Town in Italy. From early Christian times and during the Middle Ages it was an important city in the Friuli region of Northern Italy, giving its name to the patriarchate it governed. It is known to have been a major liturgical centre and probably developed a distinctive tradition of plainchant. The patriarchate of Aquileia was suppressed in the 18th century. The town is of Roman origin.
According to tradition the episcopal see of Aquileia was founded by St Mark and from the 5th century was established as an archbishopric. The earliest known evidence for the use of the title of patriarch for the bishop of Aquileia dates from the reign of Pope Pelagius I (556–61) and the term ‘ritus aquileiensis’ or ‘partiarchinus’ for the Aquileian rite is documented from the 7th century. In 606 the patriarchate was divided and a double sequence of patriarchs instituted: one governed from the city of Aquileia and was subsequently controlled by the Lombards and Frankish Empire; the other from Grado and was ruled by Byzantium and, later, Venice. From about 737 the patriarch of Aquileia was based at Cividale del Friuli and from 1348 at Udine. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, from the reigns of Poppo (Wolfgang von Treffen, 1019–42) to Berthold von Andechs-Meran (1218–51), almost all the patriarchs of Aquileia were of German origin. Poppo reconstructed the basilica of Aquileia and consecrated it on 13 July 1031. However, as the support of the Holy Roman Emperors declined from the 13th century onwards, so too did the temporal power of the patriarchs and in 1420 Aquileia passed into the control of the Venetians. In 1751 Pope Benedict XIV dissolved the patriarchate and divided its ecclesiastical jurisdiction between the new archbishoprics of Udine and Gorizia.
Most of the evidence concerning the liturgical traditions of the Aquileian Church dates from the later Middle Ages; only a few sources survive that indicate the nature of the rite before the introduction of the Roman rite and Gregorian chant into the patriarchate during the 9th century. However, these early sources suggest that the city had already developed its own traditions, which may also have included a distinctive repertory of chant. Evidence for the early rite includes: a capitulare evangeliorum from the time of Bishop Fortunatianus (c342–after 360); a reference by St Jerome to a body of clerics known as the ‘Chorus beatorum’ that surrounded Bishop Valerianus (371–88); a collection of homilies compiled by Valerianus’s successor, Cromatius (387–407); an anonymous 7th-century treatise on the origins of chant that contains a reference to Cromatius; a pamphlet, Ad virginem lapsam (possibly the work of the 5th-century bishop Niceta), that seems to confirm the importance of plainchant at Aquileia; Canon 13 of the Council of Cividale in 796 alluding to the Sabbath day of rest ‘quod et nostri rustici observant’ (‘that our country folk observe’); and the treatise of Patriarch Massentius (811–33) and the Ordo scrutinii by Lupus I (c870), both of which mention the Aquileian baptismal rites. The possibility that there was also a distinctive chant tradition is supported by a fragment of music for a pre-Carolingian baptismal rite preserved in an 11th-century manuscript (I-Ma T27 suppl.) and notated in campo aperto. This melody is considered a ‘liturgico-musical combination not belonging to any group so far identified and dating from a period before the establishment of Gregorian chant in Upper Italy’ (Huglo, 1955).
The Roman rite and Gregorian chant repertory were introduced into Aquileia by Paulinus II (787–802), who was appointed patriarch by Charlemagne and who had formerly served at the Frankish court. Some poetry by Paulinus has survived set to melodies in neumatic notation (see Norberg). Although from this time the Roman rite constituted the basis of the liturgy at Aquileia, certain directions in liturgical manuscripts indicate that some distinctive features were retained. Several 13th- and 14th-century manuscripts, for example, contain rubrics suggesting that in some respects that Church followed its own practices: ‘secundum morem et consuetudinem aquilegensis ecclesiae’ (‘following the practice and custom of the church of Aquileia’; I-GO B and D), ‘iuxta consuetudinem aquilegensis ecclesiae’ (‘according to the custom of the Church of Aquileia’; UDcap 7), ‘in hoc non observamus romanum ordinem’ (‘in this [practice] we do not observe the Roman ordo’; GO B); ‘sed aquilegiensis ecclesia hoc non utitur’ (‘but the Church of Aquileia does not use this [practice]’; GO B).
