I've recently uploaded 2 different Isaac "Tu es Petrus" communios to CPDL. (Each only 1 page long, so a great addition to the Gregorian Tu es Petrus that is required for various feasts/anniversaries, etc.)

I personally prefer the one from the Choralis Constantinus II, even though I transcribed the CCIII edition, first. Which do you prefer?

I'm so glad to hear that. Thanks for sharing. =)

I just had someone email me, the other day, about their choir working up "Factus est Repente" for Pentecost. It's wonderful to know that these beautiful works are being used!

My own parish choir sang the Isaac "Haec Dies" (gradual) on Easter, and will a couple more times throughout the season, for its joyful Easter message.

On the 1st Sunday of Lent, I had the distinct privilege of hearing the Chattanooga Bach Choir sing my STTB transcription of that day's "Scapulis Suis" communio. (I happen to know the director from university, so I wasn't extremely surprised (because I assumed he knew the name on the page was mine, though he couldn't have been sure I would attend), but very embarrassed when he acknowledge me, along with the noble mission of CPDL.)
It was wonderful to hear a group (a local group, even!) perform this beautiful music, without any of my personal prodding to accomplish its programming. ;-)

We also sang your setting of the Communio Pater, si non protest for Palm Sunday for the first time this year. This was very well received.

I am also told the York Oratory is also singing Issac Propers...

Short notice, I know, but I just uploaded the Alleluia and Communio for Epiphany to CPDL.

If anyone has a particular Isaac proper request, please let me know!
Happy Christmas!

Will do.
I apparently was working on this tract, back in March (based on file history)...
I'm guessing I had to stop when my husband's work sent him home for "safety" reasons.

As soon as you know which Easter week, let me know!

Brilliant, we were practicing the complete cycle of Isaac Propers for Epiphany III and Quinquagesima last night (before another choir Christmas meal, conveniently on the Julian calendar Christmas day)

For Easter, we are thinking either Dominica II or III.

INT. Misericordia Domini (Not on CPDL)
ALL.
COM. Ego Sum pastor bonus (Already done)

INT. Jubilate Deo (Already done)
ALL.
COM. Modicum (Already done)

I see the that the Alleluias that Issac set for these two Sundays is not that found in the Roman Graduale, Isaac does not appear to have set the Pascal Alleluias as found in the G.R.

Perhaps a more interesting question:

While setting the text for the bass line, I realized that the partbook had the following mark beneath the staff: O 3

It is only in the bass part. However, I wrote it up in finale in both Common and 3/4 time, to see what difference it makes. It's interesting to look at.

I copy/pasted it all into a PDF to put it side by side. (I couldn't seem to upload it here, because the website refuses to host it?)

What do you think?

As to the OO 3 that appears in the bass partbook, I think that it is a message to the singer to "feel" the tempus perfectum (prolatio minor) (O) rhythm within the tempus imperfectum (prolatio minor) (C) mensuration. Moreover, this feeling actually seems to begin at the syllable "-do" (on D, halfway through bar 52), with the double OO at that point perhaps indicting a hemiola, and the 3 the regular meaning of O (as three beats, subdivided in two). This is reinforced (to my sense of things) by the triple rhythmic feel of the alto part beginning in the middle of bar 52, as well as the triple rhythmic feel of the tenor part already presaged in bar 51. By the beginning of bar 54, all four parts have a triple rhythmic feel.

Since the OO 3 only appears in the bass partbook, it may be that the "conductor" (leader) had inserted the symbols to guide how the ensemble should be led, or perhaps just to satisfy a personal sense of rhythmic feeling. Writing it out in triple meter is interesting, although I would probably leave it in the duple meter (as DTO does).

Probing further afield in a bit of digression:

Triple rhythmic feeling is found in other duple rhythm scores. I've personally noted (for myself, and a few times when leading the ensemble), the triple rhythmic sense of parts of the Byrd Ave verum corpus - notably at "Cuius latus perforatum, unda fluxit sanguine" (especially notable in the alto part, complete with a hemiola on "fluxit sangui-") and at "Esto nobis praegustatum...".

