The Giunta Psalter-Hymnal

The present volume is a study and edition of the first Psalter-hymnal containing the list of corrections and ementations published after the Council of Trent, which took place between 1545 and 1563. The volume, printed in 1572 by the Venetian printer Lucantonio Giunta the Younger (1540–1602), contains all amendments that followed the revisioning of liturgy as part of the Council’s proceedings. The Giunta Psalter-hymnal 1572 (hereafter, PSG) is, therefore, not only a considerably important wintess of such reforms, but also of the moment when these were first introduced in the official Roman liturgy, more specifically in the case those concerning the Office of the Hours.

Such modifications remained in place during the following centuries and were in vigour at the time of the most important composers of sacred music of the aetas aurea of Renaissance polyphony, among whom are Palestrina, Victoria, Guerrero, Gabrieli, Gesualdo, and Monteverdi. To this day, much of the scholarship on sixteenth-century music focused on the polyphonic repertory, while that on liturgical sources generally favoured the study of the medieval manuscript tradition over the printed one. In recent years, however, greater interest was devoted to early printed music, thus including also plainchant and liturgical volumes.

The aim of the present series – Monumenta Liturgiae et Cantus – is to bring to the attention of anybody who is interested in the history and practice of Renaissance sacred music (musicologists, liturgists, art historians, etc.) some among the most important early printed editions of Christian liturgy and chant. In particular, the edition of the Giunta 1572 Gradual by Marco Gozzi (2013) is complemented here by that of PSG. The volume on which the present edition is based is preserved in the Laurence Feininger Music Library of the Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento (shelfmark FSP 2).

The Feininger Psalter-hymnal is of extreme interest to scholars, not only for its content, but also for its rarity: at the moment of the publication of the present study, there are no other known copies in existence. The first part of this study, Music and the Divine Office in the Cinquencento will offer an overview on the Liturgy of the Hours in 16th-century Italy, focusing in particular on the Psalter and Hymnal. An introduction on the Divine Office and its practice in the Cinquecento will also be presented, which will include a brief introduction to the performance of psalms and Office hymns.

The second part, The Giunta Psalter-hymnal, will be the study of the 1572 edition, introducing the volume in the context of the Tridentine reforms critically examined especially in comparison to the previous Giunta edition of the Psalter-Hymnal (1505), and other related editions by other printers. In particular, the study will highlight the differences and amendments between these editions, as well as providing a critical edition and inventory of the liturgical content of PSG with references to standard repertories and catalogues.

A chapter entirely devoted to The Hymnal and its melodies, containing the transcriptions and editions of all hymn melodies in PSG, concludes the second part. The third and last part will feature two appendixes, one consisting of a catalogue of Alleluia antiphons in PSG, and the other devoted to early printed liturgical sources in Italy until 1630, with a list of all Psalteria, including those containing musical notation. Finally, the present volume has also been conceived not only as a bibliographical tool for the use of historical musicologists, liturgists, and for non-specialits, but also as a guide for performers of sixteenth-century sacred music.