In 1618, a German clergyman and musician named Erhard Bodenschatz published a collection of 115 motets under the title Florilegium Portense. A second volume of 150 pieces appeared three years later. Both collections contain motets of five to eight voices mostly in Latin, though a few are in German. They contain works of Hassler, Lasso, Gabrieli, and a host of lesser-known composers—as well as several pieces by Bodenschatz himself.
The purpose of the collection was to provide a repertory of motets of high quality for practical liturgical use. The collection includes music by both German and Italian composers, and the style of the music ranges from Palestrina-like counterpoint to Venetian polychoral style. Both volumes were published with a figured basis generalis to facilitate performance with organ accompaniment in the Baroque practice that was just then in its infancy. The Florilegium Portense is an important collection because it was so widely used throughout central Germany; it was still being reprinted a century after its first publication.
There is very little published scholarship on the Florilegium Portense. There is no modern edition of the collection, and although some of the pieces are available in various Gesamtausgabe and Denkmäler editions, most of the music remains unedited. The purpose of this project is to explain the significance of this collection, to briefly summarize the style of the music it contains, and to offer a modern edition of four motets from the collection that have not previously been published.