Chapter 2: The Context of the Piece

2.1 The source

Manuscript E-Bbc 1967 originated circa 1540 in the Valencia region of Spain. By the 1920s at the latest it had become part of the collection at the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria in Gandia, located approximately 70 kilometers south of Valencia. During this period, Spanish priest and musicologist Higinio Anglés¹² obtained the manuscript for study and restoration. Subsequently, it was transferred to the collection of the Biblioteca Central of Barcelona. There, the manuscript underwent restoration and rebinding, though this process unfortunately resulted in its disorganization and the separation of a section (now catalogued as E-Bbc 1166). Despite these complications, the transfer to Barcelona proved fortuitous. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), a fire destroyed the archive of Santa Maria in Gandia. Had the manuscript remained there, it likely would have been lost. Thus, the actions of Anglés and the Biblioteca Central inadvertently preserved this valuable musical document.

The manuscript is a compilation of miscellaneous material, for use in diverse liturgical occasions: it contains a mass (Missa Inviolata), diverse psalm settings for vespers, a Magnificat, a Te Deum, several motets, music for the liturgy of Holy Week (passions and lamentations), several plainchant items, and a section with secular villancicos. The repertoire represents a mix of international and local composers from the post-Josquin generation. Internationally renowned composers include Philippe Verdelot (ca. 1480/1485 - ca. 1530), Constanzo Festa (ca. 1485/1490-1545), Noel Bauldeweyn (ca. 1490 - after 1513) or Cristóbal de Morales (1500-1553). Local composers represented in the manuscript are Pedro de Pastrana (ca. 1495-1563), Bartolomé Cárceres, (fl. 1546-1559) Juan de Cepa (ca. 1520 - before 1576), and Ginés Pérez de la Parra (1548-1600)¹³. Another part of the repertoire is anonymous (especially the humbler liturgical pieces such as psalm settings, but also, surprisingly, the Missa Inviolata). The source became known as Cancionero de Gandia due to the special interest received by the lighter pieces of the secular and paraliturgical genres, but this might be somewhat misleading, given the greater relative weight of the sacred, liturgical repertoire (more than two thirds).

The first comprehensive catalogue of the manuscript contents appeared in an article by Josep M. Llorens in 1981, which already pointed to its connections with the musical establishments of Gandia and Valencia¹⁴. Further study in the 1990s led to publication of a transcription of most of the manuscript by José Climent Barber, who suggested the ducal court or the collegiate church of Gandia, besides the Cathedral of Valencia, as possible places of origin¹⁵. Concurrently, M.ª Carmen Gómez Muntané published the complete works of Bartolomé Cárceres, a composer represented in the manuscript, pointing instead to the viceregal court of Valencia¹⁶. Bernadette Nelson published the first article on the manuscript in English in 2001: she follows Gómez Muntané hypothesis of the viceregal court origin but extended the theory by proposing the Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes (also in Valencia) as the manuscript intended destination¹⁷. More recent research by Ferran Escrivà Llorca in 2007 has strengthened the manuscript connection to Gandia by identifiying four names appearing in the manuscript as personnel of the collegiate church¹⁸.

The manuscript E-Bbc 1967, as the sole source of the Missa Inviolata, holds significant importance in understanding the context of the piece. The various hypotheses regarding the manuscript origin and intended destination, as proposed by the aforementioned scholars, offer valuable insights into the potential motivations behind the mass composition or, at the very least, its inclusion in this particular compilation. To fully appreciate these hypotheses and their implications for the Missa Inviolata, it is crucial to examine the cultural and musical contexts of the institutions associated with the manuscript. Therefore, we will provide an overview of four key entities: the viceregal court of Valencia, the Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes, the ducal court of Gandia and the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria of Gandia follows.

