08 Beata viscera - Pérotin
Known for his organal additions to Leonin's music, Perotin also composed monophonic conductus, as is the case with Beata viscera.
Beata viscera[]
Beata viscera is a monophonic conductus composed by Perotin c. 1200. It is based on a poem by Philip the Chancellor under the same title. This conductus is similar to other Ars Antiqua conductus by using a sacred but non-liturgical text. However, most conductus is characterized by its polyphonic texture. At the time, conductus was generally two or three parts, and it differentiated from organum by its rhythmically driven note-by-note movement. Although Beata viscera is monophonic, the listener can still hear the clear, consistent rhythms and meter that drive the melody forward.
Text[]
Latin: Beata viscera Marie virginis
cuius ad ubera rex magni nominis;
vests sub altera vim celans numinis
dictavit federa Dei et hominis.
O mira novitas et novum gaudium,
matris integrita post puerperium.
Solem, quem librere, Dum purus otitur
In aura cernere visus non patitur,
cernat a latere dum repercutitur,
alvus puerpere, qua totus clauditur.
O mira novitas et novum gaudium,
matris integrita post puerperium.
English Translation:
Blessed flesh of the Virgin Mary,
at whose breat the king of eminent name,
concealing, under altered guise,
the force of divine nature,
has sealed a pact of God and Man.
O astonishing novelty and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure after childbirth.
Vision does not endure to behold in its radiance
the sun, unconcealed, as he rises forth, pure.
Let the wholly enclosed womb of the mother
behold from the side as it is reflected.
O astonishing novelty and unaccustomed joy
of a mother still pure after childbirth.
Sources[]
Janet Knapp. "Conductus." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed January 20, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/06268.
Edward H. Roesner. "Perotinus." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed January 20, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40465.