Western European A Cappella Choral Music of the Baroque and Classical Periods
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    There seems to be more music from the 17th and 18th centuries that can be sung a cappella than music that was necessarily intended to be sung a cappella. What unaccompanied repertory is there between, say, Purcell and Mendelssohn?
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    At CPDL, categorized as Sacred music, a cappella, Baroque classical era:

    9 Responsoria in Coena Domini (Johann Michael Haydn)
    A Babe ys borne (John Frederick Bridge)
    Alles Fleisch ist wie Gras (Johann Adam Hiller)
    Assumpta est Maria (Manoel Dias de Oliveira)
    Ave Maria (Joseph Haydn)
    Barmherzig ist der Herr und gnädig (Friedrich Schneider)
    Benedicamus Domino (Frans Joseph Krafft)
    Caligaverunt oculi mei (Johann Michael Haydn)
    Cantantibus organis (Giraud)
    Christus factus est (Johann Michael Haydn)
    Crucem sanctam (Johann Michael Haydn)
    Crux Fidelis (José Maurício Nunes Garcia)
    Deo dicamus gratias (Gottfried August Homilius)
    Domine Jesu (José Maurício Nunes Garcia)
    Domine tu mihi lavas pedes (José Maurício Nunes Garcia)
    Ecce quomodo moritur (Georg Reutter)
    Een vaste burcht is onze God (Johann Friedrich Doles)
    Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (Johann Friedrich Doles)
    Exaltabo te (Giovanni Battista Casali)
    Exaltata est (Manoel Dias de Oliveira)
    Der Friede Gottes (Johann Adam Hiller)
    Gaude Maria Virgo (Claudio Merulo)
    Gloria a Dio (Francesco Mancini)
    God is our refuge (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
    Groß ist der Herr (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach)
    Groß ist Gott (Johann Gottlieb Karl Spazier)
    Hodie Christus natus est (Cipriano de Rore)
    Hodie Christus natus est (Claudio Merulo)
    Hodie Christus natus est (Silvio Marazzi)
    I am come into my garden (John Arnold)
    In exitu Israel (Samuel Wesley)
    In monte Oliveti (José Maurício Nunes Garcia)
    Jubilate Deo (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
    Laudamus te, O Christe (Johann Abraham Peter Schulz)
    Loquebar de testimoniis (Giovanni Bernardo Zucchinetti)
    Mourn, mourn (William Billings)
    O esca viatorum (Johann Michael Haydn)
    O esca viatorum (Joseph Haydn)
    O salutaris hostia (John Danby)
    O salutaris hostia (Ludwig van Beethoven)
    O salutaris hostia (Pasquale Pisari)
    Panis angelicus (Giuseppe Baini)
    Periti autem, Op. 115, No. 2 (Felix Mendelssohn)
    Qui sedes Domine (Dmitri Bortniansky)
    Quoniam iniquitatem (Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch)
    Regina Coeli Laetare - I (José Maurício Nunes Garcia)
    Salve Regina (Johann Michael Haydn)
    Salvum fac populum tuum (Claudio Merulo)
    Sancti Dei omnes (Johann Michael Haydn)
    Santo (Francesco Mancini)
    Signore, pietà (Francesco Mancini)
    Sumo Dios (Johann Michael Haydn)
    Surrexit Dominus vere (Manoel Dias de Oliveira)
    Tantum ergo (Antonio Bergamo)
    Tenuisti manum (Giovanni Bernardo Zucchinetti)
    Tristis est anima mea (Johann Michael Haydn)
    Universi qui te expectant (Johann Ernst Eberlin)
    Unser Vater (Gottfried August Homilius)
    Wer bin ich? (Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch)
    Wir liegen vor dir mit unserm Gebet (Gottfried August Homilius)
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    I'm racking my brain for unaccompanied Purcell! There's a lot of music with optional basso seguente. Music that is unambiguously a cappella would include Lenten motets like the A. Scarlatti offertories or the Viennese Advent pieces by Eberlin and Fux also at Cpdl and Imslp. A bit of caution is called for with works that someone has indexed as a capp: one is bound to wonder why Groß ist der Herr by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach is further described as having orchestral parts and an organ reduction. A few other results on Chuck's list look fishy as well, like the Jubilate Deo attributed to Mozart.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    One important example jumps immediately to mind: the six motets by Bach. These, though, are not really liturgical music, at least not for the Roman rite, though perhaps in other rites or uses.

