Advent polyphony and motets
  • charchar
    Posts: 19
    Any recommendations for polyphony and motets for Advent? Nothing too difficult. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions!
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,477
    Vox clamantis in deserto – Diego de las Muelas
    http://www.solovoces.com/e107_files/downloads/sv204.pdf

    Did this with my very small, amateur choir that does not do much polyphony. Was very beautiful.
    Thanked by 4expeditus1 lmassery irishtenor char
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,477
    The above suggestion was first brought to my attention in this thread:
    http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/3518/advent-and-christmas/p1
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    ADVENT MESSAGE G.F. Handel
    DIXIT MARIA Hassler
    more to follow when I'm at office
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    Ad te levavi by Franz xaver Witt. Very simple harmony. It is also the correct text for the offertory on Advent Sunday I. If you need to lengthen it, chant some psalm verses from the 1935 Offertoriale.
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    It should be on cpdl. I'd post a link but im posting from my phone.
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,048
    Ad te levavi - Franz Xaver Witt (as suggested by hartleymartin) - Introit and Offertory of 1st Sunday of Advent

    Conditor Alme Siderum – Michael Praetorius

    Ecce concipies - Jacob Handl

    Gaudete quia vobis - Charles Wood

    Rorate Caeli - Christopher Tye (attached) - Introit of 4th Sunday of Advent

    Some easier settings of Alma Redemptoris Mater, the proper Marian antiphon for Advent and Christmas. These are a bit longer, but well worth learning:
    Juan Garcia de Salazar

    Palestrina

    Francesco Soriano

    and Marian motets, some of which you can use at other times of the year
    Dixit Maria - Hans Leo Hassler

    Ave Maria – Cornelius Verdonck

    Sicut Lilium Inter Spinas – Antoine Brumel - for Immaculate Conception

    More ideas at Aristotle Esguerra's site.

    Of all of these, I'd recommend Rorate Caeli (Tye), Dixit Maria (Hassler), and Ave Maria (Verdonck).
    Rorate Caeli - Tye.pdf
    271K
    Thanked by 4expeditus1 Aristotle Esguerra JulieColl char
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Well, Sam's done shut de door on this thread! At least I got to Hassler first!
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,048
    I sure hope not! My list is limited to the selections I'm familiar with, plus stuff I've happened to come across on cpdl - a very small batch considering all that's out there.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Did Batch write any Advent motets?
    Thanked by 1Carol
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,477
    JS Batch or one of his sons?
    Thanked by 1Carol
  • Unda_Maris
    Posts: 53
    There is also a setting of "Ad Te Levavi" - Rheinberger (Introit - Advent I)
    "Sleepers Wake A Voice Is Calling" -- F. Mendelssohn (from oratorio "St. Paul")
    Thanked by 1char
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Alma Redemptoris Mater by Palestrina
    Veni, O Sapientia (Traditional)
    Rorate Caeli by Leo Nestor
    Veni, Jesu by Luigi Cherubini
    Thanked by 1char
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    The Alma redemptoris by Bernabei is also quite nice.
    Thanked by 2Aristotle Esguerra JulieColl
  • Earl_GreyEarl_Grey
    Posts: 904
    PDQ Bach, Adam.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • charchar
    Posts: 19
    Thanks everyone! This helps so much!!!
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    About the Hassler Dixit Maria, I have two different editions. Does anyone know whether the tenor's first B is a b-flat or b-natural? The editions I have differ on this point.
  • Incardination
    Posts: 832
    I use the b-natural, but I know those who would use the b-flat.

    Edit: a number of higher-end serious (non-church choir) groups that I've sung with in the past have all used the b-natural version. Although I know one or two who would go with the flat, I find the natural to create the tension that then is resolved in the following passages. I'm wondering if the flat is a more modern version... I am pretty decrepit!
  • Heath
    Posts: 966
    Personally, I think it's the most gratifying to sing the B-flat first, though that's not a scholarly opinion, just a musical one. : )
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,192
    Actually, the initial B-flat on the ascending passage (on "an-") is much more traditional (and in keeping with Renaissance performance practice), while musica ficta raising the B-flat to B-natural (on "-ge-") is wholly in keeping with period practice. It is the same (but explicitly written out) with the Cantus (soprano) part four measures later and then the Bass part another two measures later.

    The Raf Ornes score at CPDL is a model of correctness.
    Thanked by 1Incardination
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Charles,

    I'm confused. How can both practices be "in keeping with period practice"?
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    The B-flat first, and then the B-natural on the following note.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,192
    I didn't say "both practices" ... the one note that gets the raised half degree is leading tone to a cadence, but the first B-flat plays no such role. Hassler even wrote out the raised cadencial half degree in the Soprano and Bass iterations of the same figure. In no case is the first B-flat of the figure raised to a B-natural. In two of three cases, the second B-flat is explicitly raised to B-natural in the original edition, and the one remaining case (in the Tenor part), one assumes either that Hassler overlooked raising the B-flat a half step, or it was a copyist error, or (most likely) Hassler intended to leave the B-flat alone, leaving it to performers to make a decision. It's important to note that the other two instances of the B-natural are pretty much required by the harmonic context of the other three parts (there is more ambiguity in the case of the Tenor part, because not all parts have entered the texture).

    I'm attaching the appropriate pages from the partbooks of Hassler's Cantiones Sacrae for comparison (they are available at IMSLP). Incidentally, these show the correctness of the Ornes edition at CPDL.

    IMSLP493658-PMLP98035-hassler_cantiones_sacrae_1591_C-p9.pdf
    564K
    IMSLP493659-PMLP98035-hassler_cantiones_sacrae_1591_A-p9.pdf
    528K
    IMSLP493660-PMLP98035-hassler_cantiones_sacrae_1591_T-p9.pdf
    610K
    IMSLP493661-PMLP98035-hassler_cantiones_sacrae_1591_B-p8-9.pdf
    1M
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn rich_enough
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