| Dixit Maria | |
|---|---|
| Motet by Hans Leo Hassler | |
 The composer in 1593 | |
| Related | Missa super Dixit Maria |
| Occasion | Annunciation |
| Text | Book of Luke 1:38 |
| Language | Latin |
| Published | 1591: |
| Scoring | SATB choir |
Dixit Maria (Mary said [to the angel]) is a motet for four voices by Hans Leo Hassler. It is part of his collection Cantiones sacrae published in 1591. It sets a verse from the narration of the annunciation in Latin. Hassler based a mass on the motet, Missa super Dixit Maria.
Hans Leo Hassler studied in Venice with Andrea Gabrieli, and was a musician for the Fugger family in Augsburg.[1] He composed Dixit Maria as a motet for choir a cappella, setting a verse from Luke's narration of the annunciation in Latin, specifically Mary's consent to the announcement that she would bear a son.[2] The motet is suitable for the feast of the Annunciation.[1] He included the motet in his 1591 collection Cantiones sacrae (Sacred songs). Hassler also composed a mass on the theme Dixit Maria, the Missa super Dixit Maria.[3]
Carus-Verlag included the motet in a 2013 Chorbuch Advent, a choral collection for Advent.[4]
The motet is written for four voices, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. The style is reminiscent of a canzona, in an ABB structure. The a section, rendering the text "Mary said to the angel", is set in imitative polyphony. The B section, repeated with a slightly modified ending, sets Mary's words, beginning in homophony.[1][5] Few words are accented by melismas, such as "angelum" and "fiat" (may it happen), which summarizes Mary's consent to the incarnation.[5]
Dixit Maria was recorded at the Mainz Cathedral in 2014, together with the mass based on it and other music by Hassler, by the Mainzer Domchor, conducted by Karsten Storck.[3] It was recorded by the Cambridge Singers, conducted by John Rutter, as part of an album The Sacred Flame / European Sacred Music of the Renaissance and Baroque Era.[1] A 2018 recording was performed by the Nottingham Cathedral Choir, conducted by Alex Patterson.[6]