Mdina, the cathedral city that flaunts two other Romance titles Città Vecchia and Città Notabile, has exercised various roles over the centuries. In medieval times it was undoubtedly the hub of ecclesiastical, artistic and social life on this island, particularly of the Maltese nobility ensconced in this ancient city.

Before the arrival of the Knights, the Mdina Università (local council) enjoyed a preeminent position with complete jurisdiction over the whole island, except the Castrum Maris (Fort St Angelo).

Down the years, Mdina has witnessed visits by kings and monarchs, scholars and celebrities, poets and philosophers as varied as Napoleon, Nelson, Count Roger of Normandy, Queen Elisabeth II, perhaps Cicero and the great Hannibal, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, D.H. Lawrence, André Maurois and famous composers.

Now we know from the rich musical archives at the Mdina Cathedral Museum, a crossroad of faith and culture, that a long line of well-known composers from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, of which Malta formed part, were active at the Mdina cathedral, including composers like Andrea Rinaldi, Antonio Campochiaro and other outstanding maestri di cappella.

Receipts for payment signed by Antonio Campochiaro and Andrea Rinaldi extracted from the administrative accounts of the Mdina cathedral.

In fact, the magnificent, rich collection of medieval and baroque music at the cathedral has compelled Paolo Carapezza, professor of musical history at the University of Palermo, to describe the Mdina musical collection as “certainly the most important south of Naples”.

The Mdina Cathedral Museum houses unique medieval and baroque musical manuscripts. All illustrations courtesy Mdina Cathedral Museum and archives

Unknown to musicologists, these musical manuscripts had languished in the damp cellars of the Mdina Cathedral for centuries, only to be revived in the mid-1970s through the pioneering initiative of Mgr John Azzopardi, affectionately known as Dun Gwann, at that time curator of the museum, the painstaking professional work of Prof. Mro Joseph Vella of Gozo, and that connoisseur of the arts, the erudite Chev. Vincenzo Bonello.

Mdina’s cathedral is intrinsically linked with the history of Christianity in Malta that traces its origins to the shipwreck of St Paul on the Maltese islands in AD60, a national feast liturgically celebrated on February 10. This important event was acknowledged by Pope John Paul II when he visited the island in May 1991, as part of his journey in the footsteps of St Paul.

The history of the Mdina cathedral dedicated to St Paul goes back to the sixth century when the first church must have existed on the site of the present impressive cathedral built in 1693. Textual evidence suggests that it was built in the Byzantine period when Lucillus, Bishop of Malta, erected a basilica probably similar to the one excavated in recent years at Tas-Silġ in Marsaxlokk.

These priceless liturgical musical manuscripts in Aquitain notation, with 51 decorated initials, enlivened and articulated by various rubrications, are attracting world-renown musicologists to the magnificent baroque palace

After the complete expulsion of the Arabs in the middle of the 13th century, documented evidence dated 1299 indicates that a new church dedicated to St Paul was erected on the remains of the ancient basilica, a site rich in religious tradition testifying to the re-establishment of a Pauline cult.

Initially, it must have been a humble Romanesque church consisting of a three-aisled structure but it was subsequently enlarged and embellished, particularly in the 15th century.

A few surviving relics belonging to this period include an icon of the Virgin and Child, popularly known as the Madonna of St Luke, a Siculo-Byzantesque (early 13th century) painting venerated in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament; the surviving panels of the Polyptych of St Paul, a 15th century High Altar pala from the famous bottega of Luis Borassa of Catalunya; precious musical scores from the most outstanding sacred music composers of the period; the codex known as Liber Sancti Pauli, on which solemn oaths were taken, and exquisite marble works from the Domenico Cagini workshop of Palermo dated 1496, among others. These precious items may still be viewed in the cathedral or in the nearby museum, considered to be one of the best church museums in Europe.

Pope John Paul II in Malta in May 1991 on his journey in the footsteps of St Paul.

The acquisitions and exten­sive renovations carried out at the Romanesque cathedral in the early 16th century include artistic decorations and the provenance of outstanding objets d’art emanating from the best bottegas in Sicily and southern Italy.

The cathedral has a long tradition of famous sacred music composers, choir masters, organists and music teachers. Their activities are all meticulously documented in the Mandati documents of 1473-1539, consisting of an analytical study showing expenditure and provenance.

This important work was published by Stanley Fiorini in 1992. There is ample evidence of the high level of musical activity in the late medieval period in Mdina, as shown in the payment to scriptori, or specialised copyists of liturgical books, organists and choir masters.

This artistic sophistication in our Mother Church in the pre-Knights period gives the lie to those who believe that before the coming of the Order of St John in 1530 Malta was languishing in an artistic wilderness.

In late medieval times, church music was extremely popular in many European cities, and Mdina was no exception.

This sacred music continued to reverberate till the present day, as evidenced in the recently successful revival of the music of the 12th century mystic abbess Hildegarde von Bingen, presumed to be the first woman composer in Europe.

Quite surprisingly, a few years ago, a compact disc of Gregorian chants in their original arrangement, caught the imagination of the Western world, including Malta, reaching second placed in the bestselling classical records.

This artistic sophistication in our Mother Church in the pre-Knights period gives the lie to those who believe that before the coming of the Order of St John in 1530 Malta was languishing in an artistic wilderness

This sacred music, like exquisite songs, prayer, poems and paintings, is spiritually uplifting. Riding on the wave of this success, a compact disc produced in 1996 in France, consisting of sacred music from the Mdina Cathedral Museum, was completely sold out in a few months.

Choral books emerged as one of the artistic treasures of the Middle Ages, an expression of pious creativity which old monks designed and copied by hand, never to be surpassed in beauty by the countless products of the printing press, much less by its electronic version. In Malta, the earliest recorded instance of liturgical choral books goes back to the late 13th century when the island was under Angevin rule.

Full foliate panel border and infilled initial with the figure of a prophet at the Mdina Cathedral Museum. Photo: Royas Choral Books Vol II, courtesy of Martina Caruana

A document dated 1274 in the Real Archives of Naples, which was destroyed in World War II, referred to a set of choral books in use at the garrison chapel of Santa Maria at the Castrum Maris on the Vittoriosa promontory. These priceless litur­gical musical manuscripts in Aquitain notation, with 51 decorated initials, enlivened and articulated by various rubrications, are now at the Mdina athedral Museum, attracting world-renowned musicologists to the magnificent baroque palace.

The strong musical traditions prevalent at the Mother Church of Mdina in the early part of the 16th century, in particular between 1527 and 1538, is attested by the number of local and foreign artists and copyists employed in the produc­tion of the Mdina cathedral choral books, including antiphonarii, psalterium and graduals, as listed in the Mandati.

At that time there was an outburst of renovation and restoration, and several copyists were employed as a new set of liturgical choral books was commissioned. These scriptori included the brothers Xiberras, cleric Joannes Bartolo and the Dominican friar Gio. Antonio Marjuni.

With the introduction of the Roman Tridentine rite in 1571 these precious books belonging to the Gallican rite were banned by bishop and papal legate Pietro Duzina. This prohibition necessitated a new set of choral books, and in 1573, Bishop Martin Rojas de Portalrubio (1572-1577) commissioned from an Italian scriptoria a set of seven volumes currently exhibited at the Mdina Cathedral Museum.

Lino Bugeja is former PRO of the Cathedral Museum.