MESSE POUR LES COUVENTS
  • zechariah
    Posts: 10
    I wonder if anyone might point me to a score of the Couperin Messe Pour Les Couvents that has the vocal parts ... My recollection is that the proper is sung my a solo tenor.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,933
    I thought this was an organ mass. I have never seen text for it. That doesn't mean there isn't text, I just have not seen it and someone could have adapted text to it. Organ masses were never intended to be sung.
  • zechariah
    Posts: 10
    Understood, but I had an old recording (now lost in the mists of time) where a tenor solo would sing the various bits of text, followed by the organ. This site, if anywhere, would be the place where someone would have it ...

  • Franco
    Posts: 16
    I remember reading somewhere that it was based on a "pseudo" plainsong Mass by Henri Du Mont. It can be found in the back of the chant volume "Mass and Vespers" on p. 2204 of the pdf file: http://media.musicasacra.com/books/massandvespers.pdf

    I think that's the one, though I could be wrong. Hope that helps!
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,156
    What qualifies something as "pseudo" plainsong? I ask in sincere ignorance.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    "Mass and Vespers" on p. 2204 of the pdf file: http://media.musicasacra.com/books/massandvespers.pdf

    It seems to begin on p. 2141 of that file, not p. 2204.
  • Ted
    Posts: 201
    I think what was probably meant was "neo-Gregorian" of which there are far more examples in the older Solesmes books than the new.
    I am all for that, by the way, as it shows Gregorian chant is not just some museum piece from the 9th century, but still a living idiom for today.
    Thanked by 3Andrew_Malton CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    Both of Couperin's masses are alternatim, so a choir (or organist) singing the even verses is certainly a valid option. The parish mass quotes the Cunctipotens genitor in the manner prescribed by the bishop of Paris. The two schools of thought about the convent mass are that 1) there was reason to avoid any particular gregorian or neogregorian chant, since the nonsecular institutions could use different ones, and 2) that one can identify more or less subtle allusions to Dumont's Messe royale (there's a lot you can find out through a site search.)
Add a Comment