I hope these comments are helpful.

Thank you, all, for your input.

This particular piece (not completely uncommonly) has words in some of the partbooks that don't seem to belong at all, and sometimes (as you noted, and more commonly) "missing" words, as well.
This is the first time I've gone mostly independent from the DTO edition, for these and some other reasons (including the insertion of a stack measures to fit the missing psalm text), and I suppose my own setting of the text to the music may have left something to be desired.

I will keep your insights in consideration as I try to finish transcribing this piece.
Thanks, again.

Repetition of text also allows for more natural breathing opportunities, and (in my mind) helps to shape what can otherwise become a somewhat formless mass of notes.

RE: OO 3

I decided to scroll through some pieces that I knew did switch to perfect time, and then scroll through the Basso part books, and I found a pattern. LL... MM... and then realized if I kept scrolling, I'd eventually get to NN and OO.
It basically appears to be an early version of (PDF-like) bookmarks, using the alphabet for quick reference to the various Sundays, etc. So, I found the OO for the other partbooks, they just didn't sit in the same place in a score, because it wasn't specific to a place in a piece, but more like a page reference.

You learn something new, every day!
----
However, I still think it's neat that switching it to perfect time at that point still sort of worked... But at least I have my answer to that part, anymore. Now, I need to consider my text underlay and whether I should just put it completely back to the DTO, leaving my personal opinions of how I would have set the more flexible words to myself..?

Oh, well, there's OO 1-3, as well as with the other letters. These aren't exactly equivalent throughout, but seem to be indicative of proximity to the beginning/end of each of the propers (Int, Alleluia/Tract, Comm) included.

I checked each of the other scores, and found that the 3 for tempus perfectum was always indicated within the staff of every part which sings in the new meter.

Tom, I see that the communio Qui manducat has already been set and uploaded to CPDL by Aristotle Esguerra. Are you needing it to stay in the original key, or will his edition work?

These Isaac settings were put to good use this Sunday, Quinquagesima, we had a feast of music,
Introit: Esto mihi (Heinrich Isaac)
Tract: Jubilate Domino (Heinrich Isaac)
Offertory: Benedictus es Domine (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina)
Communion: Manducaverunt (Heinrich Isaac)
The rest was chant sung in full from the G.R. Mass XI (original Kyrie), Credo II.

The Introit takes c.6 mins to sing and the Tract c.7mins. We seemed to have got away with lengthening the Mass by around 6-8mins! No one has complained! The Tract is really lovely.

I'm setting the Introit for Palm Sunday.

We briefly talked about this, earlier in the thread: that some of the Isaac introits' psalm verses were incomplete, text-wise.

What do you think of this (attached), as a way to make it work?
(I sort of wanted to leave the half-notes in the bass, and just have the part on "delictorum," without the last word "meorum," but thought maybe this would look less-strange..?)

My understanding of the Rubrics, is we 'should' be singing the text as found in the G.R. So to use these Isaac Propers Liturgically the text should be the same, although the Constance Graduale was not the Roman Graduale, so some differences both in text and in some cases a totally different text is used by Isaac. If the difference is one or two words or just a different word order we sing the Isaac text.

With the Introit, under 1962 the extra verses are ad lib but the first verse should be the same. Our former choir director has had us write in the Gloria Patri, on our copies so we can sing that in the same polyphonic style. I suspect he would do the same as CCooze, with putting in the G.R. words for this Psalm.

We have not had any complaints singing these Propers, so we will continue, and add to the number we sing each year. My plan is we will have around 8 Sundays when we will sing the complete cycle of Propers, with other Sundays singing just the Communion.

We will be recording these when the Covid guidelines are officially removed, I will of course post a link here.

Why can we not have two versions the original, and a version with the G.R. text, for those that need to use it Liturgically?

Fortunately we can sing the Introits in full, although sometimes it may have been better to chant the repeat of the Antiphon (It would save our priest a couple of minutes sitting down before the Gloria / Collect.

For one of them we could not get the Introit learnt on time so we did sing the psalm verses to the Isaac setting. It was certainly impressive. I have wondered about singing a whole psalm in this way, Chant / Isaac / Chant?