2.2 The viceregal court of Valencia: Fernando de Aragón and Germana de Foix

The area roughly coincident with today autonomous region of Valencia was incorporated as a newly created kingdom to the Crown of Aragon in the 13th century. This was part of the long, intermittent campaign known in traditional historiography as Reconquista: the gradual process by which Christian rulers sought to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula following the Muslim invasion of 711. In the late 15th century, the Crown of Aragon (Valencia included) united with that of Castile through the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand. Their grandson Charles of Habsburg, who inherited also Austria and the Low Countries through his paternal lineage, ruled over a vast empire, the high complexity of which led to the creation of multiple councils (collectively referred to today as the polysynodial system) as well as new titles, for a more efficient organization. Specifically for the kingdom of Valencia, besides being under the jurisdiction of the Council of Aragon, Charles created in 1520 the position of viceroy as an extension of his royal authority. Viceroys were appointed directly by the king for a tenure of three years, sometimes extended for a second period, with very few exceptions to this protocol during the 16th and 17th century. The title disappeared in the 18th century, after the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1715).

One of the few exceptions to the three-year tenures was the appointment of Fernando de Aragón (1488-1550), duke of Calabria, who was viceroy of Valencia for almost 25 years. Fernando life is nothing short of novelesque: he belonged to an originally illegitimate branch of the Aragonese royal family that had ruled Naples since its conquest by Alfonso V of Aragon in 1442 but lost the kingdom to the senior branch of Ferdinand the Catholic in the context of the Second Italian War (1499-1504). Still as a tenager, to neutralize his claim to the Neapolitan throne, he was separated from his family and taken to the court of the Catholic Monarchs. After a failed attempt to escape to France, his situation worsened: he was transferred to an isolated castle and held captive for ten years. Nevertheless, the hard lesson proved fruitful: during the Revolt of the Brotherhoods (1519-1523), rebels stormed the castle and offered Fernando leadership in their cause, but Fernando refused, instead taking up arms to defend his guards. This display of loyalty to the crown was, probably, what conviced king Charles (his third cousin) to not only to release him from captivity, but also to arrange an advantageous marriage for him and appoint him to a suitable position¹⁹.

In 1526 Fernando married Germana de Foix (1488-1536), vicereine of Valencia since 1523, and the couple was jointly appointed to the title. Germana is another extremely interesting character: she was related to the French royal family, was educated at the court and had a distant claim to the kingdom of Navarra. She married Ferdinand the Catholic in 1505, as part of the Treaty of Blois between Ferdinand and Louis xii of France, becoming queen consort of Aragon, but widowed in 1516. There are speculations regarding a hypothetical affair with Charles of Habsburg upon his arrival in Spain in 1517; at any rate, she married one of Charles captains, the German aristocrat Johann of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1519. She was appointed vicereine of Valencia alongside her husband in 1523, but widowed once more in 1525. She was reinstated in the title together with Fernando in 1526, staying in Valencia till her own death ten years later. Fernando would remarry in 1541 with Mencía de Mendoza (1508-1554), who was also highly educated and an avid art collector herself²⁰.

2.3 Musical patronage at the viceregal court of Valencia

During the 1400s, due to the Mediterranean projection of the Aragonese Crown and its regular connections with other Mediterranean cities (Barcelona, Genoa, Rome and Naples), Valencia had already established itself as one of Spain preeminent centers for arts and scholarly activity. Fernando and Germana established at Valencia, during the second quarter of the 16th century, a vibrant court of a cosmopolite character (besides the official Spanish, Valencian and Latin languages, also Italian and French were spoken), most likely inspired on the “lost kingdom” of Naples. Even if the couple was not politically fortunate, with their royal claims dissolved amidst the struggles of their time, they were not just victims of the fate: they seem to have embraced their destiny in what appears a conscious choice to channel their energies towards developing their artistic patronage²¹.

