Ottaviano Petrucci's Harmoniae Musices Odhecaton of 1501 first demonstrated to the world the technological possibilities of printing musical notation from movable type. It also exploited an untapped middle-class market for polyphonic music by making available nearly 100 songs in several languages. Petrucci even included three short works in liturgical Latin, apparently counting on private devotional (or recreational) singing of music otherwise intended for use in church services. It is difficult to say whether his publication of Antoine Brumel's motet Mater patris et filia was the cause or symptom of the piece's great popularity. Church choirs and private citizens across Europe sang Mater patris either from print or from manuscript copies; two early lutenists adopted it into their repertory and it served as the model for mass settings by Lupus Hellinck (ca. 1495 - 1541) and Josquin Desprez. Both text and music of Brumel's Mater patris could be appropriate for either liturgical or private contexts. A specific liturgical assignment exists for the rhymed Latin text Mater patris et filia; it is an Antiphon for the Saturday Office of the Blessed Virgin. Its text uses language rich in allusion to other Marian liturgies—titling her Stella maris, Regina, Mater misericordie—and directly addresses both her and Christ in prayer. The text's pastiche character, however, and the very overstated vibrancy of its Marian devotion (praying to her equally with Christ, and calling her both daughter and mother of the Father) reflects late medieval private "Mariolatry" as well. The music, likewise, mingles elements of populist simplicity and professional sophistication. Composing Mater patris for three men's voices without any apparent reference to liturgical chant melodies suggests performance in non-liturgical (domestic or perhaps confraternal) settings. On the other hand, the composition challenges its singers with often closely syncopated imitation, polished and up-to-date phrasing from points of imitation to cadences, and shifts between contrapuntal and homophonic textures and between duos and trios. Conceptually, as well, these shifts betray sophistication: the two chordal passages rhetorically enliven the text's request that the Virgin "Hear our sighing," and its direct address to "Blessed Jesus."

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