Preces and Responses -- New Set (SATB, div.)
  • SalieriSalieri
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    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • These are lovely. I wish I currently had use for them! Perhaps think about some of the Tudor-/Stuart-era underlay conventions, eg. in "shew forth thy", moving "thy" a quaver earlier, to C. Giving occasional divisi to the lower parts can add interest and vitality to certain words, harmonic progressions, etc. This is good stuff: true contemporary sacred music!
    Thanked by 1Salieri
  • Salieri, these are indeed nice! I do have several suggestions about syllabification which I shall go into detail about later. One, which I will mention now is for the response in the suffrages 'For there is none other...'. Here I would definitely underlay the treble at '...only thou, O God' thusly:

    only=c & a, beats 1 & 2 > thou,= d,beat 3 > O=c,beat 4 and a,beats1 & 2 > God=b, beats 3 & 4.

    This 'throw of accent' would be a common Tudor-Jacobean treatment and would add period, rhythmic, and textual flavour. There are some other places where you might do this as well.

    I like your P & Rs. They are beautiful, and I shall mention them to Edmund.
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  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Thanks for the suggestions, DBP and MJO.

    One section that I am not completely happy with is the final 'Amen'. I will play around with it abit -- if anyone has any suggestions let me know.
  • About that final 'amen': the treble line is nice if a little up and down the scale. More helpful though would be more counter-movement between beats in the lower voices
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
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  • Salieri -

    I think that the bottom one is the best. It has a good climax going up to the high G and coming down in a typical Tudor fashion to the lovely suspension and cadence. Also, get rid of the tenor's last c - the series c-b-a-c is dull and rhythmically clumsy.

    About the first one. It, too, is nice but for two things: 1) the octaves between treble and bass going from bar 2 to 3, and 2) I would get rid of the repetitious c that occurs with the doubled treble part in the last two bars - omit the upper voice.
    The f-natural in the alto in inspired and very period English.
    Omit the tenor's last c - the c-b-a-c series is lackluster and weak.
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  • SalieriSalieri
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    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • The second one is the best.
    Do sent these to our choirmaster.
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  • SalieriSalieri
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    Thanked by 2CHGiffen moderntrad
  • The final amen is unquestionably the best!