In medieval Europe, church music was extremely popular. It was invariably expressed in song and prayers, in poems and exquisite paintings. In fact, choral books emerged as one of the artistic triumphs of the Middle Ages, an expression of pious creativity which old monks and nuns designed and copied by hand, never to be surpassed in beauty by the countless products of the printing press.

Even in this genre of artistic sophistication, our island can hold its head high as the presence of artistic medieval choral books in Malta’s major churches manifestly proves that the island was already entering the European mainstream of culture and erudition in those times of darkness.

Miniatures in medieval manuscripts and illuminated codices of the Middle Ages still exert a huge fascination upon discerning visitors even in a time of crass materialism and secularism, as evidenced by the many visitors who view the priceless choral books exhibited at the Mdina Cathedral Museum and at the Museum of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

When the production of these liturgical choral books was at its height in those remote times, specialisation in the bottega, known as scriptoria, necessitated the differentiation between those who ‘historiated’ – that is, illustrated books by appropriate miniature paintings – and those who ‘illuminated’, which included the decorative work embellishing initial capital letters.

The presence of artistic medieval choral books in Malta’s major churches manifestly proves that the island was already entering the European mainstream of culture and erudition in those times of darkness

The specialised artists, very popular in Malta at that time, invariably introduced gold in leaf or powdered form in their artistic designs which spilled over gracefully into margins and borders. Liturgical music included such idiom as Gregorian chant, especially that of Palestrina, recommended as the best type of music suited for liturgical functions.

In Malta, the earliest recorded instance of liturgical choral books goes back to the 13th century. An Angevin document of 1271 refers to a set of choral books in use at the troglodyte chapel of the Nativity in the Castrum Maris (Fort St Angelo) on the Vittoriosa promontory.

The title page of the book by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) containing her mystic visions in song Liber Divinum Operum, illustrating The Divine Power of Creation with the Universe and Man as symbol of the Cosmos.

The prestigious museum of the Cathedral city of Mdina is the proud possessor of this set of choral books that has baffled renowned international musicologists. These oldest extant choral manuscripts exhibited at the Mdina Cathedral Museum consist of an antiphonary with music written in Aquitain notation, having 51 decorated initials enlivened and articulated by various rubrications.

My fascination with these masterpieces ofillumination was immediately ignited a few decades ago as I marvelled at the manuscripts of the mystic visionary abbess Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) whose sacred music topped the classical charts 20 years ago. Her major work Liber Divinorum Operum, relating to her mystic visions, contains 10 full illustrations, and several historiated and ornamented initials reputedly composed for Pope Gregory IX . The title picture illustrates The Divine Power of Creation with the Universe and Man as symbol of the Cosmos.

The strong musical tradition prevalent in the mother church at Mdina in the early part of the 16th century, particularly between 1527 and 1538, is evidenced by the number of artists and copyists employed in the production of the Mdina Cathedral liturgical choral books, including antiphonarii, psalterium and graduale.

A historiated initials depicting the Resurrection in L’Isle Adam’s famous choral books at St John’s Co- Cathedral, Valletta.

Among its rich collection of unique musical manuscripts, the Cathedral Museum possesses a number of other documented choral books commissioned from various Maltese artists and scriptori . These included the brothers Xiberras (1535), cleric Joannes Bartolo (1537) and the Dominican friar Gio Antonio Manjubi. With the introduction of the Roman Tridentine rite in 1571 these precious books belonging to the Gallican rite were banished in Malta in 1575 by Bishop Duzina.

This prohibition called for a new set of choral books, and in 1573, Bishop Martin Royas commissioned for the Mdina Cathedral from the Dominican Fra Salvatore Bidignano of Pozzuoli a series of seven volumes, enriched by historiated initials displaying a flourish of rich Gothic script enclosed within other miniatures and ornamental borders. The arrival of the Knights of St John in Malta in October 1530 at the medieval port city of Birgu, a suburb of the Castrum Maris, ushered in a new era. In spite of their urgent preoccupation to strengthen the crumbling defences of the island, particularly around the Borgo, it is to their eternal credit that the Knights never neglected their spiritual role and ensured that their new conventual church, the parish of St Lawrence, would be enhanced and adorned by two precious objets d’art now occupying a special niche in the prestigious St John’s Cathedral in Valletta.

Among its rich collection of unique musical manuscripts, the Cathedral Museum possesses a number of other documented choral books commissioned from various Maltese artists and scriptori

During the first four years of their stay in Birgu, the Order commissioned a large wooden cross, recently beautifully restored, from Polidoro da Caravaggio, as well as a magnificent set of illuminated choral books of unsurpassed beauty, bearing the arms of Grand Master Phillipe Villiers de L’Isle Adam (1524-1534) from a renowned anonymous scriptorum.

Inscribed on parchment in the international Gothic medium, resplendent with an array of Flemish, Classical and Renaissance decorative motifs, they blend superbly to produce a masterpiece of extinct art, that of illumination. These books are remarkable for their variety of historiated initials exquisitely decorated, as in the marginalia with a scroll with the motto of the Order – Pour la Foi (For the Faith).

Full foliate panel border and infilled initials with the figure of a prophet in the Royas choral books, vol. II, at the Mdina Cathedral Museum.

Although it was firmly established that the donor was Grand Master L’Isle Adam, for over a century the provenance and date of these priceless choral books has provided an academic battlefield for scholars who could not determine the exact date of these rare manuscripts. It was only recently that a young erudite scholar, Dr Martina Caruana, identified without any shadow of doubt their exact date and commission.

Dr Caruana’s in-depth research has revealed that after the erstwhile conventual church of St Lawrence was gutted by fire after the Easter Vigil of 1532, L’Isle Adam immediately commissioned these choral books and the famous Polidoro Crucifix specifically for the Birgu church. Thus the previous perceptions that the choral books had been brought from Rhodes was replaced by documentary evidence that the L’Isle Adam choral books replaced the burnt manuscripts of the Birgu parish.

The conventual church of the Order in Valletta was also enriched by another two series of illuminated books donated by Grand Masters Verdalle (1582-1595) and de Paule (1623-1636).

Priceless treasures in their own right, they do not reach the same artistic standards as those of L’Isle Adam’s donation. Veritable art of exceptional beauty, Malta’s choral books, especially those of L’Isle Adam, are considered among the best of their genre in Christendom.