Compline start-up kit. Just add counter tenors.
  • jefe
    Posts: 200
    jefe here. I just signed on today following the faint footsteps of Mary Jane Ballou. We have had a monthly COMPLINE with a 'midi' voiced quire (ATBarB or AATB) for four years. Our 14 voice group is a spin-off of Peter Hallock's Compline Choir at St. Mark's Episcopal in Seattle, except we use women also on the top alto voice. About a third of our group are Catholic. They have no other place to chant Compline. The rest are Anglican, Episcopalian, Moravian and one Baptist.
    In the beginning it was very difficult to find appropriate music and we floundered until I started composing, arranging, editing, transposing, begging, buying, and realizing music that would work. First we needed a format, an Order for Compline. We used Rod Mather's Order for a time until we obtained 12 copies of the Order for Night Prayer,'Compline' published by the Royal School of Church music for the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society, 2005 edition. We use a realization of that Order. It is an improvement, mostly by backdating to a more 'Latin' flavor of the famous 1928 proposed English Order for Compline, Sarum Rite. The most difficult music to find clearly were Psalm settings for ATBarB. Over time, I started to put together a pretty good sized library of music for the 'midi' choir. My professional music carreer is done, so I have no illusions of making money with my work, and there's no market for it anyway. So yesterday, our webmaster uploaded 385 separate works usable at Compline to our website: http://www.trinitycomplinechoir.org
    To my knowledge, everything on there is in PD or my own stuff. Here's the catch: It's a FREE download. Push the 'Compendium' button and all will be reavealed. All files are in both pdf and Sibelius 6. I've separated zip files into the changeable parts of Compline: Order (7), Orison (51 pieces), Hymn (56 pieces), Psalm (79 pieces), Nunc dimittis (47), Anthem (39), and Service music (29,mostly transpositions), Ave Maria (12 settings), Russian Orthodox (15), Chants (13, both Gregorian and Ambrosian, all realized in modern notation, much from the Liber Usualis of 1912 and 1951), music of Heinrich Isaac (12), and specific music for Maundy Thursday (23).
    I have engraved 40 of Peter Hallock's Psalm settings, which do not appear in the compendium, but will be available on-line in the near future. He is genius, pure and simple. I've also done a lot of transposing of TTBB music by famous living (as opposed to dead white guys) composers, up a few steps for our use. These do not appear either. We have at least as many pieces, published or not in public domain, in our library than appear in the compendium.
    My whole agenda with the music was to make it usable by a midi choir, and make it very easy to rehearse in a short period of time, reducing a lot the mistakes made by the performers in pointed, unpointed, and medieval notation. I love the sound of Latin, so much of the music has remained in the original tongue, even if it is a dead language.
    Compline has taken me over in a big way. I hope I have enough time left to finish 1000 works for compline.
    So, download away and let me know if you start your own Compline Choir and can use any of this stuff.
    http://www.trinitycomplinechoir.org
    One of our Catholic brothers was heard to remark, "Your Compline sure has a Roman stamp on it." So be it.
    regards, as always, jefe
    "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum" is the nut phrase of Compline.
    "Life is short. Compline is shorter. You can do both."image
    into thy hands-poster version.pdf
    42K
    Thanked by 1Patricia Cecilia
  • VocesCapituli
    Posts: 123
    Dear Jefe, what a treasure of music. Just one question, it is impossible to print the sibelius scores. Any way to do so ?
    Dirk Maes
  • jefe
    Posts: 200
    Dirk,
    You must have Sibelius 6 software to be able to read and hear a midi of the tunes. If you do not, just print out the pdf files only. You just will not be able to hear the music ahead of time.
    regards, as always, jefe
    In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum
  • VocesCapituli
    Posts: 123
    Dear Jefe, I can read and hear the music, but, I would like to transpose some of the pieces (as we only have tenors and basses, no alto's). And in the sibelius score there is no indication for a printer. Any suggestions ?
    Dirk
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,221
    I've been able to set up a web page where you can display, hear, and transpose the pieces at
    http://www.gabrielmass.com/compline/display.pl,
    using the Sibelius "Scorch" browser plugin.
    (Alas, so far I've only been able to get it working with the IE browser so far.)

    However, I haven't been able to print. I think the .sib files have to be saved with a particular setting to allow printing. Does anyone know if that is correct?

  • Patricia Cecilia
    Posts: 400
    chonak--that is correct. When one exports a .sib file to Scorch, there is the option to allow printing and saving which is, by default, turned off. The author of the Scorch page has to enable it there, or the buttons are greyed out and keyboard shortcuts do not override.
  • Patricia Cecilia
    Posts: 400
    BTW, jefe's stuff is fabulous and a real labor of love (and time).
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,221
    Patricia, does Jefe have to recreate the files with a setting to enable printing, or is there something I can change on my site to enable it?
  • VocesCapituli
    Posts: 123
    dear Jefe, i would like to be able to print the scores on scorch (as i need to transpose them). It seems, according to Patricia Cecilia, the other of a page as to enable it there. Would it be possible for you to do so ?
    Thanks,
    Dirk
  • ScottKChicago
    Posts: 349
    I've always been curious to know where the "orison" element of Compline came from. Was the St. Mark's Cathedral Compline Choir in Seattle the first to use this term for an anthem or motet sung at Compline?
  • jefe
    Posts: 200
    Hi all,
    I've been very busy with the newest Compline Choir on the block: Vocem angelorum. (voices of angels) Hmm? It's an incredible 12 voice Compline Quire of women. We have a chantress, a speaker, unison chant, SA, SSA, SAA, SSAA, and SSAAT voicings. The tenor part is just that, a part. I just happens to be sung by females in tenor clef. It beats reading more than 3 ledger lines at the bottom of the treble clef. I've transcribed about 30 works already for the band, and we have our inaugural Compline on June 10th. Everyone in there has a straight tone (zip wobble or vibrato) with a good vocal skew of tones, and they all but one, READ. Our ace-in-the-hole in the group are the low altos. WE HAVE 'lady basses! The three anchor women have variously a great, just great tone down to low C, low B, and low A. Usually you have women sing down below low F, and the tone fades quickly. Our 150 yr. old wood/plaster nave must have some resonance in that register for them to sound that good. I conduct the group (until I can find a replacement) and it is very difficult to 'not' sing along with them. I'm so impressed after last Monday's first rehearsal.
    So, ScottK, I believe my mentor, Peter Hallock (b. 1924) brought the Orison tradition with him from England (in about 1952) when he was a student Anglican organist/choir director at one of the church music schools there. Orison is another name for a sung prayer. It is usually short. This definition has been stretched over the decades to include hymn verses, plainsong, or even a Psalm, but rarely a motet or anthem. The idea is to set the mood for Compline.
    Dirk, I use Scorch when downloading music from the internet, which is always 'adjustable'. I don't know why it won't allow you to edit the notation. I'll ask my Guru son about this. I do know that if you do not have .sib6 you are out of luck. I'll get back to you.
    Here is a teaser tune or two arranged for Vocem angelorum:




    regards, as always, jefe
    In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum
    Cunctipotens genitor_SA.pdf
    37K
    Psalm 134_2_part.pdf
    25K
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