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Why Alleluia verses? I have in front of me a missal, a gradual or a liber ordinarius of the Middle Ages. Nowhere can I see any indication of the origin of the manuscript. But now I make a list of the five Alleluia verses for Monday to Friday of Easter week, and similarly for the first five Sundays after Easter. Then I compare them with lists made from other sources. And it quickly becomes clear where my manuscript comes from and where it was used. The Alleluia verses – to be sung before the reading of the Gospel – are the best indication of the provenance of a medieval liturgical manuscript with texts for Mass. They, longer than any other element, survived the standardization of the Mass liturgy. Furthermore, one can use the same method for the Alleluias of the Sundays after Pentecost – and usually obtain the same results.
All this was recognized at an early date by scholars of medieval liturgical manuscripts, who thus proceeded to note Alleluia verses. The Benedictine monk Gabriel Beyssac (1877-1965) bequeathed more of them to posterity than any other scholar; his notebooks have been preserved by his fellow-monk François Huot in the Ermitage de Longeborgne in Canton Valais in Switzerland. In the lists presented here, those noted by Beyssac carry the abbreviation Be. Michel Huglo (1921-2012) must also be mentioned, whose cahiers with Alleluia series are preserved at the University of Regensburg. The Alleluia series collected by Huglo carry the designation Hg. Much material was also assembled by Heinrich Husmann (1908-1983) in order to assign liturgical manuscripts to a particular locality or religious order.* We have taken those Alleluia series from his writings which are not in the lists of Beyssac or Huglo. They bear the designation Hu [*Heinrich Husmann, Die Oster- und Pfingstalleluia der Kopenhagener Liturgie und ihre historischen Beziehungen, in: Dansk Aarbog for Musikfoskning, Dansk Selskab for Musikforskning, 1964/65, 3-62.].
After making available the Alleluias series of the Sundays after Pentecost, Cantus Planus now presents those of the Easter season. They are intended to facilitate the localization and connections of less well known liturgical books and their users. First the manuscripts, incunabula and early printed books consulted by the above-mentioned scholars are given. Then we list the Alleluia verses and their abbreviations employed in the following tables. Finally there come the tables with Alleluia verses from about 1200 manuscripts and early printed books, first for the days of Easter week and then for the Sundays after Easter. Both tables are presented in twofold form: once in alphabetical order by place of origin, and then in the order of the Alleluia verses.
One final remark is necessary. Transcriptions of such data inevitably contain errors. This can easily be seen when the list from one and same manuscript is given differently by different scholars. And the manuscripts are often difficult to read – particular expertise is needed! So, first and foremost: those who wish to work with such material should consult the original source wherever possible. And if mistakes are discovered, please send them to the editors of this websites.
Database: Ferial days after Easter
Database: Sundays after Easter
Table of Alleluia verses with full texts and abbreviation sigla
Detailed information of the manuscript sources
Detailed information of the printed sources
The Alleluia of Eastertide - what they have to tell about the origin of a Liber ordinarius (paper presented by Peter Wittwer)
Link to the edition of Post-Pentecost Alleluias (D. Hiley)