1582 Piae Cantiones... by Theodoricus Petri. Printed in Greifswald.

Printed in 1582, an important and rare work musical work, Piae Canciones, that is seldom offered for private sale; Rare Book Hub records only two sales, both for this copy (Forum's advertisement stated that this may be the only copy in private hands). While filled with well-known renaissance and medieval musical works, with their notes, this 1582 work is also celebrated for being the first appearance of the Good King Wenceslaus tune (here presented as Tempus adest Floridum).

Note: This copy is missing seven (of 100) printed leaves, although some of the printed material was recreated in manuscript (with some additional material added). I did recreate five of these leaves in facsimile (see more info below).

This particular copy seems to have resided in Turku (see notes on provenance below) which was the city where the editor was rector, and the author studied in. This Finish background and genesis has made the Piae Cantiones popular with the Finish as a significant contribution to their musical heritage.

In addition, in manuscript, someone inserted seven leaves updating this 1582 printing with some of the missing portions and a few additional songs that were also added to the 1625 second Latin edition.

This was surely a working copy, with many annotations to the notes and music throughout, and heavy thumbing. Combining these signs of use, with some of the provenance annotations in the book, I do believe this copy was in use in Finland as a student's song book.

About the Work -

Eileen Hadidian wrote "A Study and Critical Commentary on Piae Cantiones; A Sixteenth Century Song Collection". Her work is available to read online; in this work there is more scholarship than I could ever attempt to include in this abstract.

Generally considered the "author", Theodoricus Petri compiled the work and printed it, but the rector of the Turku (Abo), Finland Cathedral School, Jaakko Finne edited the work.

In his youth, Petri attended the cathedral school in Abo, before going to University in Rostock. While studying at Rostock, he printed Piae Cantiones, having the rector back in Abo edit the work. Due to the protestant leanings of the rector, many of the songs were edited to reduce their Catholic overtones. Petri addressed these songs in the foreword, stating (roughly translated), "Careless scribes and unskillful clerks are apt to make mistakes in copying old manuscripts. Hence, certain errors had crept into the text of (God's) cantiones, but these have been corrected. Often, there occur traces of old Latinity one in use in monasteries and schools. But these are of such a character that, on account of their old-world religious feelings, they seem to deserve our veneration..."

About the Music -

This work contains seventy-four songs with a wide range of background; scholars have found sources for approximately half of the songs, and for the remaining songs this remains the earliest record of their existence, making this an important work for music history.

There are 62 monophonic (single voice) and 12 polyphonic (multiple voice) songs.

Songs that are typically highlighted, due to their popularity today: the Good King Wenceslaus tune, Gaudette, Personent Hodie, and Puer Nobis Nascitur (Unto Us Is Born a Son).

The song with the oldest record, Grates Nunc Omnes, is first recorded in the 11th century Regensburg tropar, but there it is written in an 8th century manner.

The earlier mentioned Eileen Hadidian study includes a song-by-song guide to the sources of each song.

And, another easy to use (if you translate it to English) song-by-song guide is posted online by Martin Kirja.

Throughout the 1900s various works and transcriptions appeared in Finland, weaving the work into a popular and respected part of Finnish musical heritage.

That being said, the work was not forgotten to previous generations; Pacabel and Bach both covered works included in the 1582 Piae Cantiones, and in the 19th century some of the works were given English words and were popularized (from which we get Good King Wenceslaus).

About the Manuscript Leaves -

There are seven manuscript leaves added to this work. Here is a breakdown of what they include:
The first leaf includes the complete Angelus Emittitur.

There is a stub of a leaf that tells us a manuscript leaf was removed, an initial S tells us this was probably Salve Flos, which is missing.

The second extant manuscript leaf begins where the printed A8 verso began. Unfortunately, the first line of Puer Nobis Nascitur began on the previous leaf, so it is missing one line and begins at "geloru, in hoc mundo".

In the printed version the verso of A8 began Verbu Caro Factu est de Virgine Maria; in this manuscript addition, the writer didn't attempt to add this, so the first two lines of this song are missing from the book (beginning on the third line, on the extant printed B1).

Instead, on the verso of the manuscript second extant leaf, a portion of the song Autor Humani Generis is added, which is also found later in the book, printed at F8; this edit (inclusion) may have been for a performance where only a portion of the later song was here included. This partial part of the song is written in manuscript through to the verso of the third manuscript leaf.

