Salve Regina for 3 equal voices
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    Antiphon for Green Season.

    Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To
    thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs,
    mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, O most gracious advocate,
    thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the
    blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    I: F-sharp to G-sharp, a major ninth
    II: C-sharp to E, a minor tenth
    III: E to B, a perfect twelfth

    The placement of the voices has I & II fairly close together, with III tending to be significantly below the other two voices. I suppose you chose 8vb tenor clefs, thinking of men's voices, but with the possibility that women's voices might sing it all up an octave. Whatever the choice, I feel that the tessitura is too low and the texture too muddy for men's voices at the pitch you set it. It sits much better if transposed up a minor third, to G-major (key signature), with the voices disposed as ATB (with treble, 8vb tenor, and bass clefs). I really don't "feel" this works for "equal" voices (ie. single gender voices), unless you have male altos (countertenors). Just my humble impressions.
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    I agree. The idea is to make these singable by any small group of any makeup but the range restrictions vs creative decisions are hard to reconcile.

    I don't want to set the range too high to make it unusable for an all-male group. But I suppose if that's the case they could move it down. I'll play with it.

    Thanks for the input!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    For what it's worth, I have no trouble singing as a male alto, and the transposition up a minor third only requires a B above middle C for voice I, which is well within my range. I think that a low G (instead of a low E) for the lowest (bass) voice III (which might be difficult for many basses that are really baritones).
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    In G
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 994
    Just stumbled across this - and I will certainly give it a look for use with my women's ensemble, Cantorae St. Augustine. Always on the hunt for interesting a cappella for equal voices or SSA.
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    Thanks mj. Let me know how it goes.
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