help with setting Asola falsobordone
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,760
    greetings all,

    I am setting the Magnificat to Asola's falsobordone of the I mode, fourth "ordine" as well as the hymn for Vespers of an Apostle to his falsobordone of the fourth modes for hymns of the same meter (8.8.8.8).

    I'm feeling OK about the Magnificat, but I'd appreciate some feedback.

    The hymn…we just did the Iste Confessor, so I have some idea of how the first half works, but I'm not sure about the second half of the alto in particular — what's the best way to do the alignment here in this case, where the notes don't quite align; it feels weird to end the alto a beat earlier like I have it now.

    The scans from the sourcee are attached along with my files. Thanks
    asola_exultet.zip
    245K
    asola_falsobordone_parts.pdf
    463K
    asola_magnificat_primo_tono_quarto ordine.pdf
    117K
    asola_exsultet_cælum_laudibus.pdf
    76K
  • Charles_Weaver
    Posts: 253
    In the magnificat, I would move the final syllable of each verse to the final note. I think it makes a stronger and more typical polyphonic cadence.

    In the altus of the hymn, what you transcribed as four eighth notes in m. 18 should be eighth-eighth-quarter-quarter. Also, the penultimate note of the altus should be d, not B. That solves your alignment issue, I think!
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,760
    OK, thank you. That’s helpful.

    Aha! That makes more sense.

    Also, I think that I’ll “cheat,” as much as I love the Roman melody. The paschal time melody for the mode IV hymns of the commons begins on Mi, which is unusual, but obviously this prevents the tritone (which, yes, can occur between things that are not the same verse/response, but I find it jarring). Asola doesn’t refer to any specific melody, it just is for the listed hymns (and any of the mode in the same meter), except for Iste Confessor (and we just used the not-too-different Vatican version anyway).
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