Adrian Willaert’s Hymn for the Holy Shroud

Although the Holy Shroud has always attracted attention, musical traces of this relic are rare. Willaert’s hymn O iubar, nostrae specimen salutis, however, is an exception. The piece was published in Hymnorum musica (Venice, 1542), ten years after the Shroud was miraculously saved from a fire in the Sainte-Chapelle of Chambéry. A close investigation of O iubar reveals a series of anomalies, such as its place in the church calendar and in Willaert’s collection. Furthermore, the provenance of its text and melody is unclear. In this article, I present hypotheses that might help us to contextualize the hymn and to explain its presence in Willaert’s Hymnorum musica.