What to read after Natus sapientia?

The motet cycles known as motetti missales are among the most intriguing repertoires of late-fifteenth-century polyphony. This series features a new critical edition of the six cycles by Loyset Compère, Gaspar van Weerbeke, and Franchinus Gaffurius included in the Milanese Libroni and of the two anonymous cycles transmitted in the Leopold Codex (Munich MS 3154). For the first time this corpus is presented with uniform editorial criteria, facilitating the comparison of mensural choices and other compositional strategies. Furthermore, the introduction of each volume thematizes the peculiar characteristics of each cycle, in terms of textual choices, use of preexisting material, and musical design, allowing for a new assessment of the motetti missales that goes beyond the homogenizing stereotypes of earlier literature and accounts for the individual contributions of the various composers. The editors’ insight in this repertoire is the result of two interdisciplinary research projects financed by the Swiss National Fund and carried out at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in 2014–21.

Although most known motetti missales cycles appear within the Milanese Libroni, two unique anonymous cycles appear together in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Mus. Ms. 3154 (the Leopold Codex), a source evidently compiled in Innsbruck. The cycle Natus sapientia, like the Milanese motetti missales cycles, consists of eight motets, but with texts focusing on the crucifixion of Jesus rather than Marian themes. This edition improves upon previously published versions by providing full text underlay for all voices and correcting apparent mistakes while retaining the unusual dissonances that characterize this cycle.