The music of Cipriano De Rore

O altitudo divitiarum - Quis enim cognovit


A. Type: Motet
B. Number of voices: 5vv
Ct. Text: : Read


E. To be found in the following score sources:

following: Bernstein, Jane A. (1998) :
- 1549 : {Bernstein} - 88 : 'Primo libro de motetti a cinque voci'

following: Borren, Charles (van den) (1933-1934) :
- 1550-1600 : {Census} - BrusC 27089 : '{Census} - BrusC 27089'

following: CMME Project(The) - Dumitrescu (e.a.), Theodor :
- {Census} - ParisBNC 851 ("Bourdeney Manuscript") : '{Census} - ParisBNC 851 ("Bourdeney Manuscript")'

following: Collins Judd, Cristle (2000) :
- 1560, circa ) (source: OwensM) : {Census} - ModE C.314 : '{Census} - ModE C.314'

following: Lewis, Mary S. (1988) :
- 1549 : {Lewis_1} - 134 : 'RORE. MOTETTI A 5 LIB. III°'

following: Meier, Bernardus (1959) :
- 1549 : {RISM} - 1549_08 : 'Il terzo libro di Motetti a cinque voci di Cipriano de Rore, et de altri eccellentissimi musici, novamente ristampato, con una buona gionta de motetti novi.'

following: Owens, Jessie Ann (2001) :
- 1549 : {RISM} - 1549_07 : 'Primo libro di motetti a cinque voci da diversi eccellentissimi music composti et non stampati, novamente posti in luce, et con somma diligentia coretti. Come a' cantanti sarà manifesto.'


F. Modern score:

See 'Meier, Bernardus : Cipriani Rore Opera Omnia, Vol I : Motets' : p.122

  • Contents of this volume of Meier
  • American Institute of Musicology : Uitgave De Rore (B. Meier)


    I. Incipit: M_1_122.jpg Source: 'Meier, Bernardus : Cipriani Rore Opera Omnia', American Institute of Musicology


    J. Discography:

    1 - ' Anthologie de la Musique Sacrée : Renaissance , Bruno Turner, Pro Cantione Antiqua (Archiv)
    2 - ' Cipriano de Rore : Missa Doulce mémoire & Missa a note negre (The Brabant Ensemble) , The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice (Hyperion)
    3 - ' DGG 2533/361 , Pro Cantione Antiqua, Bruno Turner (Deutsche Grammophon)
    4 - ' Geistliche Musik der Renaissance , Verschillende uitvoeders (Archiv Produktion)
    5 - ' Geistliche Musik der Renaissance (Pro Cantione Antiqua) , Pro Cantione Antiqua (Deutsche Grammophon)


    L. References:

    References with citation/remark:

    1 : Meier, Bernardus, Cipriani Rore Opera Omnia, Vol I : Motets (American Institute of Musicology (AIM), 1959)
    - p.IV : 'The introduction of accidentals foreign to the mode often leads to the formation of irregular Phrygian cadences, for instance in bars 130-135 of In convertendo Dominus (Euntes ibant et flebant), bars 45-48 and 100-104 of Plange quasi virgo (et amara calde), bars 55-64 of Quanti mercenarii (pecavi), and bars 102f. of Levavi oculos meos (ab omni malo). Also worth mentioning is the music of the question Quid fecisti? (Domine Deus, bars 65-73): together with two regular cadences on the final G (second mode transposed), there are irregular Phrygian cadences in a and d.
    Still more unusal is the setting of the words dolorum meorum in corde meo (Tribularer, si nescirem, bars 72ff.): the Phrygian cadence in a which is, strictly speaking, not allowed in the third mode, is followed by a second cadence on d, still further away from the normal Phrygian closes. In contrast to this, Rore makes use of the Phrygian cadences d, a, and e at the end of the section of the motet O altitudo divitiarum beginning with the words et investigabiles vice eius (bars 33-48). All these cadences deviate from the norm adopted by the second mode transposed, though admittedly the cadence on e is somewhat disguised by the cadential progressions of the Cantus and Bassus.'

    2 : Meier, Bernardus, Cipriani Rore Opera Omnia, Vol I : Motets (American Institute of Musicology (AIM), 1959)
    - p.III : 'The line O altitudo divitiarum on the other hand is set to the imitative entry of upper fifth to final, so unusual in the second mode. '

    3 : Einstein, Alfred, The Italian Madrigal (vertaald naar het Engels door Alexander H. Krappe, Roger H. Sessions en Oliver Strunk) (Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1949)
    - p.410 : 'Zacconi, in his Prattica di musica (II, 1622, 63f.), recognized Rore as Monteverdi's real predecessor, although the two masters cannot even be said to belong to successive generations, for Monteverdi was more than fifty years younger and Rore died two years before Monteverdi was born. "He who wishes to learn the proper use of dissonances," Zacconi says, "should study the works of Signor Monte Verdi [sic] which are quasi piene of them; [ . . .]. And should anyone ask me where he found it, I should reply that he took it from the second part of Cipriano's motet O altitudo divitiarum . . . or rather, that however much he may have taken it from him, he was not moved by him alone, but [also] by the daily usage of our modern singers who sing their pieces with the most agreeably impassioned inflections in order to make themselves more agreeable to their listeners".'


    Page last updated : 25/10/2023 21:12:12
    My code : #6265 (M_1_122)