Decorated Incipit (the beginning words) page to the Gospel of Matthew, 1120–1140 (Caption and photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Mass
Musicologists study liturgical music. Lay music has existed for a long time. There have been troubadours, trouvères and minnesinger who wrote and sang humble songs. However, the development of polyphony, intertwined voices, was achieved by the composers of madrigals and sacred music. These compositions are the birthplace of harmony and counterpoint.
The Mass, or Eucharist, is the “central act of worship” (see Mass, Wikipedia) in the Catholic Church. But Monks living in monasteries also observe the Canonical Hours as determined in the Rule of Benedict, which has now been used for 1,500 years.
The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), convened by Pope John XXIII, introduced the use of the vernacular in Mass, formerly said in Latin. Benedictines, the order founded by Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – 543 or 547 CE), were not affected by this change. It was decided that they would continue to use the Liber Usualis, a book of Latin-language Gregorian chant, compiled by the monks of the Abbey of Solesmes, France, during the 19th century.
Monks celebrate Mass, but they also observe the liturgy of the Hours, called Canonical Hours, or the Divine Office. (See Canonical Hours or the Divine Office in RELATED ARTICLES.)
The Ordinary and the Proper
Mass has components used every day. These constitute the “ordinary” of the Mass. Masses, however, may also include the “proper,” components added on special days or occasions, such as a Requiem Mass, a Mass for the Dead.
Yesterday was Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas. Epiphany commemorates the visit in Bethlehem of the kings of Orient.
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The above posts were updated, but the links do not always lead to the correct site. Would that links did not disappear. Videos are sometimes removed, but links should remain.
There is a degree of repetition in the above-listed posts. I try to write my posts as though no one had read former posts on the same subject and therefore repeat what was said earlier.
Books of Hours are a secular and abridged version of the Liber Usualis, a compendium of Gregorian chants sung during the eight Canonical Hours. The Liber Usualis is rooted in Medieval monasticism, but it had to be restored after the French Revolution (1789-1794) and the Directoire (2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799).
Therefore the Liber Usualis Benedictine monks use today is a restored compendium of Gregorian chants. It was first edited in 1896 by Solesmes abbot Dom André Mocquereau (1849–1930) FR. (See “Liber Usualis,” Wikipedia.) Moreover, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, which introduced the use of the vernacular in Catholic liturgy, “mandated that Gregorian Chant should retain ‘pride of place’ in the liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 116.)” (See “Liber Usualis,” Wikipedia.)
Books of Hours
Although used by lay Christians, all Books of Hours, Medieval books, are religious in spirit and reflect a motivation to participate in the liturgy of the hours observed by monks. Yet, Books of Hours differ from the Liber Usualis. They are not decorated.
Other than the obligatory content, Books of Hours could include heraldic emblems, coats of arms, information necessary to its owner, genealogical information, etc.
Second, they are works of art: Illuminations and Calligraphy
Because they are shorter than the Liber usualis, Books of Hours leave room for enluminures (illuminations) and fine calligraphy, the main artistic elements of Jean de France’s “Très Riches Heures” and other luxury Books of Hours. Enluminures were miniature paintings designed to reproduce the luminosity of stained glass.
So not only did Books of Hours include liturgical, devotional and personal contents, but they are also works of art. It is mainly as works of art that they have come down to us. Illuminated pages of Books of Hours were genuine miniature paintings and were not bound, at least not originally. They were independent folios bound at a later date.
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Book of Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux (Arrest of Jesus and Annunciation) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Illuminations
Illuminations could be extremely costly, depending on their sophistication, the time required to illuminate the text, the pigments and other materials used to make the colours, the “paper” on which the artist(s) created his or her illuminations and, of great importance, the skills of the scribe. Let us look at the paint and the paper artists used.
The Paint
The paint used by artists to decorate Books of Hours was a very durable form of gouache. The colour was made from various pigments, including expensive lapis lazuli, mixed or crushed in a binder (un liant). However, when artists used gold or silver, they usually applied it in flat sheets or a “leaf.”
The Paper: Parchment
Moreover, Books of Hours are associated to the history of paper. Now the history of paper finds its origins at an earlier date. Egyptian papyrus was manufactured in the 3rd millennium BC. In the case of Medieval Books of Hours, however, one used parchment(parchemin), a writing membrane made from the skin of sheep, goats, or calves. The finest paper was vellum (from the old French vélin, “calfskin”).
Calligraphy
Where calligraphy is concerned, Books of Hours are an important step in the history of printing, as are illuminations, our illustrations. In calligraphy, we find the ancestors to our fonts. Accomplished scribes wrote so beautifully that the calligraphy of Books of Hours was a work of art in itself. Excellent scribes seldom made mistakes and, for the fifty or so years that followed the invention of printing, printers left room for illuminations to be inserted and, in particular, for initials to be rubricated (red) rather than “historiated.” These books are called incunables.
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Charles d’Orléans reçoit l’hommage d’un vassal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The historiated “D,” to your left, shows Charles d’Orléans (24 November 1394, Paris – 5 January 1465, Amboise) receiving homage from a subject. Painting historiated letters must have been a true challenge to miniaturists as the letters were a miniature within a miniature. Some miniaturists used a lens. Books of Hours were a collaborative project.
