Choralis Constantinus
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The Choralis Constantinus is a collection of over 375 Gregorian chant-based polyphonic motets for the proper of the mass composed by Heinrich Isaac. The genesis of the collection is a commission by the cathedral of Constance for Isaac, who was at that time the official court composer for the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, to compose a set of motets for the special holy days celebrated in the diocese of Constance. Isaac was in Constance at the time (April 1508) with the Imperial court as Maximilian had called a meeting of the German nobility (Reichstag) there.
After Isaac's death in 1517 his pupil Ludwig Senfl, who had been a member of the Imperial chapel choir, compiled music composed for Constance and for the Imperial court into the collection which was published in three volumes as the Choralis Constantinus by Hieronymous Formschneider in Nuremberg in 1555. Gerhard Pätzig, in his dissertation for the University of Tübingen in 1956 compared manuscripts with the Formschneider print and determined that most of Volume II and parts of Volume III of the Formschneider publication were from the original Constance commission and that the rest were from Maximilian's court repertory - either from Isaac's hand or possibly Senfl's.
A modern edition appeared in Volumes 10 (proper of time) and 32 (proper of saints) of Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, the latter edited by Anton Webern. Volume III, edited by Louise Cuyler, was published by U. Mich. Press, 1950. Contents:
(Sundays are provided with an Introit, Alleluia (or Tract) and Communion; feasts, such as Trinity and the contents of CC II, include even verses of the Sequence hymn.)
Choralis Constantinus I (DTÖ 10):
Asperges me Domine & Gloria Patri
De Sanctissima Trinitate
Domenica i.-XXIII. post Pentecosten
Domenica I.-IV Adventus
D. infra octavam Epiphaniae
D. I. & II. post "
D. in Septuagesima
" Septuagesima
" Quinquagesima
In die cinerum
Domenica Invocavit
Reminiscere
Oculi
Laetare
Judica
Palmarum
Quasimodo geniti
Misericordia D.
Jubilate
Cantate
Vocem Jucunditatis
Exaudi
Choralis Constantinus II (DTÖ 32):
Nativitate Dom.:
Circumcisione D:
Epiphania D: Dec6 Ecce advenit Alleluia vidimus Festas Christi (quae miris) Vidimus Stellam
Purificatione BMV: Feb2 Suscepimus Deus Alleluia post partum virgo Concentu parili (Generosi Abrahae) Responsum accepit S Tract Gaude Maria
Annunciatione BVM: Mar25 Rorate coeli Ave (unformated) Ecce virgo conipiet
Resurrectione D: Pasccha Nostrum
Ascensione D: Viri Galilaei Dominus in sina Sumi triumphum (qui coeli) Psalite Domino
De Sancto Spititu:
Corporis Chr.:
S Iohanes Baptistae:
SS. Johannis et Pauli:
Petri et Pauli:
Visitatione BVM: (May31, formerly July) Gaudeamus Alleluia magnificat anima mea Lauda sponsa (piae genitix) Beata viscera
S. Mariae Magdalenae:
Assumptione BVM: Aug15 Gaudeamus Alleluia asumpta est M Congaudet angelorum () Dilexisti
S. Geberhardi:
S. Pelagii:
Nativitate BVM: (Sep8) Gaudeamus nativitate Alleluia nativitas virginis Stirpe Maria (Laude digna) Diffusa est gratia
Anniversario Dedicatione Ecclesiae: Locus iste Ecclesiae desponato (1b,6b) not in G.P.
Santa Crucis:
Omnium Sanctorum:
S. Martini Epis.:
Presentatione BVM: (nov21) Gaudeamus Alleluia felix virgo Altissiam providente (Uno nexu) Beata Viscera
S.Conradi:
Conceptione BVM: (Dec8) Gaudeamus Alleluia conceptio Conceptio Mariae (de radice) Difusa est
[edit] Recordings
Margaretha-Maximilian I, Capilla Flamenca together with La Caccia, Schola Cantorum Cantate Domino, Schola Gregoriana Lovaniensis and Joris Verdin, 2001 (Orf CD 265). Contains proper chants from the Choralis Constantinus along with several pieces of secular music.
