Liturgical Year Motet project for 2- and 3-pt ensembles--Input needed!
  • Heath
    Posts: 934
    Friends, working on a follow-up to my Eucharistic motet collection (Still on sale! http://www.chantcafe.com/2015/02/bread-from-heaven-new-book-of-english.html) . . . parameters for my new project:

    --English texts from the liturgical seasons and major feasts/solemnities in the church year.

    --Music comes from 2- and 3-pt excerpts from the polyphonic masters in the midst of their Mass Ordinary settings.

    A couple early samples:

    Drop Down Dew--https://www.dropbox.com/s/4fetx7mei71vk8t/Rorate-Advent-ATB.pdf?dl=0

    For Unto Us--https://www.dropbox.com/s/jaucf1bg89yhhi2/Puer Natus-Christmas-SA.pdf?dl=0

    The plan is to have 2 and 3 voice settings for EACH text . . . so far, so good!

    Now, a few items that I've love to have some help with:

    --Title suggestions?

    --Any particular feasts that I'm missing? Here's what I plan on including (liturgical season and feast days that can replace a Sunday):

    Advent (2 different texts: Rorate and Ad te levavi)
    Christmas (Puer Natus)
    Epiphany (Vidimus)
    Baptism of the Lord (Benedictus
    Lent (Miserere Mei)
    (Note: No Holy Week stuff . . . plenty out there already)
    Easter (Haec Dies)
    Ascension ("God has gone up...")
    Pentecost ("Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts...")
    Trinity (Gloria Patri)
    (Note: No Corpus Christi . . . did I mention I have a whole book of Eucharistic motets already? ; )
    Marian (Ave Maria)
    Wedding?? (good text to consider?)

    Presentation of the Lord (Ecce Venit)
    Nativity of John the Baptist (?)
    Peter and Paul (Tu Es Petrus)
    Transfiguration (Probably "This is my beloved Son")
    All Saints (O Quam Gloriosum)
    All Souls/funeral (Requiem Aeternam)
    Dedication of the Lateran Basilica ("I saw the holy city..")

    (Note: Not sure that I'll do separate texts for Immac. Conception and and Assumption, thinking that both could be covered by the Ave Maria listed above)

    --I'm open to suggestions for 2-pt and 3-pt excerpts to consider . . . 3-pt settings are fairly plentiful, but I need more quality 2-pt excerpts! Again, I'm trying to confine myself to the Mass Ordinary . . . main fodder has been "Benedictus" movements, as well as brief snippets in the midst of Gloria and Credo movements (Kyrie and Agnus settings almost never scale down the texture).

    With the help of my esteemed friend and colleague, Ben Yanke, I hope to have this collection ready by the spring!

    Thanks in advance for your input!

    Thanked by 1Ben
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,296
    What an awesome project. I don't currently have any suggestions, but I'll purchase enough for my choir!
    Thanked by 1Heath
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    For the feast of St. John Bosco, Against hope, he believed in hope -- perhaps applicable to ceremonies relating to anniversaries of Gaudium et Spes

    Heath,

    I'm being thick-headed. Are you composing them, or looking for already composed pieces?
  • Heath
    Posts: 934
    Chris, as I mentioned above, I'm adapting works from the Renaissance masters. All originally in Latin, from their Mass ordinary settings.

    Forgot to put Christ the King above... that, too will be included.
  • Heath
    Posts: 934
    Here's the 3-pt Miserere for Lent . . perfect for Ash Wednesday is you can round up the singers!

    It's a brilliant 3-pt canon by Handl . . . it's wonderful.
    Miserere-Lent-SAT.pdf
    170K
  • Heath
    Posts: 934
    In my previous collection, I put both SA and TB versions within the book . . . this new collection, however, will have many more motets and I've decided to put just one 2-pt score in the book, and separate editions can be downloaded online.

    And so, wondering the best way to put a 2-pt score in the book that can be used SA or TB . . . I'll use treble clefs for both, with the octave down option in parentheses (8). But I'm not sure how to title each system . . . "High" and "Low" doesn't work, and "Soprano/Tenor" and "Alto/Bass" seems a bit unwieldy.

    Thoughts?
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    "S/T" & "A/B" should be self expanatory. Or "S(T)" & "A(B)" perhaps. A note somewhere in the preface/introduction should make it clear, too.
    Thanked by 1Heath
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    I & II
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen Andrew_Malton Heath eft94530
  • Heath
    Posts: 934
    Both good suggestions, thanks. I'll give it some thought.
  • Heath
    Posts: 934
    Friends, putting on the finishing touches!

    Pronouns for God . . . "he" or "He"? I feel like this usage has shifted at times...
  • lmassery
    Posts: 405
    I would try Ze or Hir

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/05/17/you-can-be-fined-for-not-calling-people-ze-or-hir-if-thats-the-pronoun-they-demand-that-you-use/

    It's the best of both worlds because it avoids offending women by not calling God a He, and it avoids offending men by not calling God a She.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I've noticed that among more traditionally minded people the pronouns of the Deity are capitalized, while among the more modernistic they are left in lowercase. Sometimes capitalizing the pronouns referring to God can lessen confusion, i.e.: "And He said to him", vs. "And he said to Him"; whereas "And he said to him" is ambiguous, though context would lessen the ambiguity. I would capitalize pronouns referring of the Deity. YMMV.

    Incidentally, did you check to see what you did in "Bread from Heaven" (don't have my copy in front of me right now)? Consistency from one book to the next wound be important--for me, anyway.
  • Heath
    Posts: 934
    Salieri, excellent point . . . just checked BfH and I lowercased all of them. I think I'll do the same for the next project, thanks.
  • Heath
    Posts: 934
    lmassery, next project I'll try your way . . . : )
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,959
    Yeah, be consistent; sometimes all-initial caps is annoying, as it is hard to read. Also, academics tend to use lowercase.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,160
    The Lectionary also uses lowercase.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,959
    That makes sense.
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