https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/categories/sacred-polyphony/feed.rss Sun, 10 May 26 23:14:46 +0000 Sacred Polyphony - MusicaSacra Church Music Forum en-CA https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23370/if-ye-love-me-organ-reduction Fri, 01 May 2026 16:58:25 +0000 StPatrick 23370@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23379/psalms-in-fauxbourdon Sun, 03 May 2026 20:19:12 +0000 Paolo 23379@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23329/interesting-o-filii Sat, 11 Apr 2026 22:21:32 +0000 Charles_Weaver 23329@/forum/discussions
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_hPL4WYntOEYC/page/n65/mode/2up

Attached is a quick transcription; I had to make some artistic decisions about the rhythm, as this kind of "fauxbourdon" is remarkably imprecise.

There is also a four-part version in this book, but we are going with the three-part for tomorrow.

]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23266/annunciation-2026 Thu, 26 Mar 2026 01:01:59 +0000 CHGiffen 23266@/forum/discussions ]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/19805/regina-caeli-choral Tue, 08 Mar 2022 15:40:12 +0000 Adam Wood 19805@/forum/discussions
https://youtu.be/OC-n66_-SCc]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/5677/ave-maria-satb-a-cappella Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:31:24 +0000 CHGiffen 5677@/forum/discussions Ave Maria and learned shortly afterwards that the father of my daughter-in-law, Marie, had just passed away. I have dedicated this piece to Marie, in memory of her father, Ronald A. Yingling. Prayers for Ron and the comfort of his children and their families are much appreciated.

A PDF of the score is attached, and shortly I will post a synthesized MP3 recording at CPDL. I have not yet added any dynamic and tempo markings, so I'll update this attachment at a later date (in my mind, I sense a tempo of about 72-80 half-note beats per minute, for a total elapsed time of about 3 minutes).]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23253/kyrie-cunctipotens-genitor-deus-trent-codex-90 Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:02:44 +0000 MatthewRoth 23253@/forum/discussions
Anyway Corpus Christi Watershed had this which I dug up via the Wayback Machine, and I put a version together to do what we need to do here. The arrangement of chant and polyphony works for us. It might not work for you, and that's okay, but hear me out (and my pastor agrees): the people might be confused, but keeping their parts in the same place is important. We are proud of congregational singing here, and so is the bishop, but if we do all-polyphony (which is also admirable for the right occasion), he won't hear it!

I can't comment on the ficta because they were added already. Note values halved from what Jeff O originally posted. I deleted all of the slurs in the polyphony since either the beams cover it or it's not entirely clear (and Trent 90 is a large source, which I can't dig through, but I'lll certainly take feedback if someone does check.)

The mensuration seems to change in the repetition of Kyrie, and it's decidedly "off-beat" by our standard, just FYI.

Video here.]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23218/completely-hypothetical-question Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:21:37 +0000 edward.yong 23218@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23197/polyphony-similar-to-grassi039s-magnificat-that-can-be-used-for-psalms Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:12:51 +0000 Michael_Osborne 23197@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23235/adding-musica-ficta-lassus-magnificat-margot-labourez-les-vignes Sat, 14 Mar 2026 14:58:24 +0000 MatthewRoth 23235@/forum/discussions
This one from the 1619 collection of 100 Magnificats caught my eye for Christ the King; as it is, the CPDL edition needs chant verses.

But I have a question about the placement of ficta: The Lassus family (either Orlando himself or his son) sometimes explicitly notates them again when returning to the note right away (this was not followed by the CPDL editor…), sometimes he doesn't. I know the general idea wherein musica ficta are sung for the sake of beauty and for the sake of necessity; I am, however, not very sure that I could judge adding them when not in the source (I tend to leave editorial ficta alone); the question is are we to understand the note as being raised again? My confusion stems from the variation: since this is a 1619 edition of work from 30 years before, one wonders why some are notated again, others are not; a very enterprising choir director (not for a church even!) has some very good ideas about presenting Renaissance music (I prefer original note values, but that's OK, I can't have it all), and one of those is explicitly notating every change since the rule about accidentals per measure can't apply when you don't have bars!

Also, I can only presume that the symbol means "repeat" because the existing edition in front of me took that approach, but it would not have occurred to me that this is intended instead of ij. I've included some images of the source which is available here; since the parts in isolation are somewhat useless, the Magnificat starts on p. 56, 320, 588, and 818 (one digital page count, with the 4 part books).
]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23230/o-roma-nobilis Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:28:16 +0000 monasteryliturgist 23230@/forum/discussions If in SSA even better.