According to one manuscript (GO B) the feast of the Holy Innocents was celebrated with some solemnity in Aquileia by singing the Ite missa est and Gloria in excelsis, chants the Roman Church was accustomed to omit (‘romano more solent amitti’). In this respect the Aquileian liturgy diverged from the general Italian tradition, which considered the feast of the Holy Innocents to be a day of mourning and therefore celebrated Mass without the Gloria and alleluia. There is also evidence that the rite celebrated in the city of Aquileia differed in some respects from that used in other cities in the patriarchate, notably Cividale del Friuli; the trope for the feast of the Holy Innocents, Hodie pro Domino, found in the Aquileian troper (GO I, 14th century) was not performed in Cividale. The Cividale sources also display considerable differences from the Aquileian manuscripts in the repertory of chant melodies.
The liturgical manuscripts also contain characteristic Aquileian recitatives, for example, the Announcement of Easter (I-UDcap 17, 13th century; UD 31, a 14th-century addition) and the Lamentations of Jeremiah can be counted among the particularly distinctive elements of the repertory; the Lamentations exist in both the Aquileian (Vsmc Lit.4, 14th century; UDcap 21, 1243 with 14th-century addition) and Cividale versions (CFm 91, 93 and 98; 12th, 13th and 14th centuries). Some pieces of late medieval origin, particularly Offices and sequences dedicated to local saints, are probably local in origin. In 1245 Patriarch Berthold von Andechs had assigned to the Cividale chapter an annual sum for the celebration of the feast of the saints Ermagora and Fortunato and in 1282 Patriarch Raimondo della Torre extended the annual celebration to the entire diocese and province of Aquileia; the Office for these saints was probably composed for this occasion. In 1251 Berthold had also assigned a sum to the Aquileian chapter for the feast of his niece, St Elisabeth Landgrave of Thuringia; the sequence Florem mundus protulit (GO I and CFm 56, 58 and 79) was possibly written for this celebration.
The influence of the Holy Roman Empire can be seen in Aquileian rites, particularly those dating from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Certain Aquileian manuscripts of this period are notated cum nota theutonica, several Germanic saints were celebrated and the chant repertory itself was influenced by Germanic compositions. Many pieces from St Gallen found in Aquileian sources, especially tropes and sequences, may have been introduced during the reform of the Aquileian missal ordered perhaps by Patriarch Ulrich von Eppenstein (1086–1121), who had been abbot of St Gallen from 1077 (see Vale, 1933). The responsories for the Sundays in Advent display elements in common with those of transalpine dioceses and it is possible that some chants, for example, Sanctus Georgius for the Office of St George (CFm 41), originated in southern Germany.
Concurrent with the political events of the 13th century and the election of Gregorio di Montelongo (1251–69) and Raimondo della Torre (1273–99) as patriarchs, the repertory of liturgical music in Aquileia gradually grew closer to the Venetian tradition. One 14th-century manuscript (CFm 41) contains responsories matching those in sources from Venice, Verona and Padua that were added to the existing liturgy for the Sundays in Advent. The Mass tropes for the Christmas cycle sung in Aquileia during the 13th century (Rvat Ross.76 and UD 2; both 13th century), all originating from St Gallen, have additions in the 14th-century troper (GO I) in the form of other tropes for the Easter season and the saints’ feast days. These additions are of Italian and Eastern derivation, the latter reaching Aquileia by way of Padua (see Haug, forthcoming). The liturgical dramas transmitted by the processionals of Cividale (see Young) and Aquileia (Cattin, 1994) belong to a tradition characteristic of the Veneto region. The examples of two-part polyphony preserved in liturgical manuscripts from Cividale also conform to the polyphonic traditions found in many other Italian cities.
In Aquileia the chant was sung by the chorus and chorarii, who are often indicated in the rubrics in liturgical manuscripts (for example, in I-GO A, B, D and K and UDcap 7; all 13th and 14th century). 12 prebends were established in 1245 for the same number of singers. In 1252, with papal approval, the cantor leading the singers was elevated to capitular rank; the first name to be recorded is that of ‘Albericus cantor’ in a patriarchal document of 1260. Some names of maestri and cantori are also known, particularly those from the mid-15th century (Pressacco, 1981). With the suppression of the chapter in 1751 the singers of the church at Aquileia were divided between the new archbishoprics of Udine and Gorizia. The basilica of Aquileia is known to have owned an organ by 1328, which was repaired in 1480. The Aquileian Processional (UDcap 7) provides interesting information on the city churches and on the altars and chapels of the basilica in the 14th century. The sepulchre within the basilica provided the setting for the Elevatio crucis and the Visitatio sepulchri (see Lipphardt; Cattin, 1994).
