Fast moving, melismatic SATB polyphony for concert?
  • Ashleyadams
    Posts: 3
    Hello all,

    I am searching for repertoire for a New Year's Eve concert with my schola. I think the title will be "Vocal Fireworks: Choral Music for a New Year"

    I am searching for exciting SATB polyphony or any choral music - with or without organ.
    I very much appreciate your help in this matter!! As always, advocating for the beauty of this music to all the world.



    Ashley Adams
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  • OMagnumMysterium
    Posts: 256
    Gaudete immediately comes to mind:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCuHuIQRd3M

    I'm sure there are all sorts of arrangements to fit whatever context you may have, check CPDL and whatnot.
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  • Chaswjd
    Posts: 268
    It’s still the Christmas season so the Sweelinck Hodie might do the bill. If not, perhaps his Te Deum.

    If you are in the U.S., as a nod to inculturation, you might also consider the Billings, O Praise the Lord of Heaven.
    Thanked by 3Liam Ashleyadams mmeladirectress
  • m_r_taylor
    Posts: 326
    Some random titles -

    Bach - Loben den Herrn ein neues Lied (divisi)
    Bach - Jesu, nun sei gepreiset (written specifically for New Year's Day).
    DeLong - Nova, Nova: Ave Fit ex Eva
    di Lasso - Jubilate Deo
    Handel - something from Messiah
    Pitoni - Cantate Domino
    Schedit - Ein Kind Geborn zu Bethlehem (divisi)
    Viadana - Exsultate Justi
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  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Since it's during the Octave:

    Byrd: Hodie Christus Natus Est (this setting, e.g.: https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/3/3c/Hodie_Christus_natus_est_Byrd.pdf)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8uWc3-3imc


    Two settings of the same psalm (80/81):

    Byrd: Sing Joyfully Unto God
    Palestrina: Exultate Deo
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  • AnimaVocis
    Posts: 150
    Hmmm.... Fast moving, melismatic polyphony....

    Would this fit the bill!?!?

    https://youtu.be/aySwfcRaOZM?si=69MdLbBT9nvByUig
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  • NihilNominisNihilNominis
    Posts: 1,021
    Beat me to it, AnimaVocis!
  • OMagnumMysterium
    Posts: 256
    Perhaps Personent Hodie? Somewhat fast, not melismatic, but it is a Christmas piece, and very fun, especially if you take it at a brisk, joyful pace.
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  • AnimaVocis
    Posts: 150
    More seriously, I'm doing the following with my School Choir and Schola Cantorum for our Christmas Concert....

    https://youtu.be/0R13oBNfp1E?si=4oIf-IgnzoxkAQv-

    This is the arrangement we are singing, refrain in Spanish, verses in English.

    https://www.jwpepper.com/Riu,-Riu,-Chiu/1982156.item?srsltid=AfmBOoqJ9XqCMui0ImPt_5MF6Wcadjr_yPgVtwsH0fZK0BKIz0FJ4T7e

    My kids LOVE it! Even the ones who are in choir just for the credit who "don't like singing." ;)


    I also humbly submit the Samuel Schmidt "Puer Natus in Bethlehem, Alleluia" to the same setting as his Surrexit Christus Hodie. It's written for SATB.SATB, but you can have a soloist sing the solo soprano part, the choir sing the second choir, and play the ATB on the organ with a flute chorus/Krummhorn/trumpet, etc...
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  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Adjacent tangential, but the spirit of this performance of a famous colonial (circa 1700) Peruvian Christmas villancico is infectious, illustrating a melding of global musical influences (Spanish, perhaps Flemish (the composer's family heritage, it would seem), American indigenous, African*) - so I offer this link as an inspiration for the energy requested....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEq7w0QjgnI

    https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Los_coflades_de_la_estleya_(Juan_de_Araujo) (copy and paste the whole hyperlink)

