Suggestions for easy motets?
  • amindthatsuits
    Posts: 857
    Hey, there, folks:

    Any quick suggestions for really easy motets?

    English or Latin text? Thanks.

    Kenneth
    Thanked by 1Arthur Connick
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    Verily, verily I say unto you.
    If ye love me.
    Ave Maria (Arcadelt)
    From the rising of the Sun (Ousely)
    Ad te Levavi (Witt)
  • bkenney27bkenney27
    Posts: 444
    Jesu Rex Admirablilis, Palestrina. Beautiful, readable piece.
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,033
    Some old chestnuts for general use / "ordinary time":

    Oculi Omnium - Charles Wood

    Cantate Domino - Giuseppe Pitoni

    Laudate Nomen Domini - Christopher Tye

    O Esca Viatorum - Heinrich Isaac

    There's many more easier motets at Aristotle Esguerra's website.
    Thanked by 3R J Stove JulieColl amindthatsuits
  • R J StoveR J Stove
    Posts: 302
    A particular fave of mine is Ecce Panis Angelorum, a late-19th-century or early-20th-century piece for SSA choir by one Polleri. I've already posted in praise of this eminently accessible and singable work (out of copyright, and available in digitized form) here:

    http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/comment/82226#Comment_82226
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,499
    Not sure if you saw this. If you want English there are a few ideas: http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/comment/114107#Comment_114107

    You can also go to CPDL.org and put in your search perimeters. I've come up with some lovely music this way. A lot of it is on naxosmusiclibary.com or youtube.
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • R J StoveR J Stove
    Posts: 302
    Choir directors in search of reasonably straightforward material might find something to their taste from this Australian website (which sells motets by Widor, Vierne, and Dupré, in addition to selling organ and piano pieces by these and other composers). Make of the list what you will:

    http://www.crescendomusicpubs.com.au/
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    If Ye Love Me is a great confidence builder.

    But even before that, have you done quite a lot of SATB work in homophony? (Hymns etc.) Multiple entrances are characteristic of polyphony and they add a level of difficulty--counting of beats--that you don't have in most hymnody.

    In the first steps of polyphony I would avoid those that have time signature changes.
    Thanked by 3R J Stove Andrew Motyka amindthatsuits
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    1. The Rosselli "Adoramus Te, Christe" (often misattributed to Palestrina) is polyphonic only in that it has four parts, very singable. I'm attaching my own edition. Although the time signature is C (4/4), that is really just being faithful to the Renaissance notational tradition; instead, you should think of it as being ₵ (2/2, or cut common time).

    2. After much searching, I found (in another thread) this link to the Eugene Lindusky collection of SAB Renaissance Motets, volume 1, here at Musica Sacra. Here is the link:

    http://media.musicasacra.com/pdf/lindusky-motets1.pdf

    Note (minor rant): I wish it were not necessary to search and search (and sometimes search some more) for music materials that have been uploaded to or are available at Musica Sacra.l I have no idea how one could have located this from the main Musica Sacra site, except by getting here to the forums and searching here (and having to know what it is one is searching for) ... browsing is simply not possible, and that is sad because it weakens the usefulness and value of this extremely value resource that is Musica Sacra.
    Adoramus te, Christe.pdf
    73K
    Thanked by 7CharlesW canadash rich_enough tomjaw JulieColl Arthur Connick amindthatsuits
  • Angelina
    Posts: 27
    Mariano Garau seems to write straightforward and simple motets. I've searched a lot for VERY simple stuff, especially three-voiced motets, and although we haven't tried anything by him, his work looks very promising. He has a lot of 3-voiced pieces, simple rhythms, and short pieces.
    Thanked by 2amindthatsuits RedPop4
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    I don't understand the problem, Chuck. Is searching that difficult? Do you have any suggestions short of making a comprehensive index?
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    Kathy. Fortunately I had downloaded the Lindusky volume back when it was first posted, so that was an easy search here on "Lindusky" (duh). An index (especially a comprehensive one) would be great ... or even a link to folder in which the gazillion things that have been uploaded (although titles rather than abstract strings of characters & digits would be better). Additionally, some categorization or grouping (with links to the music) would be very helpful.

