Hermann Matthias Werrecore served as the maestro di cappella at the Duomo of Milan from 1522 until 1550, and thereafter remained in residence as a singer and retired maestro until at least 1574. His Cantuum quinque vocum quos motetta vocant . . . liber primus (1559) remains the single musical source surviving from the Duomo of Milan between the fourth Milan Choirbook (ca. 1520–27) and Vincenzo Ruffo’s Missae quatuor concinate ad ritum concilii mediolani of 1570. The twenty motets contained in it include occasional works, pieces specific to both the Ambrosian and Roman festal calendars, ambitious multipartite settings of vespers hymns, and an Elevation motet. Together they demonstrate the adaptation of features characteristic of the Josquin generation, including cantus firmus, ostinato, coloration, and mensuration canon, to later sixteenth-century practice. Consideration of this repertoire within the context of surviving documentation from the Duomo illuminates our understanding of the role of polyphony in civic worship.

Contents

1. Veni sancte spiritus

2. O Altitudo divitiarum

3. Alma redemptoris mater

4. Virgo prudentissima

5. Confundantur qui me

6. Tanto tempore

7. Si bona suscepimus

8. Ave regina caelorum

9. Ecce nos relinquimus

10. Porta haec clausa erit

11. Haec dies

12. Tu solus

13. Quid retribuam domino

14. Sana me domine

15. Proh dolor

16. Inclina Deus meus

17. Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria

18. Quasi stella matutina

19. Popule meus

20. Ave maris stella