Reading Hagiographic Motets: Christi nutu sublimato, Lamberte vir inclite, and the Legend of St. Lambert

Abstract

Two fifteenth-century motets, Christi nutu sublimato ascribed to Johannes Brassart and the anonymous Lamberte vir inclite, are assumed to originate from the city of Liege on account of their common addressee, the diocesan patron St. Lambert. This resemblance is matched by notable similarities in manuscript transmission and musical style. Copied adjacently in two sources, I-AO 15 and I-TRmp 87-1, these works share distinct melodic motives and similar patterns of textural variety. Yet what do the texts of the two motets reveal about their shared saintly subject?A comparative reading of Christi nutu sublimato and Lamberte vir inclite uncovers previously unidentified hagiographic parallels originating from late-medieval accretions to St. Lambert’s life, strengthening the possibility that this music was written and sung in fifteenth-century Liege. We find the tools with which to interpret enigmatic references to legends and miracles related to Lambert’s youth, episcopate, and death in studies of literary and p...