Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538): Vox de caelis (TTTB) [Rusconi Codex]

The so-called Rusconi Codex (I-Bc Q.19), now kept in the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna, probably copied c. 1518 for the Cathedral of Padua, contains 95 works, mostly motets and a few masses (some of them unica) and, according to Robert Nosow, was copied by one of its most represented composers, a certain Renaldo (probably Petrus de Renaldis, died in 1521). It is one of the most important music manuscripts in northern Italy in the first third of the 16th century. 

We are publishing a selection of over 60 works by Italian and French composers such as Jean Mouton, Renaldo, Jacquet de Mantua, Costanzo Festa, Lupus, Pierre Moulu, Maistre Jhan and others.

Vox de caelis is four-voice motet by the French composer Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538). It is scored for four male voices (TTTB) and dedicated to St. Catherine.

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Music from the Rusconi Codex (I-Bc Q.19)

Sebastiano Festa (c. 1490/5-1524)	Angele Dei	SSTB	Buy
Jean Mouton (c. 1459-1522)	Moriens lux amantissima	SATTB	Buy
Renaldo (Petrus de Renaldis, †1521?)	Paradisi portas	SATB	Buy
Hotinet Barra (fl. 1510-1523)	Peccantem me quotidie	SATB	Buy
Jacquet de Mantua (c. 1483-1559)	Noe, noe, hodie Salvator	SATB	Buy
Jacquet de Mantua (c. 1483-1559)	O vos qui transitis	SATB	Buy
Jacquet de Mantua (c. 1483-1559)	Veni Sancte Spiritus	SATB	Buy
Jean Mouton (c. 1459-1522)	Salva nos Domine	SAATTB	Buy
Renaldo (Petrus de Renaldis, †1521?)	Illuminavit eum Dominus	SATB	Buy
Renaldo (Petrus de Renaldis, †1521?)	Haec dies	SATB	Buy
Jacquet de Mantua (c. 1483-1559)	Ecclesiam tuam	SATB	Buy
Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538)	Vox de caelis	TTTB	Buy

©2024 Jorge Martín

Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538): Si dereliqui te Domine (SATTB) [Treviso Cathedral Codice 36] (2024 Edition)

A one-of-a-kind motet by Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538) in the Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 (I-TVd 36). This work could be considered almost as a polytextual motet: from measure 63 to the end of the prima pars the text of each voice is taken from a different part from the verses 8-9 of Psalm 8.

You can buy this score here. Please consider purchasing our scores for the price you want to support Ars Subtilior Editions! 

Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 (I-TVd 36) (2024 Edition)

29 motets and a Mass by Maistre Jhan, Adrian Willaert, Jacquet de Mantua, Jean Lhéritier, Magister Symon and anonymous (c. 1530)

Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538)	Pater noster/Ave Maria	SATTB	Buy
Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538)	Ave Maria, alta stirps	SATTB	Buy
Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538)	Fratres, jam non estis	SATTB	Buy
Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538)	Omnia qui fecisti nobis	SATTB	Buy
Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538)	Hunc ego te, Euryale	STTTB	Buy
Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538)	Si dereliqui te Domine	SATTB	Buy

©2024 Jorge Martín

Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538): Hunc ego te, Euryale? (SAATB) [Treviso Cathedral Codice 36] (2024 Edition)

A masterpiece by Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538) in the Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 (I-TVd 36) based on a fragment of the Aeneid by Vergil (Book IX, 481-498). This text narrates the lament of Euryalus's mother when she discovers that he and his lover Nisus have died in the battlefield: “Is this you, Euryalus, that I see? You who were the last solace of my age, could you bring yourself to leave me alone, cruel one?"

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©2024 Jorge Martín

Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538): Fratres, jam non estis (SAATB) [Treviso Cathedral Codice 36, no. 3] (2023 Edition)

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©2023 Jorge Martín

Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538): Ave Maria, alta stirps (SAATB) [Treviso Cathedral Codice 36, no. 2] (2023 Edition)

To celebrate our tenth anniversary we are re-editing one of our very first publications, the complete edition of the Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 (I-TVd 36).

Ave Maria, alta stirps by Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538) is a fascinating motet with an unusual text and a complex 2 in 1 canon (Canon contrarius) in the Bassus and the Quintus.