    In addition to Chuck's exhaustive repertory given above, one might wish to consider the many English anthems and canticles of post-Purcell times by such composers as Henry Lawes, William Child, John Blow, Jeremiah Clarke, William Croft, Maurice Green, William Boyce, et al. Some of these, in the English habit, continue to be written for more than four voices, but there is no shortage of SATB in the repertory. Also, many are verse anthems, most of which require accompaniment by the organ or a consort of viols or other strings, but 'full anthems', which are for full choir throughout, are not at all rare.

    Notable in the early XIXth century would be Samuel Wesley, whose Sing aloud with gladness (Exultate justi) , is a glorious a capella anthem for SSATB. Also interesting is Frederick A. Gore Ousely's O Saviour of the World, for double choir. This and the SATB Is it nothing to you were written for Good Friday. It is interesting that the text of the former is that of the Memorial Acclamation in the Anglican Use.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    The original request was for music that can be sung a cappella. I only did a multicategory search at CPDL for classical era works, though (not Baroque as mistakenly originally posted, as Baroque era yields 275 works).

    So Purcell's "Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts" from the Funeral music for Queen Mary fits the bill, and it is often sung without accompaniment; indeed, this is the way that I first sang it back in my graduate school days at All Saints in Princeton.

    The Bach motets are optionally a cappella, although they may just as well be accompanied, at least with basso seguente.

    The Mozart Ave verum is sometimes sung a cappella, omitting the instrumental introduction, interlude and ending; however, I think that doing so is going too far.

    The Magnificat and Nunc dimittis by John Blow is an a cappella work.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf_84OQgZSg
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    And don't forget these (for the most part, Baroque), all available at CPDL:

    Ave Regina coelorum (Antonio Lotti)
    Ave verum corpus (Giacomo Carissimi)
    Crucifixus a 8 (Antonio Lotti)
    Exsultate iusti in Domino (Juan Gutierrez de Padilla)
    Factum est silentium (Richard Dering)
    Hodie Christus natus est (Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck)
    Justitiae Domini (Alessandro Scarlatti)
    Miserere mei Deus (Alessandro Scarlatti)
    O bone Jesu (Michelangelo Grancini)
    O sapientia (Robert Ramsey)
    Regina coeli (Antonio Lotti)
    Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes (Benjamin Rogers)
    Tristis est anima mea (Johann Kuhnau)
    Veni sancte Spiritus (Gregorio Allegri) [Magnificat antiphon, not the Sequence]
    Verbum caro factum est (Johann Hermann Schein)
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,046
    There are 6 wonderful a capella Masses by Henri Hardouin pub. in 1772 (recordings of 3 on Toccata). There's less Michael Haydn than one would think. There's a big trove of things on Internet Culturale from early-18th Florence, for 3 part men; they're written in score and could have been played with organ, but there are no figures or evidence that an organ was expected. Contrariwise, presence of a b.c. in music that clearly doesn't require it and which was written for a no/little organ season doesn't necessarily imply its use in performance, any more than keyboard reductions of unaccompanied pieces do.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    Thank you to everyone who has replied. Although a few composer outside the period or geographical region were mentioned (e.g. Sweelinck, Billings, Bortniansky), I was pleasantly surprised to see at least one name I had ignorantly associated with an earlier period - that of Antonio Lotti, who was certainly Baroque, not Renaissance. I did want to clarify that I was interested in any choral music intended for performance liturgical or otherwise. There are lots of interesting suggestions here for pieces to explore!
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    I'm racking my brain for unaccompanied Purcell!


    In addition to what's been said above, I would add his Evening Service (Z231) and the excellent Remember Not, Lord, Our Offences (Z50). I wouldn't be surprised if they both had an optional basso continuo, but I've never heard either performed other than a capella. And since Chuck mentioned John Blow, I'll add his lovely Be Merciful Unto Me, O Lord.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    There are several Purcell full anthems that are customarily performed unaccompanied, although some choose to add continuo:
    Hear My Prayer, O Lord
    I Was Glad
    Remember Not, Lord, Our Offences

    a couple of verse anthems:
    O God, Thou Art My God (source of the WESTMINSTER ABBEY hymn tune)
    Lord, How Long Wilt Thou Be Angry?

    plus secular works, including a number of catches.
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