From the Laudes Creaturarum of St. Francis to the lauda repertoire of the 15th century

The ‘Canticle of Creatures’, the first lauda and poetic text written in the Umbrian vernacular in 1225, is the cornerstone of the 16th International Medieval Music Course 800 years later. The poem, embodies Francis’ love for creation and all animate and inanimate things. Probably inspired by the Canticle of the Three Little Children, it was meant to be sung, and as the anonymous author of the Assisi Compilation conveys to us, it was Francis himself who composed a melody that he taught to his companions:

“…I want therefore, to praise him and to my consolation and for the edification of my neighbor, to compose a new laud of the Lord concerning his creatures. Every day we use creatures and without them we cannot live […]. And seating himself, he concentrated on pondering and then said, Most High, Almighty, good Signor. And he composed therein a melody and taught it to his companions for them to repeat.” (Assisi Compilation, ch. 83)

It was with the Franciscan movement during the lifetime of Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) that the first experiments in religious poetry in the vernacular were made.

The text of the Canticle of Creatures is preserved in Codex 338 of the Biblioteca Comunale di Assisi, but the space under the incipit, intended for music notation, remained blank. Following the research of Lucia Marchi and other scholars, a musical reconstruction for this text can be attempted by relying on the Gregorian repertoire contemporary with Francis’ life, that he surely knew and from which he may have drawn inspiration.

Francis and his brothers called themselves joculatores domini “minstrels of God”; they were mendicants of the Franciscan order whose rule was to preach and help the poor. Singing praises in public squares and gathering many followers, they created a fervent movement that spread very quickly in Italy and far beyond.

Among the many books of laudi, preserved generally without music, we have the exception of the Cortona Codex 91 (late 13th cent.) and the Laudario Magliabechiano B.R. 18 (mid-14th cent.), in which there are the oldest and most valuable musical records of a vast tradition. This tradition was initially entrusted only to the memory of the performers, custodians of a very rich repertoire of which, unfortunately, only the part transmitted by the codices remains.

The practice of singing laude at the various religious brotherhoods (of the Whites, Flagellants, etc.) is attested by means of precise references in the chronicles of the time. Above all, it should be emphasized that such singing was one of the main and most significant moments of spiritual renewal and emancipation of the confraternities from the medieval liturgical tradition; a strong point of cohesion among the brothers who, practically every day, gathered for prayer.

The early lauda is a simple, monodic song, easy for all the brothers to sing (at least in the refrain), yet, precisely because it is a choral song, always inspired and emotionally profound. The texts of these lauds, in the nascent dialects, deal with various topics: songs of praise to the Virgin, songs about the Nativity, Passion and Resurrection of Christ, the praise of the saints, penitential songs and about death.

Echoes of this important musical world are still alive today within Italy’s most archaic folk traditions. The processions, ritual songs, dances, and paraliturgical repertoires of Holy Week that still remain in use in some areas of the peninsula are the survival of musical styles and techniques, anthropological and social meanings, and a spirituality, that have their roots in the Middle Ages and perhaps beyond.

The course will therefore start by examining the manuscripts that have transmitted early monodic repertoire: Ms. Cortona 91 and Magliabechiano B.R.18, preserved in Florence. These sources were created in order to help codify the confraternal rituals that had the daily practice of singing lauds as the basis of their statutes. Polyphonic laude of the 14th and 15th centuries from the Florentine and Veneto areas will also be studied.

We know, from recent research, that dance could accompany the singing of some lauds, sacred dance was part of that gladness that was supposed to accompany the praises of God this always according to Francis’ thought. A course on traditional sacred dances of the Mediterranean area lead by Placida Staro will try to reconstruct part of the practice of sacred dances.