You can buy or download this score here. You can purchase our scores for the price you want to support Ars Subtilior Editions!

© 2023 Jorge Martín

Music from the Rusconi Codex (Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna, I-Bc Q.19)

We are proud to announce the forthcoming release of an extensive selection of works from the so-called Rusconi Codex (I-Bc Q.19). Now kept in the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna, this small choirbook, probably copied c. 1518 for the Cathedral of Padua, contains 95 works, mostly motets and a few masses (some of them unica) and, according to Robert Nosow, was copied by one of its most represented composers, a certain Renaldo (probably Petrus de Renaldis, died in 1521).

The Rusconi Codex is one of the most important music manuscripts in northern Italy in the first third of the 16th century. We are publishing a selection of over 60 works by Italian and French composers such as Jean Mouton, Renaldo, Jacquet de Mantua, Costanzo Festa, Lupus, Pierre Moulu, Maistre Jhan and others.

© 2023 Jorge Martín

Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538): Pater noster/Ave Maria (SAATB) [Treviso Cathedral Codice 36, no. 1] (2022 Edition)

To celebrate our tenth anniversary we are re-editing one of our very first publications, the complete edition of the Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 (I-TVd 36). 

Pater noster/Ave Maria (SAATB) could be an intended homage paid to Josquin. The tradition of combining the two texts and plainchants as parts of a motet had a great relevance on Northern Italy: Adrian Willaert.  Gioseffo Zarlino or Jacquet de Mantua followed this tradition after Maistre Jhan.

You can buy or download this score here. Remember, you can buy our scores for the price you want to support Ars Subtilior Editions!

(This is the foreword for the complete edition of the Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 we published back in 2012:)

The Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 (henceforth, I-TVd 36) is the oldest polyphonic manuscript extant in this Cathedral (c. 1530). It is one of the most valuable musical manuscripts of the 16^th century in Northern Italy and also an essential source for the motets (most of them unica) of Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538).

Although the I-TVd 36 is now kept in the Treviso Cathedral Archive, this was not its original place, as it was probably copied and kept in Ferrara until the end of the 16^th century. This certainty is due to two reasons: 1) the majority of works by Maistre Jhan (more than a half of I-TVd 36), who served the Dukedom of Ferrara until his death, and 2) the presence of the circumstance motet Hebe potens cithara by Magister Symon [Simon of Ferrara], dedicated to the death of one of Ercole I d’Este’s children, Sigismondo, who died in 1524.

The I-TVd 36 is formed by five partbooks, Cantus, Altus, Quinta pars, Tenor and Bassus. The real voice in each partbook varies from one work to another, specially the Quinta pars, which is usually a Tenor or an Altus. The manuscript was mainly copied around 1530 (perhaps around 1524, year of Sigismondo’s death) and has two later additions, the short motet Sancta Maria at the end of the manuscript (the only unnumbered work in I-TVd 36) and an anonymous Mass. A more detailed codicological description of I-TVd 36 can be found at DIAMM.

The manuscript contains 30 works, 29 motets and the anonymous Mass, all for five voices. The most representative composer in I-TVd 36 is Maistre Jhan (18 motets), followed by Jacquet de Mantua and Adrian Willaert (3 motets each), Jean Lhéritier (2), Magister Symon and Costanzo Festa (1 motet each) plus 3 anonymous works, two motets and a Mass.

Even though the I-TVd 36 contains manuscript versions of works found in other sources (8 motets by Jacquet de Mantua, Jean Lhéritier and Adrian Willaert), several motets are unica, mainly those by Maistre Jhan. George Nugent and James Haar in the New Grove (2001) list nine unica motets in this source. Furthermore, only one edition of Maistre Jhan’s motets in I-TVd 36, Pater noster/Ave Maria, appears listed on the New Grove article, and it was published on 1897.

As a result, this premiere world edition of I-TVd 36 sheds light on the music in the Dukedom of Ferrara on c. 1530, and especially on Maistre Jhan, a long neglected composer linked with the Dukedom for more than 20 years. His motets show an experienced skill with canons, cantus firmus ostinato, harsh armonies and even chromatism.

©2022 Jorge Martín