CD 1:
Ave Maris Stella, Codex Apt
Ave Maris Stella, Liber Usualis
Ave Maris Stella, Bohemia
Ave Maris Stella, Códice San Esteban, Burgos
Ave Maris Stella, Intonarium Toletanus
Ave Maris Stella, Abadía Liré
Ave Maris Stella, Virgo decus virginum
Ave Maris Stella, Viena Heilingenkreuz
Ave Maris Stella, Viena Heilingenkreuz mensural
O Maria Dei, O Maria Maris Stella. Códice de las Huelgas
Ave Maris Stella. Sainte Genevieve
Ave Maris Stella. San Cugat del Valles
Ave Maris Stella. Paris
Ave Maris Stella. Chantilly
Ave Maris Stella. Cancionero Musical de Montecassino

CD 2:
Ave Maris Stella, Códice Viena
Ave Maris Stella, Códice Cartujano del siglo XII.
Ave Maris Stella, Códice Vaticano.
Ave Maris Stella, Utrech.
Ave Maris Stella, Silos 30850
Ave Maris Stella, Silos 30851
Ave Maris Stella, St. Gallen 18
Ave Maris Stella, Reggio Emilia
Ave Maris Stella, Virgo decus virginum. Códice de las Huelgas. Conductus No153
Ave Maris Stella, Friburgo
Ave Maris Stella, Loretto 98
Ave Maris Stella, Loretto 99
O Maria Virgo, O Maria Maris Stella, In Veritate. Códice de las Huelgas
Ave Maris Stella, John Dunstable

CD 3:
Ave Maris Stella, Guillaume Dufay
Ave Maris Stella, Alter Tonus
Vella e Minima, Cantiga de Santa María 180.
Ave Maris Stella, Gratz.
Sibila Valerancia, Burgos
Ave Maris Stella, Antifonale Monasticum.
Virgen Madre Gloriosa, Cantiga de Santa María 412.
Ave Maris Stella, melismática, Antifonale Monasticum .
Sibila Limoges
Sibyl of Vallicellana, Rome
Madre de Deus ora por nos, Cantiga de Santa maria 422 (Sibila)
Sibyl Processional, Bourges (printed 1517)
Mellis Stila, Maris Stella, Codex las Huelgas.
Ave Maris Stella. Liber Consuetudinum. San Cugat del Vallés
Ave Maris Stella. Ave Stella Maris. Montecassino, Vatican

Liturgical hymns were the principal form of early Christian poetry. Like Jewish or pagan Greek hymns, they were festive songs accompanied by the zither in honour of God or the saints- Christian heroes. They were based on three elements: song, praise and God, therefore the musical component was essential in the metre since hymns are written to be sung as praise or prayer. They were structured in stanzas composed to be sung with the same repeated melody.

Classical liturgical hymns first appeared in the Church of the 4th century, simultaneously in the East through St Ephrem the Syrian (d.373), known as ‘the zither of the Spirit’, and in the West through St Hilary of Poitiers ( 367) and St Ambrose of Milan ( 397), the true father of Latin hymnody. Their success seems to lie in a doctrinal and pastoral effort to fend off the heresies of the faith of believers, rather than as an element of the liturgy.

In the West, they were very well received in the liturgy of the Church, propagated by monks throughout their monasteries. They were introduced through the medieval Hymnals for the Office of the Latin Church. Hymns created a spiritual environment in community church prayer, enhancing affection and mercy, uniting the spirit of the monks by situating them in the specific Hour within the hours of the liturgy.

Hymns have another important solemn liturgical use as processionals. In the divine Office they are sung in ‘antiphonal’ form, choirs singing each stanza alternately. In processions, they were ‘responsorial’, all the parts being sung by the choir while the people respond with a refrain or chorus in the Eastern style.