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: 818
    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 6CHGiffen probe Liam Paul F. Ford Xopheros dtanguyen
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,284
    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 2irishtenor probe
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 155
    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: 1,972
    If you want something a cappella:

    https://www.canticanova.com/catalog/products/g_bicinios_1.htm
  • AbbysmumAbbysmum
    Posts: 205
    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.
    Thanked by 1probe
  • Heath
    Posts: 1,000
    I have a TON of bicinia at my website: www.englishmotets.com

    Thanked by 3probe dtanguyen ServiamScores
  • probe
    Posts: 215
    @Abbysmum if I may revive this to follow up ... I would expect simplistically to keep the Sop, give Bass to Alto, and give up the Tenor. Are there examples and suggestions for how such adaptations can be done to maintain interest? Perhaps it's down to musical experience and taste to re-shape any given piece.
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 3,340
    Ecce Panis Angelorum by Perosi.

    The score is available free online, or you can get my newly-engraved edition here: https://psallitedomino.com/store-1/p/ecce-panis-2-by-lorenzo-perosi?rq=ecce panis

    Practice tracks here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk71GctqoFYzJnyIN994Kug9uDOSBDCLX
    Thanked by 2probe Abbysmum
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 3,340
    Also, Perosi's Laudate Nomen Domini (same conditions as above)

    My edition: https://psallitedomino.com/store-1/p/jamoi215thpc6jv7p9cuxowm8c360z

    Practice tracks: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk71GctqoFYzjr6D4Z_yP9pRyisPvoJrk
    Thanked by 1probe
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 155
    @probe
    I would expect simplistically to keep the Sop, give Bass to Alto, and give up the Tenor. Are there examples and suggestions for how such adaptations can be done to maintain interest?

    Interestingly, there is some evidence that the SB sombination was common practice, albeit with addition of the missing voices by means of a lute or organ intabolation. Examples can be found in the 1594 print "Florilegium omnis fere generis cantionum" by Adrian Denss. The very first piece is "O quam gloriosum", a popular motet by Victoria for All Saints, and the edition includes the soprano & bass parts plus a lute intavolation. After a quick glance, it seems that singing the bass part an octave up by an alto does not introduce voice crossings (if it did, the alto should sing some notes an octave down). Interestingly, the lute part occasionally plays the bass an octave down, too. Beware that the scan on IMSLP is incomplete, but I have printed editions that is complete; feel free to send me a DM if you actually need the second page.
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen probe Richard Mix Abbysmum
  • probe
    Posts: 215
    Thank you @Xopheros. That's in mensural notation.
    I since remembered that this is dealt with in Hawley Ades Choral Arranging, chapter 5 Two Part Writing. https://archive.org/details/choralarranging0000ades_e5u4
    It's a challenge for small choirs a cappella to sound good in two parts without accompaniment to fill it in.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 3,007
    Xopheros, I'm confused: what exactly is missing from the IMSLP scan?
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