A Lovely Erotic Poem

There are several dozen manuscript leaves interleaved between the pages of "Tre MeridianI”, one of them, titled "Carmina caterinae", is accompanied by this poem:

Vénus des oliuӱers, Vénus du Piémont,

   Vénus à l’estoile, Vénus la merveigle,

   Vénus la si pasle, Vénus la uermeille,

   Vénus des oraiges, Vénus des vallons,

Vénus des frontӱères, Vénus des larrons,

   Vénus des hors-la-loi,  Vénus des malsains,

   Vénus des reschappés des prisons du destin,

   Vénus dans les umbres, Vénus du pardon,

Vénus qui soy penche me chuchoter à l’oreille :

   Ne t’en fais pas me dist-elle Ie veigle

   Sur ton resve, et mes lèures sur ton front.

Et saisissant mon bras, et sans mesme un son,

   Elle descouvrit d’abord l’un puis l’autre seing

   Et i posa délicatement ma main.

This might loosely translate :

Venus of the olive groves, Venus of the Piedmont,

   Venus of the star, Venus the marvel,

   Venus, so pale, Venus the blushing one,

   Venus of the storms, Venus of the valleys,

Venus of the frontiers, Venus of the thieves,

   Venus of the outlaw, Venus of the unwell,

   Venus of escapees of destiny’s prisons,

   Venus in the shadows, Venus of pardon,

Venus who bends down to whisper in my ear:

   ‘Don’t worry,’ she says, ‘I’m watching

   Over your dream, and my lips on your forehead.’

Seizing my hand, and without a sound,

   She uncovered first one then the other of her breasts, 
   And placed my hand delicately there

Quid Quaeritis Viventem transcription

...is nearly finished.

It is beautiful.

The Composer's Face, 1599

Many thanks to Mathieu, who found di Scadre in his old age, in a private collection in Perinaldo, Italy.

Killer pic!  What a face!

The Languages of Tre Meridiani

the text body: mostly middle French.
The music:

Latin, French, Italian, middle English.

Msgr di Scadre, age 19, portrait from 1534

"Presumed portrait of the composer.
Discovered in the wall of the castle at Kernuz (Finistère), where the young
composer had spent the year 1534 during his first exile, this portrait
allows us to imagine Di Scadre (born in 1515) at the age of 19 years."

Spoke with Max Stein

...who worked with Cochereau.  Di Scadre was indeed a Monseigneur, born in 1515, lived at least into his eighties.  Held prebends (stipends from the estate of a church) in both Nice--what would become Ste Réparate--and a church outside of Perinaldo (Italy), and may have had others.  An itinerant monk!

The page Max sent talks about an exile to Brittany in 1534--the year of the Affaire des Placards.  A closet Protestant?  A Catholic with Protestant leanings?

Quid Quaeritis Viventem Cum Mortuis (Chapel of the Holy [Trinity?], St. Honorat

First light: here is the first image of music... the voices are on facing pages: S[uperius/soprano] and tenor on the versos, alto/bass on the recto (facing page).

The text is simple: "Why seek ye the living among the dead?"  I thought it'd be a good place to start...