8. Allen Scott: From Judgement to Comfort: Audi tellus, audi magni maris limbus in the 16th Century
Channel: SMNF cz
Date: 2020-12-23

Cantus Fractus 2020 conference
http://www.smnf.cz/en/news/Virtual-conference-Rhythm-in-Music-and-the-Arts-in-the-Late-Middle-Ages/

From Judgement to Comfort: Audi tellus, audi magni maris limbus in the Sixteenth Century

Allen Scott, Oklahoma State University




In two recent articles, Charles Brewer and Jan Ciglbauer traced the various manifestations of the medieval Audi tellus chant from a trope of the Libera me to an independent song. The early versions show an obvious affinity to the apocalyptic Libera me text, with images of the day of wrath when "heaven will take flight" and the land will "waver like the waves of the sea." Around the turn of the 14th century, however, different versions of the song began to appear in which the primary theme is no longer the coming day of judgment but "sic transit gloria mundi." These versions also began to include variations of the literary "Ubi sunt" topos. Everything earthly passes away, even the great heroes and philosophers of classical antiquity and the Old Testament. These chants end with a prayer to God for mercy as he punishes the wicked.
The "sic transit gloria mundi" version of Audi tellus continued into the 16th century. At some point in the late 15th or early 16th centuries both the text and the melody became standardized. Prominent in these versions is the "Ubi sunt" section. To date, I have found four printed versions of the chant: one Catholic and three Lutheran. Other than four added lines in one version, the texts and melodies are identical. In the Lutheran cantionales, the Audi tellus chant is titled "cantus de morte" and is included with songs appropriate for funerals. Contemporaneously, Lutheran books on the art of dying often included variations of the "Ubi sunt" trope in sections reminding the believer that all living things must perish. Although the Audi tellus chant first appeared in the eleventh century as a warning of the judgement to come, by the sixteenth century it had been transformed into comfort for the believer.