| Performance practice |
Some manuscripts or texts contain remarks on the divisions of tasks and musical roles in the liturgy. Sometimes one finds indications of places too.
The hymn Gloria laus on Palm Sunday is usually sung by boys
(In D-AAm G13 and in NL-Uc BMH 7
it is called Laus puerorum). The Emmerich
Benedictionale D-EMMm B I 89 says it more
precisely: Hymno [Magni salutis gaudio] solemniter cantato
sex scolares post sacerdotem portantem crucem incedentes cantent
hymnum bini et bini choro respondente Gloria Laus ad quemlibet versum
hymni.
In the Ordinal of Pieterskerk
Leuven is indicated that, while singing the
Gloria laus, the boys should stand on the tower (which is a
rather low one); see
Lefèvre, p. 74:
... postea cantent pueri aliqui, sex aut plures, alta voce in
turri ecclesie Gloria laus.
In B-Br 4908, a
small 16th century antiphoner for a women's convent, the rubrics
indicate that the Gloria laus should be sung when the
procession reached the church, and alternatim between the people
inside and outside (binnen and buyten, f. 136v).
Ms NL-Lu BPL 2777 has some rubrics to the procession chants of Palm Sunday.
A fully notated blessing of the palm branches is in NL-DHk 78 J 44.
A prosula-like practice for the antiphon Responsum accepit
Symeon is recorded:
The Emmerich Benedictionale D-EMMm
B I 89 has this as follows: at the end of the procession before
Mass, while singing the antiphon Cum inducerent, the
community enters the church; a rubric states: Et sic
intrantes maneant in statione ante chorum. Quo loco duo canonici ante
altare sancti Johannis Evangeliste vertentes se ad processionem
cantent ant. Responsum, choro notam respondente. Then follows the
antiphon, larded with notae: small melisms, to be sung by
the choir: Responsum accepit Symeon - melism - A
spiritu sancto - melism, etc.
The practice of the Xanten Dom is
written down in D-X H 94, f. 4r: Tres domini
cantabunt R. Responsum usque ad caudas singularum distinctionum et
versum Hodie. Cetera chorus cantabit. The Ordinal of Xanten
(Die Stiftskirche ... II/4, p. 121)
says : ... tres domini incipient hanc ant. Responsum usque ad
finem neume, deinde chorus prosequitur A Spiritu Sancto usque ad
neumam, quam isti soli tres cantabunt et similiter omnes neumas sive
caudas aliarum distinctionum. Hac ant., ex toto finita, predicti tres
versum cantabunt et chorus repeticionem.
Something similar is found in NL-Au V J 59:
Processionale, probably Augustinian, late 16th or
early 17th century.
In NL-Lu BPL 2777 (Oegstgeest parish church near Leiden) each melism of
this antiphon is provided with the rubric Chorus.
A fully notated blessing of the candles is in NL-DHk 78 J 44.
Ms D-AAm G43 has the rubric Hic accende candelam to ant. Lumen ad revelationem gentium. A similar rubric is in ms 55 of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Tongeren.
In the Liber Ordinarius GB-Lbl Add. 9769 of the Mariakerk Utrecht is indicated that the verses of the tracts should be sung by the canons two by two. Two canons in the middle of the church sing the first verse, then two near the main altar the second, etc. (see: Liber Ordinarius, p. 84 and Utrecht tussen Kerk en Staat, pp. 235-236).
Something similar is prescribed for the Kyrie Qui passurus in NL-Hs 184 C 5.
In De fundatore ac patrono ... are a few remarks on the singing of responsories by vicars, choir boys, etc. from the Plechelmuskerk in Oldenzaal.
NL-Ua Domkap. 67, a mid 14th century manuscript of the Utrecht Dom, contains guidelines for the singing of the responsories by the chorales, chorisocii and canonici (fols. 227v-230v).
