Missa Sancta Dei Genitrix

• Date: 16th century
• Composer: Pierre de la Rue
• Period: Renaissance (1450-1599)

Review

Saint Ignatius of Loyola counsels a prayer-meditation where repetitions of each word linger in the mind "as long as meanings, comparisons, relish, and consolations connected with it are found." His spiritual focus would have been well-served by Pierre de la Rue's Missa Sancta Dei genitrix, the substance of which is permeated by a single seven-note devotional melody. From the first moments of the Kyrie, in which the bass, altus, tenor, and superius voices sing the Sancta Dei genitrix melody in turn, to the close of the Agnus Dei, in which this imitation clearly transpires in reverse, all four voices ruminate upon its seven notes. The tenor, traditional bearer of any preexistent cantus firmus melody, is completely derived from 74 ostinato statements of the melody, with groups (often of threes and sevens) varying the pitch and rhythm. The Mass thus presents a unified and sober surface which is dominated by the pervasive motive and its prominent opening half-step gesture. The moments which break the unity, such as the insistent sequential repetitions at the climax of the Credo or the declamatory homophony which begins the final Agnus Dei, prove more striking in contrast.

Sancta Dei genitrix, which honors the Virgin Mary as the blessed begetter of God, refers to services associated with Holy Rosary and quotes a popular Marian antiphon; no source, however, for the plaintive melody has come to light in the various local repertories of Gregorian chant. The number of its notes (repeated as if counting the Rosary itself) bears a mystical meaning, as the beatific number seven may signify the Virgin through her seven feasts, her seven sorrows, her seven joys, etc. La Rue may have similarly embedded his numerical signature in the first movement, as the length of the Kyrie sections is 21+42, or the equivalent in the "number alphabet" (gematria) of "de la" and "Rue." The human composer's pride further overwrites the musical meditation in lengthy passages of strict canon, and in references to other music: quotations in the Credo from his own Missa De feria, and from the well-known "hit" chanson L'homme arme. ~ Timothy Dickey, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Pierre de la Rue: Missa de Feria; Missa Sancta Dei genitrix	1998

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