The Most Prudent Virgin and the Wise King:Isaac's Virgo prudentissima Compositions in the Imperial Ideology of Maximilian I

Abstract

Isaac quoted the chant Virgo prudentissima (Most Prudent Virgin), Magnificat antiphon for the Feast of the Assumption, in four compositions. Three of them can be shown to have connections to the Hofkapelle court chapel) of Emperor Maximilian I, Isaac's employer starting in 1496. They are: (1) the six-voice ceremonial motet Virgo prudentissima, composed in 1507 while Isaac was in Constance for the imperial Reichstag that Maximilian had convened in order to plan his coronation as Emperor; (2) the six-voice Missa Virgo prudentissima, which has sometimes been thought to be an earlier work but probably dates from around the same time; and (3) Gaudeamus omnes, the Assumption Introit in volume 2 of the Choralis Constantinus, which quotes Virgo prudentissima as a secondary cantus firmus. All three of these works appropriate the liturgy and theology of the Assumption of the Virgin so that Maximilian's ascent to the Imperial throne and coronation as Emperor might be aligned symbolically with the Virgin Mary's Assumption into heaven and Coronation therein as Queen. The symbolism of Isaac's compositions helped Maximilian, who crafted his public image very carefully by commissioning numerous large-scale propagandistic textual and visual works, to portray himself as a noble and enlightened ruler seeking protection for his imperial crown and empire from the Virgin Mary. Isaac's musical imagery also aligns very closely with the visual iconography of Albrecht Dürer's painting Festival of the Rose Garlands.