Yes, that's right - alto, tenor and bass. Our latest find was Kevin Allen's 'Motecta Trium Vocum'. We were able to transpose these to our ranges. I arrange, but it's hugely time consuming.
Does anyone know of any literature written for alto, tenor and bass?
Most late-medieval/early Renaissance music a 3 should work. You may have to fiddle a bit with pitch levels to get into the sweet spot for your folks. In my experience, it's a novel position to be in.
Here's one I am preparing this morning for the Choirbook series.
Only 15 measures, but don't let that hold you back from singing it. After singing the Communio, the organist could play it through once on a simple 8' flute stop, then one singer could sing it, accompanied, then three singers could sing it with the entire schola or choir entering on the Miserere followed by the entire choir singing it once again unaccompanied, crescendoing gradually through the O Bone Jesu section, reaching a very strong Forte on the final Jesu! Make a clean cut off, do a grand pause to let the sound die away and then sing the last Miserere section pianissimo.
I've dropped it a whole step to make it comfortable for ATB in the "down" version.
Thank you, Jeffrey Q, Rich and Noel. Actually most of what we've been able to do has been loans from Renaissance or Motets where the alto wasn't too important so our 'A' could sing 'S', but these suggestions are very, very helpful. Thanks, all of ou.
I think that almost anything in Secunda Anthologia Vocalis (otherwise known as Ravanello) would be satisfactory. You can find it under Chant Books on the Menu.
I have just prepared a transposed ATB edition of my Ave Maria a 3 (originally SABar), which can also be sung as a two-part (AB) motet by omitting the Tenor part. I'll enclose a PDF. A synthesized MP3 of the original SAB motet can be heard (from CPDL) here.
The Seventh Chester Book of Motets: Motets for 3 voices, ed. Anthony G. Petti, has proven invaluable for ATB groups. Some of it is SSA that works splendidly down the octave (or thereabouts).
We have quite a lot of ATB music built up over the last 30-some years at Immaculate Conception in Cleveland. I have a list of pieces but I am struggling to update it so that it reflects the present situation. We have a lot of ordinaries as well as motets for many Sundays of the church year. There are a lot of contrafacta that I and others have done from pre-existing pieces and textless repertoire from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. If you have specific needs, drop me an email.
We have quite a lot of ATB music built up over the last 30-some years at Immaculate Conception in Cleveland. I have a list of pieces but I am struggling to update it so that it reflects the present situation. We have a lot of ordinaries as well as motets for many Sundays of the church year. There are a lot of contrafacta that I and others have done from pre-existing pieces and textless repertoire from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. If you have specific needs, drop me an email.
I've been writing choral music for more than 20 years, but over the past 8 months or so have been writing a lot of ATB sacred music, specifically. I and two other section leaders at our Episcopal Church in Honolulu decided to form a unit, so it was a good opportunity to write for that less common combo. It's possible that some of what I've written could work for you (or others). It's all been performed, so I know it's all singable, at least by relatively experienced singers. I have a Mag & Nunc, a mass, and a few anthems and motets. You can hear demos at my soundcloud page.
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