed extra care with F clefs. On numerous occasions his or his colleagues spelling and
grammar and that in CANTUS were at odds, which complicated translation of an already
difficult Haiku-like text.
While it is not a musical issue, there seems to be a growing complexity in the metres of the
rhymed texts as the Office progresses. For instance, the first antiphons in Nocturn 1, are 8.8.7
typically and 7.7.6. The responsories have four phrases like 8.7.8.7 or 8.8.8.8. As the second
Nocturn then shows, the antiphons gain some feet – 8.8.8, while the Lauds antiphons gain a line
– 7.7.7.7 being typical. The Vespers I Magnificat antiphon has five lines 8.8.8.8.7. while those in
Vespers II are 7.6.7.6.7.7.6 and no metre for the prose of the second. The Benedictus antiphon is
also 7.6.7.6.7.7.6. The goliards whose writing inspired these rhymed texts took a delight in
numeric issues such as these as well as the content of their couplets. One wonders if indeed the
one-time rowdy students of Carmina Burana were writing these texts for the office in the
gravitas of their maturity.
The new Rhymed Office of this time looks now to be a liturgical reverence for the saint just on
the face of it, but behind this facade also a socio-political power ploy of the church hierarchy as
it played out in the shift of powers in the medieval world. One could look further at the cynical
abuse of power. But, such uses of the liturgy are still made today. St Anne, being seen as a reallife
intermediary, may well still be playing her part holding things together.
Gillian Lander - November 2010

BIBLIOGRAPHY
35.
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