Fourteen motets from the Florilegium Portense of Erhard Bodenschatz: Critical editions and comparative analysis with the original sources

Arnold, Jon

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/113991 Copy

Description

Title

Fourteen motets from the Florilegium Portense of Erhard Bodenschatz: Critical editions and comparative analysis with the original sources

Author(s)

Arnold, Jon

Issue Date

2021-12-03

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Megill, Andrew

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Megill, Andrew

Committee Member(s)

• Mattax Moersch, Charlotte
• Solya, Andrea
• Eagen-Jones, Megan

Department of Study

Music

Discipline

Music

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

A.Mus.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Florilegium Portense
• Erhard Bodenschatz
• polychoral motets

Abstract

The Florilegium Portense encompasses three anthology publications in Leipzig by Erhard Bodenschatz from 1603 to 1621. Born around 1576, Bodenschatz was a composer and pastor who was active in Saxony and Thuringia. While serving as the cantor at the prominent Schulpforta near Naumburg, Saxony from 1600 to 1603, he compiled an anthology of eighty-nine motets called the Florilegium Selectissimarum Cantionum, which was published by Abraham Lamberg in 1603. Nearly all of the works contained in the anthology were in Latin and most were for eight voices. An expanded and revised volume of 115 motets was published in 1618 and was the only publication to truly bear the name of Florilegium Portense. The anthology was designed for use at the school, primarily to provide music for daily functions such as singing at meals. Three years later, Bodenschatz published another volume of 150 motets, entitled Florilegii Musici Portensis. The last was intended more for liturgical use and consists mostly of music by Italian composers. Eighty-three of the pieces in this latter volume also occur in the Promptuarium Musicum, a contemporary four-volume collection edited by Abraham Schadaeus and Caspar Vincentius. The anthologies have become known primarily because of their use by Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, but they were widely used in schools and churches throughout Germany. Research on the Florilegium has slowly progressed, but much of the music remains unavailable in score. The primary purpose of this project is to present editions of fourteen motets from the 1618 volume: three by Andreas Berger, one by Bodenschatz, five by Albinus Fabricius, two each by Andrea Gabrieli and Jacob Handl (known as Gallus), and one motet by Vincentius. These were chosen because they represent some of the more prolific composers found in the anthology, its editor, and possible contributor of the continuo part. The motets by Gabrieli and one by Handl were chosen because they are eight-voice arrangements of works originally scored for ten or twelve voices. During the transcription and editing process, it was discovered that the motets in the anthology differ, often in significant ways, from the composers’ original publications. The changes, although inconsistent, appear to be driven by a desire to make the music more accessible, most likely for the students at Schulpforta. There are also many errors in the Florilegium. The text of this study will explore each of the motets that were transcribed and examine the differences between the composers’ original publications and the versions in the Bodenschatz anthology.

Graduation Semester

2021-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113991

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 Jon Arnold

Owning Collections