    I guess I'm suggesting that some organized cataloging of our downloadable music resources would be very helpful. It would beat searching on, say, "SAB introits" and having page after page after page of threads to plow through. The idea that, once it's posted in some thread here at the forum makes it EASY to find and accessible, is an idea that really doesn't fly. Can you imagine CPDL without its organization, categories, multicategory search facility, etc.? With 17,000 works online, it would be a disaster ... but the philosophy there is that it is a library, not just repository.
    Thanked by 3tomjaw canadash amindthatsuits
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    I always grab what I think may be useful and add it to my ever increasing collection of music on my computer...

    I wonder how much work it would be to index the downloadable files that have been uploaded to the forum, could a computer script do it? Could we add tags to the music files "we" upload to make it easier?
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    Chuck,

    Yes, the CPDL is a library, and thank God it has a great librarian in you! But I don't know who would do that here... (hint!)
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen amindthatsuits
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    I always grab what I think may be useful and add it to my ever increasing collection of music on my computer...

    I try to do that (which is how I found the Lindusky), but then I'm in a quandary if I want to reference such downloads here. Unfortunately, my computer is not as well organized as CPDL, either!

    Thanks for the kind words about CPDL, Kathy. But my work there is only a tiny fraction of the enormous effort put in by all its volunteers and other admins.
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Kevin Allen's Motecta Trium Vocum are relatively simple and very rewarding 3-voice motets for a beginning choir. A very nice feature are the excellent free online practice videos for each voice.

    There are some real winners in this book.
    Thanked by 2R J Stove amindthatsuits
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Here are a few more simple motets:

    Discite a me (Haller)
    Ave Maria (Verdonck)
    In Monte Oliveti (Martini)
    O Felix Anima (Carissimi)

    *The Haller is highly recommended. I think it would be a great piece for Lent.

    BTW, Fr. Abel Marco's website is fun to browse through if you're looking for motets.
    Thanked by 2R J Stove amindthatsuits
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    Re: "If ye love me" by Thomas Tallis. Years ago, I criticized it publicly and was vehemently attacked by lovers of the piece. I still say it's a weak piece, and not easy, because a naive sing of it will lead to comma drift, and thus undercut your choir's confidence. They'll be flat at the end, and think it is their fault, when it is the composer's fault.
    Thanked by 2JulieColl amindthatsuits
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Thanks for that insight, MrC! We sing it with the words Bone Pastor. We've sung it several times at Mass and it's gone very well, but we sang it just this Sunday, and for some reason it was such a challenge from the get-go this time. I vowed afterwards to myself that I was going to dig a hole in the backyard and deposit it there forever. Our usually flawless baritone came in three measures late on the second verse but we kept going and ended with a strong third verse fortunately.
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    a naive sing of it will lead to comma drift, and thus undercut your choir's confidence. They'll be flat at the end, and think it is their fault


    One doesn't have to play a chord on the piano/organ at the end of every run through in rehearsal to check "did we stay on pitch?"

    Re: "If ye love me" by Thomas Tallis. Years ago, I criticized it publicly and was vehemently attacked by lovers of the piece. I still say it's a weak piece...it is the composer's fault.


    I think vehemently attacking someone over their musical opinions is a bit silly.

    But so is judging a piece of music based on idiosyncratic criteria invented centuries later and accepted by precisely nobody.


    I vowed afterwards to myself that I was going to dig a hole in the backyard and deposit it there forever.


    I hope you don't, especially since you run a fairly populist EF up there. If Ye Love Me is such a well-known and beloved piece.

    And I don't think your rhythm problems have much - or anything - do with what one commentator referred to as mrcopper's "idiosyncratic criteria."
    Thanked by 3JulieColl noel jones, aago amindthatsuits
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    lol, adam. Bury that Tallis, please. And hold on for verification from above.

    I have so few commentators that it must have been adam wood or catholic choirbook; either way, please find your own understanding. Check out the Mozart I posted, I assure you that I am an earnest searcher after truth, not much more. Ok, more truthful: and I want my works played and acknowledged and discussed like that terrible composer Thomis Tallis.
    Thanked by 1amindthatsuits
  • mrcoppermrcopper
    Posts: 653
    precisely nobody.
    remember you said this, Adam Wood, and repent
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    I won't bury it or burn it, I promise, Adam. That's always my first instinct when one of our pieces doesn't come out as I expect. We sang it twice in Advent, and it received great reviews (one dear lady said it made her cry---from happiness, I hope!) but this time around we hit one snag after another with it.
    Thanked by 1canadash
Add a Comment