Two part music for Mass
  • dmandalak
    Posts: 17
    I’m looking for two part music for the mass. I’d greatly appreciate any resources ! Right now it’s just me on the organ/baritone and a soprano but looking to hopefully recruit an alto soon for three part music.

  • CGM
    Posts: 789
    Go to CPDL and enter the search term "bicinia", which means (roughly) "music for two voices." You'll find many duets and collections of duets.
    Thanked by 5CHGiffen probe Liam Paul F. Ford Xopheros
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,215
    If you go to my website Catholic Romantic Music and poke around, you'll find a ton of it, though unfortunately it can't index by medium. In particular, I can recommend the music of Jef Tinel, much of which is 2-equal, and the volumes of Melodie Sacre by Perosi and his friends. There is some music that is men/women, but most is designed for 2-equal, Parts tend not to cross, so if baritone is on the bottom (TB but with a 4' tenor, lol!) it works fine. And a lot of it is easy enough for a singing organist. (If you can successfully sing and play the Faure Ave Verum, you're a fine enough musician that they should be giving you a paid quartet.)
    Thanked by 1irishtenor
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 81
    The term "Bicinia" (pl. of "bicinium") mentioned by @CGM is usually used for unaccompanied two part music. Most of this repertory thus stems from the Renaissance. For use at mass, there are two possible types of music:
    • Free bicinia based on Latin bible verses like those by Lassus or de Castro. These are only usable for performance.
    • Cantus Firmus bicinia based on chorales like those by Othmayr (Bicinia sacra, 1547) or my bicinia over psalm tunes. Many of the chorale melodies have been recycled in traditional and modern catholic hymn books with revised or new text underlays. You can thus use the bicinia alternatim with the congregation singing different stanzas (or even in a different language).

    Since the baroque period, "Bicinia" in the above sense have become rare, because accompaniment on chordal instruments like the organ became ubiquituous. The term "Duo" typically refers to music for two voices with accompaniment and there is an abundance of repertory, albeit mostly for equal voices. An example for the combination baritone & soprano from the Baroque period is "Ave regina caelorum" by Rovetta, for a more romantic style my setting of "O salutaris hostia", and for a contemporary style my two part mass setting.
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,963
    If you want something a cappella:

    https://www.canticanova.com/catalog/products/g_bicinios_1.htm
  • AbbysmumAbbysmum
    Posts: 140
    I adapt a lot of SATB music for 2 parts, usually by blending the alto and tenor lines into a new harmonic line. I am a mezzo-soprano and often sing with a tenor. We often flip back and forth between who is singing the melody line and who is singing the harmonic line.
Add a Comment