Degentis vita; Cum vix artidici; Vera pudicitia
Four-voice anonymous motet
Sources
Barcelona: Biblioteca de Catalunya 971 (olim 946), fol. 8v-9 (3/2) (with Tenor 'Degentis');
Brussels: Archives du Royaume, Archives Ecclèsiastiques 758, fol. 53v (Triplum only);
Chantilly: Bibliothèque du Musèe Condè
564, fol. 62v-63 (4/2);
Nürnberg: Stadtbibliothek, fragment lat. 9 (olim Centurio V, 61), fol. 1 (Motetus lost, different Contratenor);
Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds nouv. acq. français 23190 (olim Serrant
Château, ducs de la Trèmoìlle), fol. 25v-26 (lost);
Strasbourg: Bibliothèque Municipale (olim Bibliothèque de la Ville) 222 C. 22, fol. 81v;
Yoxford: [manuscript in private possession, on deposit in Keble College
Library, Oxford], fol. 2v (4/2).
Editions
1. The Motets of the Manuscripts Chantilly, Musèe Condè, 564 (olim 1047) and Modena, Biblioteca Estense, a M. 5,24 (olim lat. 568), edited by Ursula Günther, [n.p.]: American Institute of Musicology, 1965. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae
39, p. 4.
2. Motets of French Provenance, edited by Frank Ll. Harrison, Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1968. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century V, p. 116 (CH564)., p. 124 (Barc).
3. GOMEZ, Maria del
Carmen. 'El manuscrito M971 de la Biblioteca de Catalunya (Misa de Barcelona)', Butllet¡ de la Biblioteca de Catalunya, X, 1982-1984, Barcelona: Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1986, p. 258.
Literature
1. BORREN, Charles van den. Le manuscrit musical 222 C. 22 de la bibliothèque de Strasbourg (XVe siècle) brulè en 1870, et reconstituè d'après une copie d'Edmond de Coussemaker, Antwerp: E. Secelle, 1924, pp. 145-146.
2.
BUSSCHE, J. van den. 'Mensurale Fragmenten uit een Cartularium van de St. Goedele Kerk te Brussel', Handelingen van het XXII. Vlaamse Filologencongres, Ghent: 1957, pp. 367-368.
3. GOMEZ, Maria del Carmen. 'Une version a cinq voix du motet
"Apollinis eclipsatur/Zodiacum signis" dans le manuscript E-BCEN 853', Musica Disciplina, XXXIX (1985): 5-44.
4. LEFFERTS, Peter M. The Motet in England in the Fourteenth Century, Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986, pp. 301-302.
5.
STROHM, Reinhard. The rise of European music, 1380-1400, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 42f.
Recordings
1. Music of the Gothic Era [c.1160 - 1400], Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow (1975): Archiv 2723 045(3) (EUR)/ 2710 019(3) (GER/USA).
2. The Medieval Romantics, Gothic Voices, directed by Christopher Page (1991):
CDA66463.
Text
Degentis vita quid prodest arte polita?
Nil, sed in vita precio manus et redimita
et pro dulcore prebenda vel artis amore
non fertur flore stirpis, sed sanguinis ore
atque precatore doni: sic aderis errore,
divitis horrore
terroreque laudis honore.
Vera tegens et falsa regens cunctis adamatur,
sed degens et iura legens non deliciatur.
O sors quam vilis vite degentis, inepta,
nullius incepta, destructis unde sibilis,
des misere vitis mundi dignos tibi
vitis
feris quesitis. Et opes non sunt nisi litis.
Dira pauperies nec sibi grata dies
est nec maceries nec valet ulla quies;
virtus decrescit, sed Symonis ypocrisia
clero vigescit, perit hinc cum flore sophia.
Hoc apte mentis non
complacet arte intentis
in sensu lentis, ideo dant discere ventis.
Infortunatum, quamquam me deserit iste
mundus, me gratum tibi do, sit gloria, Christe.
MOTETUS
Cum vix artidici promoti sint ad habere
astrologi logici, quid
agam? Petrus miserere
hominis et modici, quod scientifici, miserere.
Nescio blandidici dicantur, eo miserere.
Leno, scurra, malis et adulans, qui ioculatur
herens, et talis qualis cito deliciatur.
Expers istorum cum sim, sed non
miserorum,
te rogo, flos florum, michi parti regna polorum,
cordis tu scelera mea purgans, vera sophia,
celi dans decora, virgo salutifera