Ave Maria_a3; Time signatures or not?
  • sdtalley3sdtalley3
    Posts: 260
    Hello,

    so going over my older stuff and correcting some "silly" amature mistakes [parallel 5th's & awkward voice leading], I was reworking the music in general for a more pleasing format for reading. My question is: there's considerable time changes on the first page, but would it be better to leave the different time signatures or hide them?

    Your thoughts and expertise are always welcome.
    Ave Maria_a3.mp3
    1M
    Ave Maria_a3.pdf
    95K
  • GerardH
    Posts: 411
    I would leave them in, but I'd change the 6/4 time signatures to 3/2. You're almost always treating them as 3 groups of 2 crotchets, the possible exception being bar 10. 6/4 indicates 2 groups of 3 crotchets.

    [Edited to correct 6/8 to 6/4]
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  • sdtalley3sdtalley3
    Posts: 260
    @ GerardH

    Version corrected above. Thanks.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    I would have guessed "benedicta" and "tu" were both downbeats of 3/2 measures.
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  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,721
    I could honestly go either way with the time signatures. If pressed I think I would prefer without, actually. This is very Renaissance-y and I know other works where the meter changes but isn't marked (they would have been mensural individual parts without barlines anyway). Ultimately I think it boils down to which you'd prefer to conduct from. I know that my singers aren't likely to be swayed one way or the other.

    Might I suggest, however, that the triplet at the very end in the soprano seems out of place. The notes are just fine, but I would change the rhythm to be more in keeping with the rhythms throughout the rest of the work (again, to maintain more of that Renaissance flair). Quarter-eighth-eighth or eighth-quarter-eighth, for example.
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  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I would go without time signatures. And may even use dashed or dotted barlines between mm 5-6, & 7-8 to preserve the look of larger mensural units--especially since your measures of 4+4+3+4+3 crotchets equals 9 minims or 3 bars of 3/2.

    The triplet would work if it was slower, i.e. a minim triplet rather than a crotchet triplet: It would give the effect of 'colored notes' in mensural practice. Or I would change the minim on the first beat of the last bar to a crotchet, and square the triplet into three normal crotchets to fill the first two beats. I would also raise the lowest voice in the last bar to a G (either on the staff or below, depending on whether this is intended SSS or SSA): its better to lose a note of a chord than to end on an inversion; Also this will create a better cadence, since at least two of the proper clausulae will be present: Bassizans in the lowest voice (descend a fifth, or ascend a fourth) and Cantizans in the middle (ascend a semitone). You could also shorten the penultimate bar by a minim (making it a regular 3/2 bar), and bring the top line down to a G at the beginning of the last bar, creating a complete cadence by adding the Tenorizans (descend a whole tone), then add the extra tag in the top voice as a kind of codetta over prolonged Gs in the lower two parts.
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