The Lyrics of Henry VIII/Benedictus (Isaac, Incipit)

[ff. 3v-4r]

Benedictus

Textual Commentary
This piece appears as an unattributed incipit in H, with all but the initial capital entered in what appears to be a later hand. A full block initial capital is given for each of the three voices, though little room is left for text among the musical notation. The complete incipit is entered into the manuscript’s table of contents as the first work.

As noted by Atlas (1.126), this piece serves as the Benedictus in the Sanctus of Isaac’s Missa Quant J’ai au Cueur, though it was originally thought to be an independent piece and is listed as such in Odhecaton (ed. Hewitt, #76). It was extracted by those in the circle of Lorenzo de Medici and circulated separately thereafter. There are in excess of thirty witnesses to this piece. Many of the witnesses treat the text in a manner very close to its handling in H—without full text. That which appears in H is representative of the transmission of the full setting and its extraction, in a sub-tradition that is extant in a total of sixteen texts, including H, Fl107 (f. 20v), Fl229 (ff. 9v–10r), Heil (#9), M2268 (ff. 150v–151r), P676 (ff. 77v–78r), PBFm (#30), PBIsa (B1v, F1v, G4v), PBOdh (ff. 82v–83r), PBP504 (3, #46), R940/41 (#190), RG27 (ff. 50v–51r), RS35 (ff. 34v–35r), T27 (f. 35r), WWlf (ff. 88v–89r), and Zw78 (3, #9). The remaining witnesses include B22 (#17), B32 (f. 43v), B40021 (ff. 110v–111r), BQ18 (ff. 63v–64r), FlP27 (ff. 17v–18r), J31 (full Missa, ff. 36v–50r), PBN36 (#49), PBS07 (I #2), PT1 (#14, #109), SAM (full Missa, ff. 45v–54r), SG462 (ff. 7v–8r), U237 (ff. 22r, ff. 20r–20v, ff. 21r–21v), Up76e (#3), V757 (ff. 29v–30r), V11883 (full Missa, ff. 42v–51r), and W2016 (ff. 55v–56r). Of these two groups, full texts of the lyric are extant in B40021, RS35, M2268, and W2016; fragmentary texts, or incipits, are extant in BQ18, Fl107, Heil, PBIsa, PBOdh, PBP504, P676, FlP27, R940/41, RG27, SG462, T27, U237, and Wwlf. The music also circulated with an alternate text, “Seigneur Leon vous soyés bien venus,” in FlR2356 (ff. 68v–69r) and P15123 (ff. 27v–28r), among others.

The full text below is transcribed according to Lerner (ed., Isaac 7.74–6):


 * Benedictus
 * qui venit
 * qui venit
 * venit in nomine
 * Domini.

“Benedictus” is reprinted in Fano (ed., Isaac 5.66–67), Geering (18–20), Hewitt (ed., Odhecaton 379–80), Lerner (ed., Isaac 7.74–76), Plamenac (“Autor d’Ockeghem” 44–45), Stevens MCH8 (1), and Wolf (ed., Isaac 112), among others.

Texts Collated
H1,2,3 (ff. 3v–4r).


 * 1   Benedictus] B H2,3