Ordinary and Luxury “Books of Hours”
The above-mentioned Hours of Catherine of Cleves (c. 1440), offered to her as a wedding present, is an example of a luxury book of hours. Catherine’s horæ, the Latin word for “hours,” are decorated with 158 colorful and gilded illuminations. (“Hours of Catherine of Cleves,” Wikipedia.) Miniaturists therefore spent several years preparing her wedding present. They also spent years producing the Hours of Jeanne d’Évreux, Queen of France, c. 1324–28, by Jean Pucelle (French, active in Paris, 1319–1334). Catherine’s hours are housed in the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N. Y. It contains twenty-five full-page miniatures and approximately seven hundred smaller enluminures and was first bought by Jean de France, Duc de Berry.
However, less affluent and, at times, poor Christians, including servants, also owned a Book of Hours. Tens of thousands Books of Hours were made. Thousands are still available. These may have had a few illuminated pages and may have been manuscripts, but the humbler Books of Hours were seldom the products of great artists. Moreover, some were printed, but occasionally the printer left spaces that could be hand coloured. These were the incunables.
“Pagan” Roots: Horæ and a Farmer’s Almanac
In my post on the Très Riches Heures, I mentioned that Books of Hours combined Christian elements, elements predating Christianity and personal information. So Books of Hours are not entirely Christian works and a secular form of the Benedictine Liber Usualis. For instance,Medieval Books of Hours use Psalms from the Old Testament. “The book of hours has its ultimate origin in the Psalter.” (See “Book of Hours,” Wikipedia.)
Books of Hours also have “pagan” roots. They were Horæ in Latin Antiquity, a word still used in the Middle Ages, and were inspired by the cycle of nature, the degree of light and darkness,[ii] and the appropriate Labours of the Months. As I mentioned in a recent post, Candlemas: its Stories & its Songs, Greek Poet Hesiod, who is believe to have been active between 750 and 650 BCE, wrote a Works and Days that Wikipedia describes as a farmer’s almanach.
In this respect, Jean de France’s Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry resembles Hesiod’s Works and Days. The Très Riches Heures feature a monthly page consisting of a full-page painting and a page featuring an image, above which there is a semicircle that shows the twelve signs of the Zodiac as well as the ecclesiastical lunar calendar, full moon and new moon, yet another manner in which Books of Hours predate Christianity. As calendars, Books of Hours span civilizations, but may not contain illuminations and fine calligraphy.
Conclusion
In short, Medieval Books of Hours are a very rich legacy rooted in the Liber Usualis and in seasons forever new.However, this does not preclude a resemblance with Latin horæ and borrowings, some from a more distant past. Pictures predate Christianity as do calendars, almanacs, labours of the months: seasons. In this regard, Books of Hours can be linked to earlier works. They also constitute a step in the history of printing and a history of books.
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I must close here, but our next step is a glance at illuminated manuscripts that are not Books of Hours. Under “Sources” below, I have mentioned Psalters. But, among illuminated books, there were Gospel Books, Responsorials, Antiphonaires, Missals, Apocalyptic books, Breviaries, hagiographic books (lives of saints) and other illuminated manuscripts.
In an earlier post, I wrote about the Fitzwilliam Book of Hours. This post is one of the related articles listed at the end of the current post. It shoud be updated. For instance, it requires embedded videos. This post is one of the related articles listed at the end of the current post. It should be updated. For instance, it requires embedded videos.
N.B. Some of the illuminations painted for Berry’s Book of Hours inspired some of the backdrops to sets used by Laurence Olivier (22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) in his film of Shakespeare’s play Henry V which he made in 1944 on the eve of the Normandy invasion. (Online Library of Liberty.)
This post contains a tiny list of three posts written in 2011. They have been revised. For instance, they include more links.
1. The first post was republished earlier this week. It tells that nature and, in particular, the degree of darkness and light, dictates the dates on which feasts are celebrated. In other words, it tells about the calendar.
2. The second post deals with the Hours. The Hours predate Christianity. However, the concept of “watching” also finds its roots in Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. His apostles would not stay awake when he was about to be taken away and crucified. My parish, so to speak, is the Benedictine monastery at Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, on Lake Memphremagog. The Hours and the Mass are the two components of daily liturgy at Saint-Benoît-du-Lac. Other priests, priests who are not monks, read their Breviary which is also a book of hours. This post also alludes to the solstices and equinoctial points.
Not mentioned in the posts listed below are the equinoctial tides. Again, a natural phenomenon dictates a feast. In September, at about the time the feast of St. Michael the archangel is celebrated, on September 29th, the tides are briefly at their lowest point. The year I lived in Normandy, one could not see the water from the shore and Mont-Saint-Michel was an island. When the water receded sheep would graze on the salted meadows, the prés salés. We often ate lamb from the prés salés. It was a treat.
3. The third post discusses Mass, the second and most important part of daily liturgy. Mass can be short (the Ordinary of the Mass) and have no movable parts, such as the Agnus Dei, or it can be long, the Proper of the Mass). It is also called the Eucharist as Communion is a constant reminder of the Last Supper.
Musicology
I thought I had learned the Mass as a child as well as Gregorian Chant. I also had a brief career as church organist. However, I did not know much, if anything, about the Mass or liturgy in general until I took courses in musicology from a teacher who was not a Catholic. Secular music has existed for a very long time but sheer bulk precludes leaving Sacred Music out of musicology courses. The same could be said about studying the Fine Arts, but to a lesser extent.
In particular, sacred music allows us to trace the development of polyphonic music, i.e. soprano, alto, tenor, bass (SATB) combined. Some pieces combine more or fewer voices. In secular music, studying the Madrigal is also a way of learning how polyphonic music developed. However, Gregorian music is monodic or monophonic.
