From the beginning, the music related to Saint Ludmila was primarily bound with her liturgical veneration as a martyr and later the patron saint of Bohemia. The Benedictine nuns at Saint George’s Convent retained the sung liturgy. They celebrated church services in honour of Ludmila on the day her remains were deposited in the convent church (10 November), while the commemoration of her martyrdom (16 September) gradually prevailed in the Late Middle Ages. Beginning in the 2nd half of the 12th century, the tradition of the sung Liturgy of the Hours, redone from earlier songs and complemented with just one original antiphon for the Magnificat O gloriosa et decora was observed at Saint George’s Convent.
Over time, the veneration of Saint Ludmila spread from Saint George’s Convent to other monastic orders and the diocesan milieu of the Bohemian lands. A new rhymed Liturgy of the Hours was introduced in the convent for the main feast 16 September during the 14th century. The hymn Lux vera, whose versed text describes the circumstances of Ludmila’s martyrdom, has survived in multiple manuscripts of the convent. In addition to the rhymed office, some new songs for the church liturgy were composed for the feasts of Saint Ludmila in the Late Middle Ages, such as the alleluia In Sareptam and the sequence Pleno cantu cordis oris.
The liturgy of the Feast of Saint Ludmila was later included in the first printed missals in the liturgy used by the Prague cathedral. Saint Ludmila was also venerated as one of the Bohemian patron saints in spiritual songs – in unison and polyphonic versions – printed in the 17th–18th century hymn books. Václav Adam Michna’s cycle of polyphonic spiritual songs Svatoroční muzika (Holy Year Music, 1661) includes two different songs in a four-voiced version about ‘Saint Ludmila, the Princess and Heiress of the Bohemian Land’. The hymn book Capella regia musicalis of Karel Holan Rovenský (1694) includes a two-voiced song with a basso continuo. While the widespread hymn book Slavíček rajský (The Nightingale of Paradise, 1719) compiled by Jan Josef Božan contains the extensive text of a song about Saint Ludmila, its melody refers to a different song.
Saint Ludmila penetrated the folk songs as well, but it must be admitted that cantastoria prints dedicated directly to Saint Ludmila are rare. The Krátký vejtah života mučedlnice Kristové svaté Lidmily (A Short Excerpt of the Life of Christ’s Martyr Saint Ludmila) informs the reader about Saint Ludmila’s life and her martyrdom, and includes the prayers pleading for her protection. Saint Ludmila is also present in the songs about Saint Wenceslas that mention her as his educator, and she is also found in prints related to Bohemian patron saints. A song about Saint Ludmila was also included among Tři písně historické o sv. Lidmile a sv. Václavu knížatech českých (Three Historical Songs about Saints Ludmila and Wenceslas, the Bohemian Princess and Prince).
Images
- Two-voiced alleluia composition using the melody of the hymn Lux vera
Corpus officiorum, 1st half of the 14th century, Bohemia
NKP XIV G 46, fol. 102r - Alleluia (mass song) In Sareptam
Plzeň Gradual of Martin Stupník, 1491, Plzeň
KNM XII A 20, fol. 221r - A Cantastoria about Saint Ludmila
Krátký vejtah života mučedlnice Kristové svaté Lidmily [A Short Excerpt of the Life of Christ’s Martyr Saint Ludmila]
[Prague]: Jana Průšová, [1762–1789?]
MZK VK-14.802 - A Hymnal Song on Saint Ludmila
Adam Michna of Ostradovice: Holy Year Music
Prague: Jesuit Printing Works, 1661
NKP 54 E 202, s. 181 - The Strangling of Saint Ludmila by Tomma and Gumon
Corpus officiorum, Bohemia (Prague), 14th/15th century
NKP VI G 3a, fol. 67v
