Ars Subtilior Editions: Chamaterò

Thursday 8 February 2024

Ippolito Chamaterò (c. 1535/40-c. 1592): Missa ad Illustrissimam Parmae et Placentiae Ducissam (SAATTBB)

This Mass is the last work of the collection of four Masses dedicated to the Dukes of Parma and Piacenza, the Missarum cum quinque et septem vocibus, published in Venice in 1569. This collection was thought to be lost by Bernstein, but was recently found in the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emmanuele III in Naples.

The seven-voice (SAATTBB) Missa ad Illustrissimam Parmae et Placentiae Ducissam is a unique work in more than one way: it is a Mass dedicated to a noblewoman, Margherita di Parma (1522-1586), daughter of the Emperor Charles V and Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, married to the Duke of Parma Ottavio Farnese (the dedicatee of the first Mass in Chamaterò's collection of masses, the five-voice Missa ad Illustrissimum et Eccellentissimum Octavium Farnensem Parmae et Placentiae Ducem, available here); and, unlike any other Mass dedicated to a nobleman there is no cantus firmus here, and the special text dedicated to Margherita is sung by several voices simultaneously with the usual text of the Mass:

Parmae et Placentiae populis, Margarita Austria, principum omnium, Margarita Imperante, aurei saeculi felicitas affulsit.

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Ippolito Chamaterò (c. 1535/40-c. 1592)

Missarum cum quinque et septem vocibus (1569)

Missa ad Illustrissimum Parmae Ducem	SATTB	Buy
Missa Elasmamera	SATTB	Soon
Missa Expurgate vetus fermentum	SATTB	Soon
Missa ad Illustrissimam Parmae Ducissam	SAATTBB	Buy

Thursday 4 January 2024

Ippolito Chamaterò (c. 1535/40-c. 1592): Missa ad Illustrissimum et Eccellentissimum Octavium Farnensem Parmae et Placentiae Ducem (SATTB)

This Mass is the work that starts the collection of four Masses dedicated to the Dukes of Parma and Piacenza, the Missarum cum quinque et septem vocibus, published in Venice in 1569. This collection was thought to be lost by Bernstein, but was recently found in the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emmanuele III in Naples.

The Missa ad Illustrissimum et Eccellentissimum Octavium Farnensem Parmae et Placentiae Ducem is a five-voice Mass dedicated to Ottavio Farnese (1521-1586), Duke of Parma and Piacenza and grandson of the Pope Paul III. We can find a cantus firmus pervading all the Mass with the text Quam Roma felix Augusto tam Parma gaudet Octavio. Farnesius prudens, fortunatus Octavius. The cantus firmus, which is not related to the technique of the soggetto cavato, appears in various rhythms and pitches: it is presented in syncopated values in the Qui tollis peccata mundi in the Gloria, and it is sung in black notes (hemiola) in the Hosanna in excelsis in the Sanctus while the other voices sing in a triple meter.

We are also publishing the three remaining Masses of the Missarum cum quinque et septem vocibus (Missa Elasmamera and Expurgate vetus fermentum for five voices and the Missa ad Illustrissimam Parmae Ducissam for seven voices).