Music, a key element of Renaissance court life, was generously supported by Fernando²²: he maintained a very rich musical chapel, with at least 40 musicians employed by the mid-1540s, only surpassed by the royal chapel²³. Besides sacred music, the lutenist and composer Luis de Milán (before 1500 - after 1561) flourished during those years at the court²⁴. The viceregal court of Valencia is also the probable context were the Cancionero de Uppsala²⁵ was compiled, and there is even a musical genre practically indigenous to the court: that of the ensalada²⁶, its main exponent being the composer Mateo Flecha (ca. 1481 - ca. 1553), who appears intermittently as chapelmaster of the Cathedral of Valencia in the period discussed. Besides the local activity, connection with Franco-Flemish musicians of the post-Josquin generation active in north Italian courts was maintained, especially with Jacques Colebault, known as Jacquet de Mantua (1483-1559), who dedicated at least two works to Fernando and/or his immediate family²⁷.

2.4 The Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes

In the vicinity of the city of Valencia, and on the basis of a previous Cistercian institution, Fernando and Germana founded a Hieronymite monastery jointly dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel and the Three Kings. The monastery was to become the final resting place for the family, and as such it was richly endowed: amongst many other items, a sizable collection of approximately 25 choirbooks with chant and sacred polyphony was donated by Fernando for its liturgical needs²⁸. The Hieronymite order was known for its strong musical inclination, as can be gathered from the abundance of musical chapels and positions maintained in its monasteries²⁹. Unfortunately, the monastery faced several misfortunes throughout its history, and its music collection is no longer extant³⁰.

2.5 Musical patronage at the ducal court of Gandia

The title of Duke of Gandia, one of the highest aristocratic titles in the kingdom of Valencia, was created in 1399 on the basis of a pre-existing lordship traditionally held by a junior branch of the royal Aragonese family. In the 1480s, it was purchased from king Ferdinand by Rodrigo de Borja (later Pope Alexander VI) in an attempt to secure significant possessions and titles in Spain for his descendants. His grandson Juan de Borja and great-grandson Francisco de Borja, dukes of Gandia during the first half of the 16th century, were highly educated humanist princes who supported the arts and music. Francisco, who eventually entered the Jesuit order and was canonized in 1671 as a saint of the Catholic Church, even composed music himself.

Alongside the ducal palace, the other important center for the practice of sophisticated music in Gandia was the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria. Although the historical archive of Santa Maria was lost during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), part of its history can be reconstructed from other documentation. It is clear that the collegiate enjoyed the protection and patronage of the Borja family: its musical establishment already included singers and organists in the roster of canons, as well as four choirboys, besides the possible participation of ducal musicians, at least for the most important feasts³¹.

2.6 Possible motivations for Missa Inviolata

Taking the hypotheses of the scholars who have studied E-Bbc 1967 and its context as starting point, it is possible to outline up to three plausible motivations for the inclusion of Missa Inviolata in the manuscript:

• In memory of Germana de Foix. Following Bernadette Nelson hypothesis, if the manuscript was compiled at the viceregal court of Valencia for use at the Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes, the polyphonic mass could have been used as part of the anniversary services held in Germana memory at the monastery. These included three masses, as stipulated in her testament, the first being the mass of the Purification (a Marian feast explicitly related to the original context of the sequence Inviolata), which was to be celebrated with singing³².
• For anniversaries of the inauguration of the Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes. Still following Nelson hypothesis, the mass could have been sung during the anniversaries of the first mass celebrated at the monastery on July 4th, 1546. That initial celebration was the Office of the Visitation (chosen by randomly opening a missal upon the prior taking possession), which is also a Marian feast and became established as a yearly custom³³.
• For Marian feasts at Santa Maria of Gandia. Following now the hypothesis of Ferran Escrivá Llorca, the manuscript was instead compiled for, and used at, the collegiate church³⁴. Being under the advocation of Mary, the inclusion of Missa Inviolata could have been motivated by the necessity of a suitable polyphonic setting of the Ordinary for the solemn celebration of any Marian feast there, perhaps most appropriately the Purification or the Immaculate Conception.

