The Laudario di Cortona (Cortona, Biblioteca del Comune e dell'Accademia Etrusca, Ms. 91) is a musical codex (manuscript book) from the second half of the 13th century containing a collection of laude.Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia 1135948801 Christopher Kleinhenz 2004 "The most famous collection is the Laudario di Cortona (1260-1270), which, typically, contains texts dedicated to the Virgin, the Trinity, and Saint John, as well as meditations on death and judgment." It is the oldest known source of music in the Italian language, and the only such source from the thirteenth century. It is one of only two sources of Italian laude to contain musical notation.

The manuscript The manuscript contains 66 laude of which only the first 44 have notated music. In a section inserted subsequently there are a further two laude with their music, making 46 in total. The first sixteen are in praise of Mary, while the remainder roughly follow the feast days of the liturgical year. They are without doubt part of a larger repertoire of laude that predated the manuscript. There is evidence that some of the Cortona laude are modified versions of pre-existing laude which have been given extra verses or had verses removed.

The precise date of the manuscript is uncertain, but it appears to have been copied between 1270 and 1297. The manuscript belonged to the fraternity of Santa Maria delle Laude at the church of San Francesco in Cortona, Italy. It was found in 1876, discarded and in poor condition, by Girolamo Mancini, who was the librarian of the Biblioteca del Comune e dell'Accademia Etrusca di Cortona. He donated it to the Cortona library in which it is now kept.

There is, however, a significant problem in transcribing and performing the repertoire in the manuscript. It is "chock full of errors" in the words of one scholar. For example, there are numerous places where the scribe appears to have used the wrong clef, resulting in unlikely jumps in the melodic line.

The music The music is notated in square black plainchant notation, entirely without accidentals which would presumably been inserted automatically in performance. However, this lack of accidentals poses significant problems for modern reconstruction of the melodies.

The music is simple and melodious – it has what Karp calls a 'sturdy charm'. Typically, the laudi are of the form of a ripresa (chorus) and strophes (verses). The ripresa is a short, with two or four lines, and the strophe is longer, with up to eight lines. The music for the verse and ripresa sections are completely different from one another. Many of the Cortona laudi follow this pattern. Another common group has a simpler structure with just two alternating musical phrases.

Only the refrain and the first of the strophes are provided with music. Unfortunately, there are many instances where subsequent strophes fit the music badly, due having to the wrong number of syllables to fit the notated music, and this poses one of the many difficulties in editing and performing these works.

But the main problem, as with all notated music of this period, is that the notation gives the pitch of the note but not its duration. This has led some musicologists to publish rhythmless editions of the music using equal note values, on the basis that, as van der Weff put it, "they were of more or less equal duration." However, the conviction that there was a strong rhythmic element to the laude, based on contemporary references, led other musicologists to investigate possible ways of reconstructing their metre and rhythms using the patterns of stress in the syllables of the text. Unfortunately, this process can still yield several equally plausible versions of the same melody, as Daolmi has demonstrated. This means that any performing version of the laude is conjectural to some extent.

Modern editions The first modern edition was published by Fernando Liuzzi in 1935. This edition has been criticised for many editorial interventions. Liuzzi added key signatures and a great number of accidentals to a repertoire in which none were notated. He even added performance directions such as Mosso con fierezza, which, as one commentator has pointed out, seem more appropriate to the nineteenth century than the thirteenth. Since then there have been several further editions : Pellegrino M. Ernetti and Laura Rossi Leidi (1980), Luigi Lucchi (1987), Clemente Terni (1988), Martin Dürrer (1996), and Hans Tischler (2002).

