YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

POLYPHONY AND WORD-SOUND IN ADRIAN WILLAERT’S LAUS TIBI SACRA RUBENS
Figure 1. Adrian Willaert, Laus tibi sacra rubens, Altus, in Modena, Biblioteca Estense,
MS mus. C313, p. 94.
Comes’s Neo-Latin poem, written in elegiac distichs, offers a brief survey of the history
of the Holy Blood, from Christ’s crucifixion to its arrival in Bruges (see Figure
3). 8 What immediately strikes us when reading the poem is the fact that each verse
contains a particular combination of vowels and consonants. To put it more specifically,
each line is dominated by a particular sound pattern, that moreover perfectly
matches the emotional message of the words. I would like to illustrate this idea by
comparing the second and fourth lines of the poem. For example, I suppose it is quite
obvious that the second verse is striking in its use of what I would like to call hard
consonantal combinations: QUam CHRiSTo a loto SPongia PRessa tulit. The fourth
verse, on the contrary, apart from its stress of the vowel u, mainly contains (in the
8 A. JOOS DE TER BEERST, Notices sur l’insigne relique du précieux sang, la Noble Confrérie, la Basilique
de Saint Basile, 2nd ed., Bruges, 1992. On 3 May (or the Monday after that day), an annual procession
takes place in the city of Bruges, during which the relic of the Holy Blood is carried around.
I wish to thank Dr. van Renynghe de Voxvrie, who provided some useful information on the history of
the chapel and its confraternity.
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