Centerpiece of the research project is MS 2129 of the music collection of the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The lavishly decorated choirbook consisting of only fifteen folios of imposing size, was produced by Richard of Genoa, singer and scribe of the Wittelsbach music chapel in Munich, for the 1568 wedding of William V of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine. The only musical piece it contains is the tripartite motet Gratia sola Dei which Orlando di Lasso had composed for that occasion. Particular attention is given to the predominantly Old Testament image cycles accompanying the musical text, undoubtedly inspired by Hans Mielich’s illustrations to the famous Penitential Psalms.

MS 2129 was studied from a multidisciplinary perspective in 2016 within the conference series Troja – Kolloquium und Jahrbuch für Renaissancemusik (with financial support from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation). The proceedings – including a catalog of all motifs and pertinent inscriptions – is now available as open access publication. It forms the starting point for further research on the sixteenth-century illuminated choir books produced for the Wittelsbach dynasty, which today are among the most valuable holdings of the Bavarian State Library in Munich.