Dionisius Prioris: Missa Carminum, a critical edition

The Missa Carminum, attributed to Dionisius Prioris (1450-c1514), was discovered in a manuscript in Brno in 2008. The manuscript probably avoided destruction by the Habsburg dynasty in the seventeenth century due to its large size: It was discovered alongside twelfth and thirteenth century monophonic chant books in the Kirchenarchiv of St. Jacob, Brno. This edition presents the work for performance in modern notation, with a prefatory commentary on the composer and source. A detailed analysis of the piece offers some suggestions towards the many models upon which Prioris built the mass, including works by Josquin, Obrecht, Ninot, Compère and Dufay.

Obrecht also composed two Missa Carmina, and given his death in 1505, it is possible that this is one of Prioris’s final works, written to honour Obrecht and to contribute to the growing tradition of a mass ‘of songs’.