Composition as Craft
March 25, 1436, was a momentous day for the medieval city of Florence. The great dome of the city’s cathedral, the largest dome yet built, was nearing completion after sixteen years of construction. Its dimensions, 144 feet wide at its base and rising to 375 feet in height, made the dome wider and taller than even the great vault of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Christendom had never seen its like, and its completion marked the culmination of the whole church-building project, which had spanned more than a century. March 25 would witness the basilica’s consecration.
That date was a natural choice for a church whose name, Santa Maria del Fiore, means “Saint Mary of the Flower,” for March 25 was the Feast of the Annunciation, commemorating the Angel Gabriel’s appearance to the Virgin Mary. To mark the extraordinary event, Pope Eugene IV himself officiated at the celebration and gave the city a golden rose, which the people of Florence proudly laid on their cathedral’s high altar.
A Meaningful Ratio
One of the pope’s musicians, a composer named Guillaume Du Fay, wrote a choral piece to mark this singular occasion. In this motet, Nuper rosarum flores, Du Fay managed to weave together many of the strands that made the historical moment unique. First, he combined a hymn to the Virgin Mary (apropos since she was the cathedral’s patron) with the traditional chant tune appointed for the consecration of churches, “Terribilis est locus iste” (“How awesome is this place!”).
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Christopher Hoyt is the author of Under Authority: Practicing Submission in a Rebellious Society (Anglican Liturgy Press, forthcoming). He teaches the humanities at Good Shepherd School (Reformed Episcopal) in Tyler, Texas. He is the general editor of the hymnal The Book of Common Praise/Magnify the Lord, an Adjunct Professor of Sacred Music at Cranmer Theological House (Reformed Episcopal), and the organist/choirmaster at Good Shepherd Church in Tyler.
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