2.7 Possible authorship of Missa Inviolata

There have been several attributions of Missa Inviolata. In his integral edition of the manuscript, José Climent mentions two local musicians represented with other pieces in the source who could have been responsible for the composition of the mass: Bartolomé de Cárceres and Pedro de Pastrana, with a preference for the latter, though without providing solid reasons³⁵. The first strong hypothesis was offered by Bernadette Nelson in her article dedicated to the mass, in which she tentatively proposed Philippe Verdelot as the composer³⁶. To facilitate a stylistic comparison, several of Verdelot works are taken as a references for the analysis of the mass, which Nelson shows to feature many comparable contrapuntal textures and coincidental formulas to those in Vederlot pieces.

A more plausible candidate is Maistre Jhan (ca. 1485-1538), French-born composer active in Ferrara since at least 1512. This attribution can be made thanks to a possible concordance that existed in Treviso till the 1940s. Although most of the musical collection of the Cathedral of Treviso was lost during the Second World War, the contents of the manuscripts are known from the catalogue made by archivist Giovanni D’Alessi: the source identified with the sigla no. 1 contained a Missa Inviolata for six voices by Maistre Jhan, starting on folio 48³⁷. The possibility that this is one and the same with the anonymous one in E-Bbc 1967 is very high, but with the destruction of the manuscript, it is no longer possible to definitively close the issue.

Notes to chapter 2

12. Higinio Anglés Pamies (1888-1969), Spanish priest and musicologist. For some biographical and bibliographical references, see <https://datos.bne.es/persona/XX978398.html>, last accessed 03/03/2023.

13. Ginés Pérez de la Parra belongs to a later generation. His works were added to the manuscript by a different hand.

14. Llorens 1981.

15. Climent Barber 1995.

16. Cárceres 1995. A somewhat bitter polemic between José Climent Barber and Mª Carmen Gómez Muntané ensued; it is documented by the letters included in the issues 12, 13, and 14 of the Nasarre journal (1996-1998).

17. Nelson 2001.

18. Escrivà Llorca 2007.

19. The most complete biography of Fernando is D'Agostino 2015.

20. For the biographies of Germana and Mencía, see, respectively, Querol y Roso 1931 and Lasso de Vega 1942.

21. Early descriptions of life at the viceregal court of Valencia come from the chronicles of 16th-century Hieronymite monk José de Sigüenza (modern edition in Sigüenza 1907). The topic has been extensively discussed in 20th-century scholarship: see Castañeda 1911, Almela i Vives 1958, Romeu Figueras 1958 (especially part 2). For more recent studies, see D'Agostino 2015 (part II, chapter IV) and Duce García 2017.

22. For a general picture, see Nelson 2004. Information on the musical life can be gathered from studies of specific aspects cited elsewhere in this section, but for an in-depth monograph, see Colella 2019.

23. The first scholarly approach to the viceregal chapel is Moll 1963.

24. Besides his well-known book of music for vihuela Milán 1536, he also published two literary works that document courtly life in Valencia: Milán 1535, Milán 1561.

25. Scotto 1556, of which a single copy survives in the University Library of Uppsala (see Romeu Figueras 1958). Modern edition in Gómez Muntané 2003.

26. A genre that combines different musical styles, languages and dialects. The most important source is (Flecha 1581)Flecha 1581.

27. These pieces are the sogetto cavato mass Ferdinandus dux calabriae and the lament motet Ploremus omnes for Fernando’s brother, Cesare. See McMurtry 1977, Jackson 1978, and Nugent 1988.

28. The inventory of these books is available in Colella 2019, pp. 149-150.

29. On the topic of the Hieronymite order and music, see De Vicente 2010.

30. For a history of the monastery since its construction till today, see Arciniega García 2001.

31. On the musical life at the ducal court of Gandia, see Escrivà Llorca 2007, Escrivà Llorca 2015 (pp. 34-38), and Escrivà Llorca 2022.

32. See Nelson 2001 (pp. 249-250).

33. See Nelson 2001 (pp. 223-224, 247-249).

34. See Escrivà Llorca 2007 (pp. 105-120).

35. Climent Barber 1995 (p. 360, pp. 362-363).

36. Nelson 2002.

37. D'Alessi 1954 (p. 212).