Ms B-TO 63 has the responsories Verbum caro and Descendit without tropes, but with large melisms accompanied by the rubric Iubilus Ade or Iubilus Eve. The melisms are divided into short pieces with indications for each side of the choir: dexter and sinister. The melisma of Verbum caro has the addition ante LXX.
In the Mariakerk Utrecht the verses of the responsory Aspiciens a longe (1st Advent Sunday) are sung by six choir boys: two sing the first verse, two others the second, two others the third and all six sing the Gloria Patri (Liber Ordinarius, p. 181: Versus primi r. Aspiciens per sex chorales cantabuntur, videlicet primum versum duo, deinde duo accedentes secundum, postea alii duo tercium versum, et tunc Gloria patri omnes sex similiter reincipientesque idem r. Aspiciens).
Ms NL-TILtf Haaren 31, antiphoner of the Windesheimer Oude Nonnenklooster in Amsterdam has the rubric unus cantet primum versum, ad secundum unus addatur, ad tercium tercius addatur et iidem tres cantent Gloria.
The B-TO Ordinarius says: ... primum r. Aspiciens, et habet tres versus, duo pueri cantent tres versus, primus v. Quique terrigene, repetitio Ite obviam, secundus v. Qui regis, repetitio Nuncia nobis, tercius v. Excita Domine, repetitio Qui regnaturus, item sequitur Gloria Patri, repetitio In populo, chorus cantet repetitiones, finita ultima repetitione post Gloria Patri cantor reincipiat responsorium Aspiciens et chorus prosequatur.
Some of the sequentiae of NL-Hs 184 C 7 bear a note saying that part of the strophes are to be sung during the octave.
Some of the sequentiae of B-TONGLna V 326 bear indications that some verses are to be sung by the cantrix. The sequentiae Fulgens preclara and Gaude caterva of B-AVERBna IV 419 have the rubric Cantores written over some of the verses; something similar is in B-AVERBna IV 411.
Ms NL-Uu 414 has the sequence for Franciscus Surgit victor with indication for an alternatim practice between choir and cantores.
Ms NL-Uu 413 has alternatim indications in the Credo on fol. 150r.
Ms GB-Eu 33 (Graduale, 15th century, Augustinians of the Windesheim congregation) has indications for alternatim practice (orgel and choor).
Some Kyriale chants in NL-Uc BMH 23 have indications of alternatim practice between choir and organ (fol 8r ff).
An alternatim practice between cantores and choir (text - melisms) of the verse of alleluia Vox exultacionis, more or less similar to that of the antiphon Cum inducerent mentioned above, is displayed in NL-At 206 A 10. The same in NL-HEESWab 19.
Ms NL-Au VIII G 1 contains a rubric to one of the verses of the hymn Rex sanctorum angelorum: Pastor ter dicit versus sequens Fac interna fontis huius sacratum mysterium Respondeant scholastici Qui profluxit cum cruore sacri christi corpore.
Ms B-TO 63 contains after the 9th responsory of Christmas Matins a hymn opening with the strophe Lumen claro, having the refrain Christo nato regi magno totus orbis gaudeat, accompanied by the rubric Finito IXo responsorio duo pueri induti albis cantent hanc antiphonam.
Guidelines for the liturgy in Marienpoel in Leiden are preserved in NL-L Kloosterarch. 882 (familiar to those of the Ordinarius Windeshemensis (imprint 1521) and the Regula b. Augustini ep. cum constitutionibus canonicarum regularium capituli Windesemensis (imprint 1553)).
When decent behaviour during liturgy had been lost, prescriptions to
restore order were issued. In Walburgiskerk Zutphen a charter with such
prescriptions was prepared in 1540: GAZ inv.nr 561 (?) (the text is
also preserved in a 17th century transcription: Collectie Kreynck,
nr. 61, fol. 62v).
A document on the quality of the singing of the canons of
Pancratiuskerk in Leiden is
NL-L, Arch. Kerken 395.
A strange ceremony for the 'deportatio s. Victoris' is described in D-Mbsb Clm 28546 from the Xanten Dom.
See also Processions.