Thanks]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23201/victoria-popule-meus-editions Fri, 27 Feb 2026 02:35:43 +0000 SMays 23201@/forum/discussions
https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/6/64/Ws-vic-pop3.pdf]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23183/allegri039s-miserere-for-sab-voices Mon, 23 Feb 2026 05:52:00 +0000 Michael_Osborne 23183@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/14990/hats-off-gentlepeople-eugeniusz-walkiewicz Fri, 26 May 2017 00:48:02 +0000 Jeffrey Quick 14990@/forum/discussions Eugeniusz Walkiewicz and his impeccable training, I'd hoped that it would show in his music. And it does! It's hard to draw firm conclusions about a composer's ability on the basis of two pieces (up on IMSLP and linked at the link above), but I'm finding an awful lot to like in this music, and almost nothing to dislike. Like Klein and his teacher Rheinberger, Walkiewicz is writing in a Caecilian-influenced vein of late romanticism. But his music is less melody-driven with less-articulated phrases, and closer in that way to a Renaissance style. Look at the extended point of imitation at "nunc et in hora" in the Ave Maria, which finally touches on Ab (a tritone from the tonic) before the piece works its way back to D.

So if it's all that good, why does nobody know about it? Mr. W. got caught in a cultural and linguistic ghetto. His works were published by a small Polish publisher in Chicago, and he served the same majority-Polish congregation in Plover WI for about 30 years. He didn't have "the big two" (McLaughlin & Reilly, and J. Fischer & Bro) hawking his wares.

So why am I writing this? In part, to get other reactions, to see if my taste is all in my mouth. In hopes that other copies of this sacred music might emerge and be scanned (particularly the Missa in honorem S. Josephi for unison voices and organ). And in hope that somebody else might pick this up. It's a perfect dissertation topic for somebody near the Chicago area who reads Polish. That's not me, at age 61 it won't be me, but I want to benefit from the research. His works and papers are in the Polish Museum of America, in Chicago. There are a smattering of published scores in libraries, mostly in Poland. My preliminary findings suggest that as many of these works as possible should be available online.]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/10198/nunc-dimittis-charles-h.-giffen-editions-in-latin-and-in-english Fri, 17 Jan 2014 03:02:53 +0000 CHGiffen 10198@/forum/discussions Nunc dimittis version in Latin of my English language setting, I have completed the Latin setting (SATB) and am posting it here (soon it will also be at CPDL). The English original is also attached. I have not yet prepared a sound file for the Latin version.

Edit: Today (Jan. 17th) I uploaded corrected versions (there was a wrong note in the keyboard reduction).]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/46/panis-angelicus-by-claudio-casciolini Sat, 08 Dec 2007 11:14:39 +0000 bjerabek 46@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/23040/communion-cycle-by-john-reager Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:05:42 +0000 Richard Mix 23040@/forum/discussions John Reager's Communion settings. We're done Ego sum vitis three times now; the thing that first grabbed me was the octatonic bit at "Fructum multum", mm. 26-37.]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/20243/salve-regina-de-la-rue Sat, 27 Aug 2022 15:23:39 +0000 tomjaw 20243@/forum/discussions edition found on the excellent CPDL. Has anyone got a copy in a more singable format?]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22904/polyphonic-pieces-for-4-voices-or-3-or-5 Fri, 31 Oct 2025 20:52:57 +0000 MatthewRoth 22904@/forum/discussions HERE

Our situation is a volunteer group where we're trying to nail down a regular rehearsal schedule, where we're free to sing polyphony on certain feast days, where some of us are (former) music majors with extensive musical backgrounds, others have been singing and have learned how to sing polyphony somehow.

We need motets, ideally two, but at least one for feasts that correspond to the theme or are general motets (Ave Verum, Ave Maria, etc.) We've started with a lot of Byrd (some of us have sung one or more of his Masses for Three, Four, and Five Voices, the Sacerdotes Domini, the Surge Illuminare and the Ave Verum Corpus), Palestrina (we're doing the Missa Aeterna Christi munera plus Sicut Cervus this weekend; a few have sung the Missa brevis, the Justus ut Palma for John the Baptist, a few of his other motets, and even the Missa Papae Marcelli)…

We'd like to do as much Palestrina as possible because, well, it's Palestrina. It's fairly approachable (I hesitate to say easy).

We can augment the chant propers with a repetition in motet form (including the Isaac communios, after singing the chant psalm verse, where appropriate); we probably won't replace other propers with polyphony more than once in a blue moon, but I'm still interested in hearing from people who do more Isaac, the Byrd Gradualia, etc. Similarly, we may have a few Saturday feasts where we can sing a polyphonic setting of the Ordinary, but weeknights are ordinarily a chant Mass (though we might be able to do the Et incarnatus etc. with polyphony). And I'm very interested in having the anonymous Missa ferialis of Granada Cathedral in our wheelhouse (since if it needs a Gloria, we have a ton of options).