Works + NºFolioLauda (click to sort alphabetically)Also found in 1 1–3v Venite a laudare ARE, MIL 2 3v–5v Lauda novella sia cantata ARE 3 5v–8v Ave, donna santissima ARE, M18, M19, MIL 4 8v–10 Madonna santa Maria ARE, MIL 5 12v–14v Ave, regina gloriosa 6 14v–17 Da ciel venne messo novello ARE, M18, M19 7 17–19v Altissima luce col grande splendore ARE, M18, M19, MIL 8 19v–22 Fami cantar l'amor di la beata ARE, M19 9 22–24 O Maria, d'omelia ARE 1024–25v Regina sovrana de gram pietade ARE, M18, M19 11 25v–27 Ave, Dei genitrix 12 27–29 O Maria, Dei cella 13 29–32v Ave, vergene gaudente MIL 14 32v–34v O divina virgo, flore 15 34v–36v Salve, salve, virgo pia MIL 16 36v–38 Vergene donçella da Dio amata ARE, M18, M19, MIL 1738v–39v Peccatrice, nominata ARE, M19 18 39v–43v Cristo è nato et humanato M18 (Incomplete), W15 1943v–44v Gloria 'n cielo e pace 'n terra ARE, MIL 20 45–46 Stella nuova 'n fra la gente ARE, M19, MIL 21 46v–47v Plangiamo quel crudel basciar[e] 22 47v–51 Ben è crudele e spietoso M18 (Text only) 23 51–53 De la crudel morte de Cristo ARE, MIL 24 53–55 Dami conforto, Dio, et alegrança ARE, MIL 25 55–57v Onne homo ad alta voce ARE, M18, CBC, MIL 26 57v–60 Jesù Cristo glorioso M18 27 60–63 Laudamo la resurrectione ARE, MIL, NY 2863–64v Spiritu sancto, dolçe amore M19, MIL 2964v–68 Spirito Sancto glorioso ANT, M19, MIL 30 68–69v Spirito sancto, dà servire ARE, MIL 31 70–72 Alta Trinità beataM19, MIL 32 72–82v Troppo perde 'l tempo ki ben non t'ama ARE, MIL 33 82v–85 Stomme allegro et latioso MIL 34 85v–88v Oimè lasso e freddo lo mio core 35 88v–90 Chi vol(e) lo mondo desprecçare ARE, M19, MIL 3690v–93 Laudar vollio per amore MIL 37 93–96 Sia laudato san Francesco ARE, M18, M19, MIL 38 96–100v Ciascun ke fede sente ARE, M18, M19, MIL 39 100v–110v Magdalena degna da laudare ARE, MIL 40 110v–112v L'alto prençe archangelo lucente MIL 41 112v–114v Faciamo laude a tutt'i sancti ARE, M18, M19, MIL, W22 42 114v–116 San Jovanni al mond'è nato 43 116–117v Ogn'om canti novel canto M19 44 117v–120 Amor dolçe sença pare ARE, MIL 45 123–131v Benedicti et llaudati MIL46 131v–132v Salutiam divotamente ARE, MIL 47 136 Alleluya. Alleluya, alto re di gloria* ARE, M18, M19 48 137 Salutiam divotamente* ARE, MIL 49 143 A voi gente facciam prego* ARE, M18, M19 *These laude are given in text only

Works found in other manuscripts ANT – Antwerp, Museum Mayer van den Bergh 303 (Text only) ARE – Laudario di Arezzo (Arezzo, Biblioteca Comunale 180 della Fraternità dei Laici) (Text only) M18 – Laudario Magliabechiano 18 (Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magliabechiano II I 122, Banco Rari 18) (with music notated) M19 – Laudario Magliabechiano 19 (Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magliabechiano II I 212, Banco Rari 19) (Text only) CBC – Florence, Carlo Bruscoli Collection (Text only) MIL – Laudario di Milano (Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana 535) (Text only) NY – New York, Robert Lehman Collection (formerly Smith Collection, Worcester, Mass.) (Text only) W15 – Washington, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection B-15, 393 (Text only) W22 – Washington, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection B-22, 128 (Text only)

References

External links

Transcriptions of the music at the Musica Sacra Antica website. Editable scores on Musescore