Silete, silete, silentium habete. Über Musik im Trierer Theophilus-Spiel.

Three extant manuscripts in Middle High German, all dating from the 15th century, contain a Theophilus drama. In what is probably the latest one, Ms. Trier Stadtbibliothek 128/1120, music notation for two voices has been recorded, at the very beginning and the end of the (probably incomplete) manuscript, accompanying in both cases a call for ‘Silence!’ (silete, silete, silentium habete!) and the introduction to the scenes that follow. Moreover, in the text of the play two incipits of songs are given, one in Latin (O pastor eterne) and one in the vernacular (Myr enboyd myn leyf). In this article the formerly unidentified songs and the ‘siletes’ will be put in their context. The musical clues in the Trier Manuscript reveal that
this Theophilus play was probably written on the occasion of the inauguration of a Boy Bishop and may have been performed during one of the days of the clerical Feasts of Fools between Christmas and New Year’s Day. This brings the Trier Theophilus Play closer to references about a Theophilus Play performed in the German city of Bochum in January and one played in the Dutch city of Deventer on Shrove Tuesday.