oa In Praise of St. Nicholas: Music, Text, and Spirituality in the Masses and Offices of Parisian Trade Confraternity Manuscripts

The present study explores the contrafacta and source melodies for Alleluia verses, prosas, and hymns in honour of St. Nicholas that appear in two fifteenth-century trade confraternity manuscripts from Paris. A close examination of this material demonstrates that the liturgies of Parisian lay communities were carefully constructed, using both text and melody to achieve symbolic spiritual associations between St. Nicholas and Christ, and drawing on some of the most widely disseminated popular folklore about the life of this saint.