G. Vale: ‘Vita musicale nella chiesa metropolitana di Aquileia’, NA, ix (1932), 201–16
G. Vale: ‘La liturgia nella chiesa patriarcale di Aquileia’, La Basilica di Aquileia, ed. N. Zanichelli (Bologna, 1933), 367–81
K. Young: The Drama of the Medieval Church (Oxford, 1933/R, 2/1967), i, 507–13; ii, 247
M. Huglo: ‘Vestigia di un antico repertorio musicale dell’Alta Italia apparentato col canto ambrosiano’, Ambrosius, xxxi (1955), 34–9
K. Gamber: Codices liturgici latini antiquiores, i/1 (Freiburg, 2/1968), 287–90; Supplementum: Ergänzungs- und Registerband, ia (Freiburg, 1988), 70
W. Lipphardt, ed.: Lateinische Osterfeiern und Osterspiele (Berlin, 1975–90)
M. Huglo: ‘Liturgia e musica sacra aquileiese’, Storia della cultura veneta, i: Dalle origini al Trecento, ed. A. Girolamo, M. Pastore Stocchi and G. Folena (Vicenza, 1976), 312–25
D. Norberg, ed.: L’oeuvre poétique de Paulin d’Aquilée (Stockholm, 1979)
C. Scalon: La Biblioteca arcivescovile di Udine (Padua, 1979)
G. Cattin: ‘La tradizione liturgica aquileiese e le polifonie primitive di Cividale’, Le polifonie primitive in Friuli e in Europa: Cividale del Friuli 1980, 117–30
G. Pressacco: ‘La musica nel Friuli storico’, Enciclopedia monografica del Friuli-Venezia Giulia, iii/4: La storia e la cultura, ed. D.C. Cadoresi and C. Russo (Udine, 1981), 1947–2042
M. Huglo: ‘Les manuscrits notés du diocèse d’Aquilée’, Scriptorium, xxxviii (1984), 313–17
G. Pressacco: ‘La tradizione liturgico-musicale di Aquileia’, IMSCR XIV: Bologna 1987, ii, 119–29
G. Cattin: Musica e liturgia a San Marco (Venice, 1990–92)
H. Schmidinger: ‘Aquileia’, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. W. Kasper and K. Baumgartner, i (Freiburg, 3/1993)
G. Cattin: ‘Tra Padova e Cividale: nuova fonte per la drammaturgia sacra nel medioevo’, Il saggiatore musicale, i (1994), 7–112
A. Haug: ‘Ein “Hirsauer” Tropus’, Revue bénédictine, civ (1994), 328–45
G. Pressacco: Tropi, prosule e sequenze del messale Aquileiese: un primo censimento (Udine, 1995)
R. Camilot-Oswald: Die liturgischen Musikhandschriften aus dem mittelalterlichen Patriarchat Aquileia (Kassel, 1997)
G. Cattin: ‘Aquileia e San Marco’, La musica nel Veneto, i: La storia, ed. P. Fabbri (Milan, 1998), 40–61
G. Cattin: ‘Cenni sulla storia liturgico-musicale del Patriarcato’, Sacramentarium patriarchale secundum morem sanctae comensis ecclesiae, ed. A. Rusconi (Como, 1998), 9–16
C. Scalon and L. Pani: I codici della Biblioteca capitolare di Cividale del Friuli (Florence, 1998)
P. Barzan and A. Vildera, eds.: Il canto patriarchino di tradizione orale in area istriana e veneto-friuliana: Venice, Fondazione Levi XVIII 1997 (forthcoming)
A. Haug: ‘Tropen im südostdeutschen und im norditalienischen Raum: Untersuchungen zu ihren Überlieferungswegen’, Strati e itinerari dei tropi San Marco: l’Italia settentrionale e il Nord, ed. W. Arlt and G. Cattin (Venice, forthcoming)
A. Rusconi: ‘L’Annunzio pasquale all’Epifania nel rito patriarchino e a San Marco’, Miscellanea di studi in onore di Clementi Terni, ed. D. Righini (forthcoming)
RAFFAELLA CAMILOT-OSWALD