Virgo prudentissima. Heinrich Isaac. Tallis Scholars. Peter Phillips, conductor

Virgo Prudentissima is a six-voice motet dedicated to the Virgin Mary and composed by Heinrich Isaac in 1507. The motet describes the Assumption of the Virgin, calling on Her and the Nine Orders of angels to protect Emperor Maximilian I and the Holy Roman Empire. The lyricist was Georg von Zlatkonia. The motet was first composed by Isaac in 1507 while he was in Constance for the imperial Reichstag of that year, which was organized to prepare for the coronation (which would happen in 1508 in Trento) of Maximilian I, King of the Romans as Holy Roman Emperor. According to Franz Körndle, the motet was performed at the memorial services for Philip the Fair, son of Maximilian, some weeks after the Diet in Constance. The motet was first published in 1520 in Ludwig Senfl’s Liber selectarum cantionum. Later, around 1537–1538, Virgo prudentissima was rewritten by Hans Ott to be rededicated to Christ as Christus filius Dei (all Marian references were replaced) and Maximilian was replaced with his grandson Char