Canti Gregoriani: Vir Dei Beatus

Ensemble Oktoechos, Menga, Lanfranco

TC 100003

The liturgy of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice is of great interest both in light of the complex historical events that brought the seat of the Patriarch of Aquileia to Venice and because of its essentially conservative character.

A particularly important document for the study of this liturgical-musical repertoire is the "Gradual of St. Mark," which dates from the first half of the 13th century and is now kept in the Berlin State Library.

The library acquired it in 1930 as part of the Werner Wolffheim Collection, but when and how the codex left the Venetian basilica remains a mystery. The Gradual nevertheless represents an important testimony to the state of the "patriarchal" liturgy in Venice during a period of great development. One is immediately struck by how many tropes it contains for almost all the feasts of the year, at a time when this poetic-musical genre, whose development began in the Carolingian era, was disappearing from the liturgy.

Furthermore, these tropes often exhibit features that emphasize their close connection to local liturgical traditions. Finally, it seems clear that the repertoire of the Gradual of Saint Mark contains elements of archaism. While these elements necessarily belong to an earlier period than the time in which the codex itself was compiled, it is precisely the time of its compilation that testifies to the repertoire's enduring survival into a later era.

A somewhat peculiar aspect is the fact that we find a simplified liturgy for the feasts of Saint Mark himself.

CD x 1

Tactus

1.10.2012

8007194101690