M044 O Maria clausus hortus

Standardised text incipit: 
O Maria clausus hortus
Standardised composer: 
Weerbeke, Gaspar van
Attribution notes: 
"Gaspar" (I-Mfd 1, index; as part of C13a)
In cycle(s): 
C13a Quam pulchra es (8 motets)
C13b Quam pulchra es (3 motets)
Reference source: 
I-Mfd 1, ff. 139v-140r
Number of voices: 
4
Mensuration: 

Length: 
56
Signature: 
b
Clefs: 
g2c2c3c4
Final: 
G
Music incipit: 
aabaaggf
..agfeed
dddccbag
..dedegf
Pre-existing melodies (Cantus prius facti): 
Modern editions: 
AMMM 11, 63-66; CMM 106.3; MCE 6.6
GCO Catalogue: 
[I.103]
[II.15]
Literature: 
GASSER 2001
, 290
Discography: 
Further notes: 

GASSER 2001, 289 considers this as the 3a pars of M043 (see the Further notes to M043).

See also the Gaspar van Weerbeke Project.

Text details

Tags: 
Verse
Composite text
To/about Mary
Standardised text incipit: 
O Maria clausus hortus
Liturgical/devotional association: 
Marian feasts (Conception)
Full text: 

O Maria clausus hortus,
Naufragantis mundi portus,
Placa nobis qui te fecit,
Matrem sibi quam elegit.

Audi virgo glorifica,
Post filium spes unica.
Clemens et imperiosa,
Nostra dele maculosa.
Accepta nostra cantica,
Impetra pulchra caelica.

Ave decus virgineum,
Ave iubar aethereum,
Adsit praesens solemnitas
Nobis perpes iocunditas.

Tua namque veneratio
Summis est gratulatio.

English translation: 

O Mary closed garden, harbour for the shipwrecked world; Reconcile us with who formed you, him who chose you as his mother.

Hear us, virgin glorious, only hope after your son. Gracious and imperious, delete our sinful affairs. Accept our songs, obtain our pardon, celestial, beauteous.

Hail, virginal beauty, hail celestial light, may this thanksgiving feast be an enjoyment for us.

Your veneration is namely a compliment for the highest things.

 

Correspondences in standard ref works: 

From a (widespread) rhymed office for the Conception of the BVM, AH 5, No. 12, pp. 47-50, (see also MONE 2, No. 326, pp. 8-15)
O Maria ... elegit = 3rd antiphon at First Vespers

Audi ... caelica = Antiphon for the 3rd Nocturn at Matins (in monastic breviaries only)
Accepta] Acceptans
pulchra] fulcra

Ave ... gratulatio = Magnificat antiphon at First Vespers
Adsit ] Nobis
Nobis] Da sit
veneratio] conceptio

Further notes: 

Even though the text derives from a rhymed office for the Conception of the BVM, all references to that particular feast are avoided or omitted, so the text seems to be a multi-purpose Marian prayer. According to GASSER 2001, 290, moreover, the first two stanzas also appear in certain fifteenth-century books of hours as antiphon for Prime and Sext in the Office of the BVM (with reference to the Horae of Catherine of Cleves, c. 1470).

T044 O Maria clausus hortus

Music incipit (MEI): 
File M044OMariaClaususHortus.xml

Sources with this motet

Displaying 1 - 2 of 2
Source Motet incipit Attribution Rubric Cycle / Text
I-Mfd 1
139v-140r 		O Maria clausus hortus
ID: M044 		Gaspar (index; as part of C13a)
Weerbeke, Gaspar van 		- C13a Quam pulchra es (8 motets)
T044 O Maria clausus hortus
I-Mfd 2
050v-051r 		O Maria clausus hortus
ID: M044 		-
Weerbeke, Gaspar van 		- C13b Quam pulchra es (3 motets)
T044 O Maria clausus hortus