YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

POLYPHONY AND WORD-SOUND IN
ADRIAN WILLAERT’S LAUS TIBI SACRA RUBENS *
Katelijne Schiltz **
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
It is well known that Adrian Willaert, during his tenure at St Mark’s in Venice, made
two long trips to his native Flanders, the first in 1542, the second in 1556–1557. As
we can gather from various sources, he seems to have visited Bruges on both occasions.
In this article I would like to focus on a very specific trace of Willaert’s stay in
this city, namely a work he composed in honour of a famous Bruges relic. The piece,
a five-part motet entitled Laus tibi sacra rubens, celebrates the Holy Blood, which
was kept in the chapel of the same name. 1 This composition was published in Cipriano
de Rore’s first book of five-part motets, printed by Antonio Gardano in 1544. 2 Apart
from this collection, the work also circulated in four manuscripts, which are preserved
in the libraries of Lucca, Modena (Biblioteca Estense, MS mus. C313; see Figure 1),
Torino and Wolfenbüttel respectively. 3
The text upon which Willaert based his composition is interesting for several
reasons. First of all, the research of Alphonse Dewitte and Gilbert Tournoy has pointed
out that the poem is written by the humanist Stephanus Comes (Stefaan De Grave). 4
The work was published in a small volume, entitled Stephani Comitis Bellocassii Sylvula
carminum, non minus docta quam iucunda, compiled in 1544 by a certain
* I am grateful to Jonathan Miller and Stratton Bull for reading earlier drafts of this essay.
** Katelijne Schiltz is Postdoctoral Fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (Belgium).
1 Modern edition in W. GERSTENBERG ed., Adrian Willaert. Drei Motetten zu fünf Stimmen, (Das
Chorwerk, 59), Wolfenbüttel, 1956, pp. 13–21.
2 Cipriani musici eccelentissimi cum quibusdam aliis doctis authoribus motectorum nunc primum maxima
diligentia in lucem exeuntium liber primus quinque vocum, Venice, 1544 (= RISM 1544 6 ). The collection
is dedicated to Hieronimo Uttinger, a German merchant and collector of music manuscripts. See
also M.S. LEWIS, Antonio Gardane’s Early Connections with the Willaert Circle, in I. FENLON ed.,
Music in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Patronage, Sources and Texts, Cambridge, 1981, pp.
209–226.
3 Lucca, Biblioteca Governativa, MS 775, fol. 54v–55; Modena, Biblioteca Estense, MS mus. C313, pp.
94–95; Torino, Biblioteca Nazionale, MS IV 45, fol. 30; Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, MS
Guelf 293, fol. 3. See M.S. LEWIS, Antonio Gardano, Venetian Music Printer 1538–1569. ADescriptive
Bibliography and Historical Study. Volume I: 1538–1549, New York – London, 1988, p. 426.
4 A. DEWITTE, Muziekleven in Brugge in de 16e eeuw, in Vlaanderen, 34 (1985), pp. 156–159; G.
TOURNOY, An Unnoticed Bruges Collection of Latin Poems Mourning the Death of Juan Luis Vives,
in Studia philologica valentina, 1 (1996), pp. 161–176. The most up-to-date biographical information
on Comes (1494–1544) can be found in: J. IJSEWIJN, D. SACRE and G. TOURNOY, Litterae ad
Craneveldium Balduinianae. A Preliminary Edition. Part II. Letters 31–55 (February 1521 – May 1521),
in Humanistica Lovaniensia. Journal of Neo-Latin Studies, 42 (1993), pp. 18–20.
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