    * Btw, by the 17th century, the melding that occurred in the Spanish colonies of Mexico and Peru very much included people from east Asia, who came via the Manila-Acapulco galleon fleet - by the early 17th century, there were complaints to the Council of The Indies about Chinese merchants getting a lock on the . . . laundry trade . . . in Mexico.
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  • davido
    Posts: 942
    Bach Magnificat 1st mvt?
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  • GerardH
    Posts: 460
    William Byrd has at least one carol for New Years Day - there may be others.
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  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,192
    Here is my edition of "Los coflades de la estleya" by Juan de Araujo, a work that I sang several times when I performed with Zephyrus (Virginia). There are two scores, the longer one with the repeats written out and soloist ad lib inflections gleaned from performance practice. This is a spectacular and delightful piece to perform and to hear performed.
    Araujo-Los_Negritos-2022.pdf
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    Araujo-Los_Negritos-2022-add.pdf
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    Araujo-Los_Negritos-2022-160kbps.mp3
    8M
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  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,192
    And here is my recently revised "Ave Maria a 6" (derived from my 8-voice setting, which is a contrafactum from my original 6-voice "Ave verum corpus" with two added voices (soprano & countertenor discantus parts). The most recent revision manages to work in some of the part writing of the two added parts of the 8-voice setting. This piece is in the style of English high Renaissance polyphony of, say, Byrd or Tallis.

    The final low D's in the bass may be taken up an octave if necessary.

    I can provide part-emphasized MP3 sound files upon request.
    Giffen-Ave Maria a 6-2024.pdf
    132K
    Giffen-Ave Maria a 6-2024.mp3
    6M
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  • CGM
    Posts: 697
    If you want fast-moving, rhythmic stuff, go back earlier in time, say, to the 15th instead of the 16th century. A musicologist friend used to say to me that 15th-century polyphony was as rhythmically challenging as Elliott Carter's music!

    Here are some suggestions from the world of sacred music:
    — Wylkynson, Salve Regina
    — Regis, O admirabile commercium
    — Obrecht, Factor orbis
    — Ockeghem, Alma redemptoris Mater
    — Fayrfax, Aeterne laudis lilium
    — Isaac, Regina caeli
    — Senfl, Ave Maria virgo serena (based on Josquin's motet of the same name)

    You might look into Gesualdo's madrigals, some of which are wildly adventurous both tonally and rhythmically.

    And there's always Janequin's La bataille de Marignan, if you're feeling especially daring...
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  • NihilNominisNihilNominis
    Posts: 1,021
    Peter Philips’ Surgens Jesus...
    Orlando Gibbons, O Clap Your Hands
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  • SirIggle
    Posts: 11
    "Elevaverunt Flumina", Mondonville: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Dbjs1DReQ

    You'd have to transcribe the instrumental part for organ, but might fit the bill.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,413
    Someone above mentioned Personent hodie.
    This would be taken at a mildly rapid pace
    and the people could be asked to join in singing the refrain.
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  • PolyfolliaPolyfollia
    Posts: 5
    Hi, I would suggest "This is the day which the Lord hath made" (anon) https://youtu.be/Jpv5KHe9T64?feature=shared
    (I can send you a score if desired...)
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  • ViolaViola
    Posts: 411
    Tollite Hostias from Saint Saens Christmas Oratorio?
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  • LancePhillip212
    Posts: 4
    Dear Ms Adams,

    I am brand new to this forum (my membership was approved a few hours ago).
    Did you mean only extant, older settings, or might you be interested in contemporary settings as well?
    I have edited a setting for SSATB & organ by Valls, and I have composed a setting of my own (choir & organ). I am happy to send you either, or both.
    Lance
    LancePhillip212@gmail.com
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,099
    Speaking of Sweelinck, how about his "Chantez a Dieu" (Psalm 96) - talk about exciting SATB polyphony :-)
    with a message for the New Year: Sing unto God a new song!

    I have neither the number of voices, nor the occasion, to use this, but if I did - !!
    https://youtu.be/FBUZR647n2k?si=thhEMz0wIcgXLS_J

    If you decide to use it, please come back and tell us about it? God bless!
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,192
    More accessible than my Ave Maria a 6 above is this SATB Ave Maria written, in 2011, upon receiving news of the passing of the father of my daugher-in-law Marie. It opens (and closes) with a 4-part canon figure, and there is a 2-part phrase on "benedicta tu in mulieribus", first in SA, whose inversion is then repeated in TB, and later the same phrase on "ora pro nobis peccatoribus" appears in TB with inversion repitition in SA. The setting was meant to be more uplifting than consoling.
    Giffen-Ave Maria-acc.pdf
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    Giffen-Ave Maria-acc-320kbps.mp3
    7M
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,099
    to the OP about upcoming concert "Vocal Fireworks: Choral Music for a New Year"

    Have you finalized your list? I am most likely not in your area, but would so love to attend!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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