Musicologica Olomucensia

Liturgical Song in the Statutes of the Viennese Monastery of St. Dorothea of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine from the 15th Century

The statutes of the individual monasteries of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, inter alia, normatively regulate the form of the liturgy. Information concerning music or song is also scattered throughout the statutes in connection with this. The article focuses attention on the statute of the Monastery of St. Dorothea in Vienna from the 15th century. There is considerable information on song in the statutes of the Viennese convent of St. Dorothea, the statutes primarily concentrating on the sung mass and the singing of psalms. References to song can be found, in particular, in the first book of the statutes: in Article IX, regulating the form of psalm singing; in Article X, on the form of canonical hours; and in Articles 13, 14, and 19, which specify when to sit and when to stand during canonical hours, when to pay respect by bowing, kneeling, and so on. The statutes define the roles of the representatives of the monastery and convent, namely the prior and the dean, in liturgical song. The statutes also regulate the form of canonical hours. Emphasis is placed on the uniform nature of singing, with individual manifestations precluded. Deviations in singing are penalised, although the sanction is not of a public nature. The statutes of the Viennese Convent of St. Dorothea are a valuable source of information on the form of liturgy and liturgical song in the environment of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine in the late Middle Ages.

Keywords: Liturgical song; mass; canonical hours; monastic statutes; Canons Regular of St. Augustine; Viennese Monastery of St. Dorothea, Late Middle Ages