Sequence chant: "Tibi cordis in altari"

The Sequence Genre

The medieval sequence is a liturgical genre that originated in around the 9th century. Texts were proper to specific feasts and/or seasons, and were sung after the alleluia in the Mass but before the reading of the Gospel. In the medieval sequence, the text is set syllabically to music, compositions are through-composed, and there are few melismatic moments; these texts are extremely poetic, and many sequences, such as the Ave virgo virginum and Tibi cordis in altari of MS 24, appear sans notated music in medieval manuscripts, standing for their poetic and symbolic values alone. Rhymed sequences, such as the two that appear in MS 24, are made up of phrases divided into versicles of seven or eight syllables. The Tibi cordis in altari sequence consists of eight-syllable versicles, each of which ends with a proparoxytone — a word with syllabic emphasis on the penultimate syllable (ex. repeated). The Tibi cordis sequence is standard in its length of ten verses. While the text of each versicle is unique, the music of the late medieval sequence is typically structured in a double-versicle form, in an AaBbCcDd (and so on) structure. 

Origins of Tibi cordis in altari

The Tibi cordis in altari sequence has been identified by scholars to be of Dominican origin for a number of reasons. Primarily, the chant is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who held a prominent place in the medieval Dominican order — music, art, and the written word of the Dominicans often reflects this veneration, and the Tibi cordis’s clear Marian connections are no exception. The simplicity of this chant and apparent widespread standardization in late medieval manuscripts further reflect Dominican ideals of symplicity and standardization; indeed, nearly identical instances of this sequence appear in many other manuscripts contemporary to MS 24. This standardization was a result of efforts made by Humbert of Romans, who was appointed the fifth Master General of the Dominican Order in 1254 and given the task of unifying liturgy and chant. This date provides a likely early temporal boundary for the creation — or, at the very least, standardization — of the Tibi cordis, which would have facilitated the standardized sequence’s spread throughout Europe. It is likely that MS 24 represents a post-1254 copying of such a standardized sequence from a Humbert of Romans-approved exemplar. 

According to “The Liturgical Year” — a nineteenth century 15-volume work by Dom Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger which describes in great depth the liturgical year of the Catholic church — the Tibi cordis in altari sequence, which is mentioned in an edition of the third volume published in 1909, was drawn from “the German missals of the fourteenth century.” This note indicates that early instances of the Tibi cordis sequence exist in such missals, but does not confirm any exact origins of the text or music. Similarly to the proposed origins of the instance of the sequence in MS 24, it is likely that such missals were copied from approved exempla, and products of the Order’s European dispersal. Additionally, while much of the text of the Tibi cordis is analogous between “The Liturgical Year” and MS 24, there are some slight changes that indicate potential alterations to the sequence some time after MS 24 was copied. “The Liturgical Year” does, however, provide a rough translation of the Latin sequence, some of which can be read under the “Text and Translation” tab of this exhibit. 

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Image from Gabriel Llompart's essay, "Una Leyenda Medieval Mallorquina" (1964), which depicts a friar addressing the Christ Child before a table with Latin text, which is a verse from the Tibi cordis in altari sequence.
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Photograph of a restored painting by Majorcan painter Jaime Blanquer (1721) depicting the the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Christ Child. At the bottom of the painting is a Latin inscription of a verse from the Dominican Tibi cordis in altari sequence.

Other Instances

Thanks to Humbert of Romans’ standardization efforts, both the verse and musical structure of the Tibi cordis in altari sequence as it appears in MS 24 remain generally consistent across materials produced in Europe in the 13th–15th centuries. Gabriel Llompart identifies two Majorcan works of art — one painting and one print — that contain inscriptions of the fifth verse of the sequence as it appears in MS 24, with slight variations in word forms and orders. In MS 24, this verse reads: Nec aborres peccatores, Sine quibus nunquam fores, Tanto digna filio. In the two works of art pictured here, the first phrase of the inscription reads “non abhorres peccatores,” presenting a slight variation from the more standard text of MS 24. 

This assumption that the text and music of MS 24 are relatively standard can be supported by investigating other instances of this sequence in similar manuscripts. There are a number of other manuscripts and early printed devotional texts that contain either the text of or the text and music of the Tibi cordis in altari sequence. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA holds a sequentiary (MFA 80.504) — produced in the late 14th century at the Dominican Convent of St. Louis de Poissy in France — which contains an instance of the text and music of the sequence that is nearly identical to the chant as it appears in MS 24. The chant’s appearance in this Dominican sequentiary supports the idea that this sequence was used in the Dominican Order, and perhaps even provides evidence for the sequence’s origins in the early Dominican Order. 

Outside of MFA 80.504, several other manuscripts and early printed materials have been sourced as points of comparison for determining the standard form of the Tibi cordis in altari sequence. While not every manuscript or early printed book contains textual and musical material analogous to that of these folia in MS 24, a significant number of sources contain instances of the sequence that are the same or nearly the same as what appears in MS 24. Several of these manuscripts and early printed materials are listed below.

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What makes this instance unique?

Though likely copied from an exemplar or from another manuscript, this particular instance of the Tibi cordis in altari sequence contains several unique features and potential errata. The first versicle of the sequence, which, in MS 24, reads Tibi cordis in altari, decet preces inmolari, contains a likely different spelling of the Latin, “immolari,” meaning “to be sacrificed.” The immolari form of the word appears in most other instances of the sequence contemporary to MS 24, as well as in most modern scholarly works that concern the sequence. With this knowledge, it is reasonable to assume a scribal copying error. To the left is an image of the sequence, with this likely erratum circled in red. 

Another unusual feature of this sequence appears at the beginning of the eighth versicle, with the text “Ergo, virgo.” While some other manuscripts including MFA 80.504 do incorporate this internal rhyme, others replace ergo with virgo, so that the beginning of their eighth versicles reads: “Virgo, virgo.” This doubling of the word virgo does emphasize Marian veneration in the texts that incorporate this structure, but takes away an instance of internal rhyming that adds to the poetic quality of the sequence. 

Tufts University MS 24 is a small manuscript, measuring 137 mm x 95 mm, so was likely intended for personal use; the text and notation is such a size that no large number of individuals could read from it at once. There is indeed evidence of such personal use in the leaves of notated music in the manuscript. Pencil markings, which resemble modern bar lines and which symbolically attach neumes to words below, indicate likely the manuscript’s use in performance. Also added after initial copying is an insertion of the text, “ad quem” in the third system of the sequence; this addition reflects the standard text of the sequence as it appears in other contemporary manuscripts, so was likely a copying error that was corrected with the insertion. The hand of the insertion appears to be identical to the hand of the text of the rest of the sequence, so the original scribe likely noticed his error and made the correction himself. These additions are further discussed under the “Notation and Script” tab of the exhibit.

Sequence chant: "Tibi cordis in altari"