In a late volume of Analecta Hymnica, Clemens Blume selected eighteen texts that are "Tropi ad Offertorium 'Recordare.'" The first two in his edition have an extant polyphonic setting, while the remainder are known only in plain-chant settings or by their texts alone. The second text, O vera, o pia, is the newly identified contrafactum setting. It ends with the troped word nobis, an anomaly which falls outside the rhyme scheme of the text. This feature, rare in condunctus texts, prompted a search for the source of its tenor. The melody is that of the last verse of the Offertorium Recordare, Virgo Mater, which closely follows the chant melody, taken from W1. From a stylistic and historical viewpoint, the most important aspect is the use of a troped word in the text, a practice that had hitherto been found only in motets among polyphonic works outside the obviously troped settings.

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Mirna Polzovic