no. 11, ff. 9v-10 »Benedicite dominus nos« 3v [Anonymous]
Benedicite Dominus nos |
Bless us, o Lord, |
Entered by Hand B. The Latin text is a French table blessing from the early 15th century. It has replaced the original poem, a rondeau cinquain “La plus dolente qui suit née”, which appears in a three-part setting without composer attribution in the two ‘Loire Valley’ chansonniers, Dijon, Bibliothèque Municipale, Ms. 517, and Leuven, Alamire Foundation, Manuscript without shelf number. Both were created during the early 1470s. It is a sad song expressing sorrow until death, and it is sung by a woman. It is written for two high voices, which treat most verse lines in unison canon, and the canon structure is supported by a contratenor placed an octave lower.
The song must be earlier than the two chansonniers, because already in the 1470s it circulated as Latin contrafacta, as »Magistralis nimphula, beata Maria« in a Bohemian MS, and as »Benecitice« and »Non nobis, domine« in Italian MSS; in the contrafacta the song’s original ending (in bar 23) has been prolonged with the “Amen”. Furthermore, “La plus dolente” had been reworked as a three-part mass fitting for performance by the boys of a maîtrise and their master. The mass is preserved in incompletely in Parma, Bibl. Naz. Palatina, Fondo parmense, ms. 1158. ff. 34v-38.
See further the editions of the rondeau and of the mass.