It looks like a very accessible, rewarding-to-sing setting. What I am wondering is if anyone here recognizes what appear to be cantus firmus lines in the tenor in the 2nd Kyrie, the Benedictus, and bits of the Agnus and Sanctus.
And/or, is there anything otherwise purely musical in this setting that makes it “Marian”? Or did Aichinger just decide to call it “de Beata Virgine”?
Yes. The polyphony choir in which I sing at St. John the Baptist, Front Royal, VA has sung this Mass three times this season, most recently on Passion Sunday last week, at the EF Mass. The composer is incommunicado, thus I can cast no light on the reason for the title. As for cantus firmus, someone else will have to answer that.
This cantus firmus choice seems to be unusual because most other Missae de Beata Virgine (Josquin, Morales, Palestrina, ...) are based on the first ordinary of the "Missa In Festis B.M.V." (Graduale Romanum, p. 32*) or the ordinary "Solemnitatibus et festis B.M.V." (Graduale Triplex, p. 741).
You can search the Cantus Database for the incipit, and it yields two matches: "Qui sunt isti" or "Sana me Domine", neither of which seems to have a special relation to a Marian feast. Maybe it is from a local source not yet included in the Cantus Database.
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