Regina caeli [117]

Vicente Lusitano

Full title / Other titles

RC117 Regina caeli 5 vv ; 2.p. Resurrexit 5 vv

Type

Motet

Scores

[1] Regina caeli

Polyphonic ensemble SSATB

S I-C1; S II-C1; A-C3; T-C4; B-F4. Integrity of chant (App. 3) is evident at the beginning of each textual phrase. Chant permeates the texture through imitation but also repetition; e.g., text and accompanying chant for “quia…portare” is stated four times, respectively in S II and B. Additionally, motives derived from chant (“alleluia” sections) are scattered throughout the texture unifying the structure. Lusitano inserts pitch inflections to avoid augmented fourth or fifths; in m. 8 e♭ and a♭ are simultaneously introduced.[2] Declamatory text setting prevails. Final F, b♭ signature.

1. A composer and theorist, Lusitano, whose name means Portuguese, was the first published black (mulatto) composer. Robert Stevenson, “The First Black Published Composer,” Inter-American Music Review 5 (1982): 79-103.

2. This motet may have sparked the debate in 1551 between Nicolo Vicentino and Lusitano; Lusitano claimed that the music of Regina cele was purely diatonic whereas Vicentino maintained that in all contemporary music the chromatic and enharmonic genera were mixed with the diatonic. Robert Stevenson, “Vicente Lusitano: New Light on His Career,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 15, No. 1 (Spring, 1962): 72-7.
[2] Resurrexit

Polyphonic ensemble SSATB

Description

External link:
CPDL 65314 [Choral Public Domain Library]

Morris Phibbs's transcription of this work is being prepared for publication.

Associated people

Vicente Lusitano - Composer

Creation place and date

No information.

Associated sources

Sung texts

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Regina caeli laetare, alleluia;
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

***

The Trope:

Alle Domine nate matris Deus alme nobis confer praestaque vivere:
Quam [quoniam] te decet laus honor O Domine qui de morte surgebas rex pie:
Fac nos tecum surgere, alleluia.

Bibliography

Modern editions

No information.

References

No information.

Contributors

Harry Elzinga - Project manager ; Scientific editor

Ailin Arjmand - Collaborative work

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https://ricercardatalab.cesr.univ-tours.fr/works/1666/

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Regina caeli [117], in RicercarDataLab [https://ricercardatalab.cesr.univ-tours.fr/works/1666/] (accessed 21 January 2026).

Last modification: Nov. 20, 2025