Is this way of setting it more "authentic?" (I'm not being sarcastic.)
If it's on the right track, but you have a suggestion, please suggest away.

Well, the closed parentheses is to not repeat the same text, "Deus, Deus meus, respice in me, quare me dereliquisti?" a 2nd time.

The top half of the page is the end of the Isaac.

"Cooze" is technically only the 1 chanted measure "quare me dereliquisti?" and the second, "Deus" of the "Deus, Deus meus."

The parenthesis + last system gives an option:
1) either chant that full 3-bar text, and move to the last system to finish, or
2) ignoring the parenthetical chant after having sung the top chant + system, and move down to the last system, basically singing the exact same music a 2nd time, in order to have finished the text.
- I don't especially like this 2nd option, because it's singing a double iteration of the final of a psalm tone, without the reciting tone.

Not "closed parentheses" but the position of the close parenthesis ")".

Deus, Deus meus respice in me quare me derelinquisti?
(or: Deus, Deus meus respice in me quare me derelinquisti? )
longe a salute mea verba delictorum meorum.

I would read this as implying the polyphony beginning at "Longe…" is 'non-parenthetical'.

The trap is that one might assume you're editing Isaac instead of GR. More self explanatory would be:

Deus, Deus meus respice in me quare me derelinquisti?
(If wished, one may instead sing the entire verse according to the GR as follows: Deus, Deus meus respice in me quare me derelinquisti?
longe a salute mea verba delictorum meorum.)

Or something like this?

Ad lib. Version modified to follow the text of Graduale Romanum 1924/6x ed.

DTÖ assumes the bass has to sing the missing "et" (unfortunately not putting it in brackets)

This has been an interesting discussion.
I'm in the process of editing Rogier Michael's Introitus Dominicorum (1603). The issues are very different from Isaac in some ways: The style is predominantly syllabic, and even when filling in an ij, there's no real doubt about which syllable lands on which note. Michael frequently leaves out an "et" on repetition or in one part, and words get repeated willy-nilly. So it would seem that the DTÖ editor's assumptions are unwarranted.

Where the processes are similar is in how to balance accurately representing the composer with making an edition for liturgical use. I'm modernizing spelling. But sometimes the texts are a little different. I've been setting the modern text in italics beneath the original, and usually it's the same number of syllables. But I'm finishing Palm Sunday right now, and Michael has "unicornium" instead of "unicornuorum"; I'm not sure how I'll fix that. Also, Michael doesn't set verses. I figure that most of us prefer "one stop shopping", so I've been setting them to falsobordoni by di Lasso. One could also do them alternatim with the chant, but the polyphony is not always in the same mode, which could make life interesting.

Anyway, Ms. Cooze, thank you for what you're doing. I have a dream that the entire repertoire of polyphonic Propers will someday be on CPDL (at least the manageable ones; I don't think the 8 and 12 voice settings would be of general interest; indeed, the 5 voices of Michael are a stretch for most of us.)

Are Introit verses ad libitum as I imagine them to be for less predictable processions like Communion?

To come back to this point, or rather the communion point: singing the Communion chant at the beginning of Communion, after the Ecce Agnus Dei and Domine, non sum dignus, existed for about seven years, and before then, the chant was sung at the ablutions. I'll have to do more reading on what was explicitly permitted after Pius X's motu proprio. On Sundays, the Asperges doesn't allow for a second long procession, and in cathedrals and collegiate churches, the ministers would likely enter the short way or the organ would play, as they left at the end of Terce to vest; however, one could sing the Introit at that point, which might require verses, but not necessarily so. Any gap created by not finishing at the same time as the prayers at the foot of the altar finish is covered by the organ or moving onto the Kyrie.

For some reason, our congregants have begun standing as soon as the priest ascends the steps to the altar.

Aha. If the clergy kneel for the prayers at the foot of the altar, they then stand as soon as the priest finishes. I personally like to see this catching on, and while I'm not going to force anyone to stand, nor shall they force others to kneel during the conclusion of the Introit and the Kyrie all the way until the intonation of the Gloria.