On the verso of the third manuscript leaf begins In Natali Domini, which goes through the verso of the fourth manuscript leaf. This work was added to the second edition, which was printed in 1625.

Starting on the verso of the fourth manuscript leaf begins Nobis est Natus Hodie; this also was an addition to the second edition of 1625. This work concludes on the fifth manuscript leaf's recto.

Beginning on the fifth manuscript leaf's recto is the song Grates Nunc Omnes, which was also added to the second edition. This concludes on the verso.
On the verso of the fifth leaf, through the sixth leaf, is the song Johelis Prophetiae. Again, an addition to the second edition.

Then, where leaf E1 is missing (the printed version) is a manuscript reproduction.

What Content is Missing from this Copy? -

The first two leaves are missing and included the title page, a dedication to God on the verso of the title page, and the beginning of the introduction on both sides of the second leaf.

For the leaves A7 and A8, the song Salve Flos, and the first two lines of Verbu Caro Factu est de Virgine Maria are not recreated in manuscript.

E1 was recreated in manuscript in entirety.

At K8 and L1 we are missing two leaves of the song Iam Verus Amor, although the beginning and end are still found on K7 and L2.

I found scans for Leaves A1, A2, A7, A8 and E1. I printed these to size, on acid-free laid artist paper. They are loosely inserted into the text block. These are not meant to be reproductions, but simple facsimile's so you can have more of the context of the original printing.

I could not find a scan of K8 and L1.

Provenance -

On the last leaf, N4, the name Johannes Lagus A(?) is written. Johannes Lagus is a unique name, and exact words searches brought up two recorded historical uses, one was a jurist in Germany circa 1570, and the other was a professor in Turku, Finland circa 1790-1820. This second is of importance and the likely provenance because the original title page states that this book was for the use of the "Schola Aboensi", which was in Turku (some form of this university still continues on). It is also known that the editor of this book was a rector at the cathedral school in Turku, Jaakko Finne (or Suomalainen).

Records of Andreas Johannus Lagus, professor at Aboensi (Ao), can be found in the 1823 Travels in Various Countries, by Edward Clarke at page 544, and in the book Swedish Dissertations and their Subjects by Karrholm, at page 1020.

This copy was sold in 2017, by Stockholms Auktionsverk for 41,650 SEK. The auction company noted that this book was said to have come from a town in Finland, Uusimaa, but I'm unsure if they meant the printed work (as a whole) or this copy.

Forum Auctions again offered this copy in 2024, the results of which weren't recorded.

Rare Book Hub, in their records of sales, has no other record for sales of this work (all copies).

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) numbers 552285 and 684082, with 8 recorded copies (6 in Sweden, one in Russia and one inferred from a catalogue entry).

The website for the University of Jyvaskyla states that 22 copies of the first edition have survived, although I don't know where they found their information.

A Finnish translation was printed in 1616, and a second Latin edition was printed in 1625 (adding thirteen songs).

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 13.5 x 9 x 1.5 cm. Odd paste paper binding, in the vellum Yapp style. This is protected within a box, presumably acid-free (all).

Collation - A3-A6, B1-D8, E2-K7, L2-M8, N4 (see notes below on missing leaves, and above on added facsimiles).

Condition -

See pictures. Rebound, binding and box are fresh, with no condition issues to report.

Missing (7 leaves) A1, A2, A7, A8, E1, K8, L1 (A7-A8, E1 partially replaced with hand-written copies in an "old hand").

Toned throughout, with heavy thumbing, dog-eared pages, rough edges, occasional fox spots and ink marks and annotations. Cropped close at places, sometimes catching words. A3 and A5 trimmed tight at bttm edge, clipping signature/catch word and bttm corner chipped away, with some loss to text. At the 7th leaf, there are 6 inserted manuscript leaves, these add additional material, but leave out the work Salve Flos, which was found in the original printing. B1 mounted at gutter, with some small damage at gutter. Chip bttm corner B7. E1 is an exact recreation of printed version, without catchword "charitate" at verso. E7 1" chip from fore-edge. Spill/moisture mark from F-L gatherings top to mid-page. I2 top corner chip. 3 cm holes and repair in I8. N4 repaired with some loss to printed.