ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been a considerable number of articles about the development of the Dominican liturgy, above all relating to the period of its foundation and the implementation of a uniform liturgy in the thirteenth century. This article discusses one particular chant, Salve regina, and studies its evolution within the Dominican liturgy, concentrating on the context of the female branch of the order between the thirteenth to the fourteenth century.
For a better understanding of the liturgical use and context of this so-called Marian-antiphon, sung since the thirteenth century at Compline, a short introduction into liturgy and Marian cult in Dominican communities will be proposed. Salve regina can be called votive, devotional or commemorative and forms an intriguing subject for the study of the question of liturgical or devotional practices during the Middle Ages. A short historical survey of this particular liturgical chant is complemented by a presentation of different melodic versions from female Dominican communities.
The next part introduces a Dominican chronicle (Schwesternbuch) from Engelthal, nearby Nuremberg, which passes down short mystical narratives about Dominican sisters probably written by Christine Ebner (1277–1356). One of them relates that one of the sisters, Sophie von Neitstein, died at the age of 24 while singing Salve regina. Here the chant clearly has a more devotional function becoming a personal prayer in German. Not only Salve regina, but also prayers like Pater noster, Ave Maria and different hymns were translated into German in order to facilitate meditation in the mother tongue of the sisters. While the liturgical use was linked with the end of the day, here we see that Salve regina in Latin or German, is used as a chant or a prayer for private devotional practice at the end of one’s life, mostly at the moment of serious illness or death. The article will conclude with thoughts about performativity and sound in this particular context.
