The mass O Venus bant by Gaspar van Weerbeke enjoyed notable fame and diffusion, as shown by the considerable number of surviving copies. This study formulates a new hypothesis about the origin of the mass. An examination of the transmission of the mass suggests a new scenario for its composition in Milan in connection with a major political event: the alliance of the Duchy of Milan and the Duchy of Savoy with Charles the Bold in 1475. The choice of a Flemish cantus firmus is thus linked to a specific occasion related to the region in which the melody originated. Since some compositional elements can be read as intentional references to the L’Homme armé tradition, the specific context proposed for the performance of the polyphonic cycle seems particularly plausible because it can be linked to the court of Burgundy both in terms of historical and political events, as well as on the compositional and symbolic level. Finally, the possibility that Gaspar van Weerbeke was the initiator of the musical tradition of polyphonic settings of the chanson O Venus bant is explored.

New light is shed on the song culture of Sankt Gallen almost a century before its earliest notated sources through consideration of the poetic section of a manuscript copied at the Abbey shortly after the year 800, i.e. the second part of Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek Vossianus Lat. Q. 69. The predominantly Merovingian accentual Latin verse (rhythmi) and metrical verse by the late-antique poet Prudentius (his Liber Cathemerinon and Liber Peristephanon) were written out in song forms. It is newly proposed that Prudentius’ verse from the Liber Peristephanon was arranged into a liturgical cycle. The poetic section of the Leiden manuscript is accordingly understood as a collection of songs, which prompts reflection on the way in which earlier sung versus at Sankt Gallen may have provided models for the later Liber ymnorum. Witnesses to the song culture of Sankt Gallen in the first half of the ninth century are re-examined and a leading role during this period for the nearby Abbey of Reichenau is proposed. Finally, it is suggested that Iso’s advice to Notker that singulae motus cantilenae singulas syllabas debent habere was at least partly informed by the existing tradition of sung versus at both abbeys.

Philippe de Vitry’s tenure of the bishopric of Meaux in the last decade of his life, 1351–61, the crowning event of his court and church career, has often been regarded as a period of retirement from creative activity. A reassessment of this judgement is timely, following new musical discoveries and literary work exposing links between Vitry and his contemporaries. Using new archival material, this article explores the geopolitical context of Vitry’s work in the diocese of Meaux; his engagement with political society, king and court; and his role in events under a national government fractured by the capture of Jean II at Poitiers in 1356. It examines the interplay of Vitry’s career, relationships and output, identifying the composer’s house in Paris, and exploring his family relationships, and his engagement with Pierre Bersuire, among others, in the creative circles of mid-fourteenth-century Paris. It also illuminates a context and opportunities for the continuation of his creative work into the late 1350s, some remnants of which survive in the literary miscellany Paris, BN Lat. 3343.