Jacobus Gallus motets
  • smt
    Posts: 58
    Hi all,

    looking for music hints again and hoping for your expertise. I came across Jacobus Gallus motet "Mysterium mirabile" which stems from a large collection of motets by him. It is known for unusual chromaticism (it's simply genius, expressing the paradox of the incarnation), much like in Gesualdo's famous madrigals. It is, however, linked to Christmas season, where I usually cannot sing with my small ensemble, the members are busy in other choirs.

    Does anybody know motets by Gallus (or Gesualdo or others) of similarly strong chromaticism?
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,068
    Perhaps "Ab Oriente Venerunt Magi" (so also Christmastide, but specifically Epiphany, often easier to pull off wonderful seasonal repertoire falling as it does after New Year's Day), though I think of it as more modal than anything else. The contrapuntal syncopations in the Alleluia may also sound almost jazzy to modern ears.
    Thanked by 1smt
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,068
    A good audio file - the performers do as my former experience of singing this for many years was, doubling the Alleluia section (omitting the Picardy third at the end of the first iteration):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksOtHGca5cM
    Thanked by 1Steve Q
  • smt
    Posts: 58
    Thanks, what an interesting piece! It seems that a good portion of the "Opus musicum" is neither edited nor recorded so there might sth hidden....
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,068
    The opening modal motif of the rising and moving star is lovely bit of musical text painting (also, the spiraling incense-like naming of the three gifts). The breadth of voicing, with deep bass, sustains the "oriental" mood thus set.
    Thanked by 1smt
  • GerardH
    Posts: 453
    Lassus' Prophetiae Sybillarum, Gesualdo's Tenebrae responsories
    Thanked by 1smt
  • smt
    Posts: 58
    I've always found Gesualdo's Tenebrae responses much more "standard" than his madrigals but I don't know them very good.

    Thanks for the Lassus hint, I didn't know the piece! But when could one use it?
  • GerardH
    Posts: 453
    I would use the Lassus at a concert during Advent - which might not fit your specification. He might have other chromatic compositions, but his output is so enormous, it could be quite difficult to pinpoint them.
    Thanked by 1smt
  • smt
    Posts: 58
    I'm waiting for the moment when AI will be actually useful for music, e.g. scanning and searching vast score collection...
  • GerardH
    Posts: 453
    Wikipedia suggests Nicola Vicentino as another composer in the chromatic and even microtonal style. Sadly only two works on cpdl
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