I value your input because my strategy so far is going to CPDL and glancing at stuff with an occasional trip to YouTube to hear it (even if "Aristotle Esguerra's editions are made for similar choirs, don't overthink this, just choose from his list"), then adding it to my list of pieces that we should think about doing.]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22875/vexilla-christus-inclyta-english-for-ctk Tue, 21 Oct 2025 05:14:04 +0000 Roborgelmeister 22875@/forum/discussions This is one of Bud Clark's editions.
It has been confirmed for certain that "Bud" Clark died, but when, or where, is still a mystery. He has been buried by or with his sister, but when or where is unknown. I tracked down one of his companions who is remarkably unforthcoming.
]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/2216/terry039s-short-mass-in-c Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:13:13 +0000 Jeffrey Tucker 2216@/forum/discussions This little unison Mass ordinary was just posted on CPL. It's by the great great Richard Terry of Westminster fame. I can't help but be charmed by it. any choir could sing this, and rather quickly. He wrote it for boys of course.

Doesn't it seem like this would be useful today? Or am I'm revealing a stylistic draw to Victorian aesthetics?]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22815/children039s-polyphony-for-the-feast-of-christ-the-king Wed, 24 Sep 2025 17:27:01 +0000 JazFenn 22815@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22844/children039s-echaristic-polyphony Thu, 02 Oct 2025 20:05:39 +0000 JazFenn 22844@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22787/brumel-039o-crux-ave039-with-add039l-verses-and-improved-underlay-for-alternatim-use Fri, 12 Sep 2025 18:07:30 +0000 NihilNominis 22787@/forum/discussions
Hopefully someone gets some mileage out of it! We're singing it on Sunday for Vespers.]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22722/choral-christmas-mass-ordinary Sat, 16 Aug 2025 20:00:10 +0000 SteveOttomanyi 22722@/forum/discussions
In the past few years at my new parish, I have done several, including Mozart's Mass in G Major, K. 140 "Pastorale" and Charpentier's "Messe de minuit." I'd like to know what others have done. Many thanks in advance.

EDIT and CLARIFICATION: I'm looking for choral Ordinaries, not congregational Ordinaries.]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22622/english-polyphonic-mass Sat, 12 Jul 2025 01:21:26 +0000 davido 22622@/forum/discussions
Or have you adapted a Latin setting to the current English translation?]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/16498/bruno-oscar-klein Mon, 15 Oct 2018 18:00:31 +0000 Jeffrey Quick 16498@/forum/discussions
Unlike Walkiewicz, he never wrote for reduced forces, or wrote down for amateurs. The apple didn't fall far from the tree, yet his stuff doesn't really sound like Rheinberger.

The motivation for this post is that I've discovered 2 performances on Soundcloud by a Berlin-based male quartet, MConsort, of an Iste Confessor and Salve Regina (Op. 28, no 3 and 4; score at imslp.org), the only 2 performances of Klein that I've heard. The quartet performance isn't ideal, lacking the solid sound that a choir would have (though to be fair, much of the Iste is for solo voice, and solo quartet performances might have been quite common). But it's more than adequate to display the music. I think this is music well worth doing. Your thoughts?

I also note a performance in June, for Klein's 160th birthday, of his Mass in Bb Op. 85, by the quartet CantOS, at St. Joseph's in Osnabrück. (pdf)]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22668/happy-birthday-guillaume-dufay Tue, 29 Jul 2025 20:32:18 +0000 Richard Mix 22668@/forum/discussions https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/19446/condensedplagiarized-victoria-o-magnum-mysterium Sat, 30 Oct 2021 11:08:05 +0000 Jeffrey Quick 19446@/forum/discussions O magum mysterium, to discover that the piece is a flagrant ripoff of Victoria's great setting! The triple-time section in the Alleluia is missing, but the rest is there. There are one or two details that I'd rewrite before using, but overall, it's a successful transcription. And if you'd like to do Victoria but only have TTB or SSA, this is for you]]> https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/22643/question-on-musica-ficta-in-victoria039s-039missa-o-magnum-mysterium039 Sun, 20 Jul 2025 23:45:12 +0000 joewalkr04 22643@/forum/discussions Missa O magnum mysterium. There are several parts in the mass that are clearly quoting from the original 1572 motet but are missing some accidentals.

For example, Kyrie II is almost directly copied from the jacentem in praesepio segment of the motet, however the Alto has B-flat on measure 23 of the Kyrie (see 'A' attachment below) instead of B-natural as on measure 32 of the motet ('B' attachment).

Another example is the Filius Patris segment of the Gloria, based on ut animalia from the motet. The Cantus has F-natural on measure 34 of the Gloria ('C' attachment) instead of F-sharp as on measure 21 of the motet ('D' attachment).

There are more examples like these elsewhere in the mass. I am wondering if it would be appropriate in these cases to add editorial accidentals so that these portions of the mass more closely match the source material?

I am a complete amateur at this so I would really appreciate some guidance on rules/conventions for ficta in cases like this.]]>