Part XIV: "The Remarkable Sixty-Year Survival of Professor Mahrt's St. Ann Choir”

Celeste Beneficium, the choir's theme song dedicated to St. Ann, and the Henry VIII connection

Celeste Beneficium is a motet about about St. Ann, so it is used kind of as the St. Ann choir’s anthem. The choir sings this motet during Vespers every Sunday, during Mass on St. Ann’s feast on July 26, and during some other special liturgies. The motet was composed  by Jean Mouton, French Renaissance composer, originally for Anne of Brittany and King Louis XII of France.

I learned this interesting story about how the motet came into use by the choir from Kevin Rossiter, one of the long-time choir members. He told me that on a visit to the British Library, Professor Mahrt hand-copied the motet from a Royal choirbook created for King Henry VIII.

The Royal Choirbook, also called The Spy’s Choirbook, is a beautiful collection of six motets produced in 1516 for Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

The scribe who made this choirbook was called Petrus Alamire, but that was not his real name since Alamire is  a musical pun on the notes "A-la-mi-re". This post from the Medieval manuscripts blog at the British Library explains why it is called The Spy’s Choirbook and why it is so important:

“During his career, Petrus Alamire made similar books for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1558), Pope Leo X (1513-1521), and Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525). Many of these manuscripts survive in Vienna, Brussels, Munich, Jena and the Vatican, as well as at the British Library, and they are hugely important for preserving the works of the leading composers of the day.

“But Alamire also had another string to his bow. A number of letters written between 1515 and 1518 document his career as a spy, keeping Henry VIII informed of the movements of Richard de la Pole, claimant to the English throne, who was living in exile in Metz. Pole was the son of Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister of King Edward IV of England (1461-1470, 1471-1483), and was a constant thorn in Henry's side until he was killed at the Battle of Pavia in 1525.

“The magnificent choirbook . . . contains twenty-eight motets by Josquin des Prez, Pierre de la Rue and other composers. The opening pages are the most richly decorated, bearing the motet ‘Celeste beneficium’ by Jean Mouton. This motet . . . calls upon St Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, to bring forth children, and clearly echoes Henry's pressing desire to father a male heir. This was clearly a manuscript made specifically for the king of England: the marginal flora and fauna common to Flemish illumination are combined here with typical Tudor symbols such as the dragon, greyhound and portcullis.”

 The choir members sing from photocopies of Mahrt’s hand-copied score. The top part of the first page of Mahrt’s hand-copied score is on the left in the above slide.

On the right is the motet as it appears in Henry VIII’s choir book. Another symbol not mentioned in the blog post is the Tudor Rose, which is visible on the right hand page of the motet.

Even though this motet was included in Henry VIII’s choir book with intention of invoking St. Ann’s intercession for the birth of a male heir by Henry’s Queen Catherine, it didn’t have the desired effect. We all know how that didn’t work out.

But it is lovely and haunting nonetheless.

Celeste beneficium introivit in Annam,
per quam nobis nata est Maria virgo.
O beata Deo grata,
Mater matris nati patris.
Anna nos cum filia,
Christo reconcilia.

A heavenly privilege entered into Ann,
through whom the Virgin Mary was born to us.
O blessed one favored by God,
Mother of the Mother of Him born of the Father.
O Ann, together with thy daughter,
Reconcile us with Christ.