Corsican Chant (corse chant)
  • ossian1898ossian1898
    Posts: 142
    Hello all,

    I'm wondering if anyone has a copy (PDF, Finale, etc) out there of the Missa Orbis Factor from the Corse Chant Tradition? The seniors at the school I teach at are adamant about singing this for their graduation mass. I have found several Corsican 3 part and one 4 part pieces on CPDL, but no Orbis Factor. Specifically, they want the Kyrie.

    Personally I think it is *borderline* for the traditional Roman rite.

    Anyone?
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    I poked around and didn't find anything, except that the Ensemble Organum album does indeed include Missa Orbis Factor, and was the one recorded off Franciscan Corsican manuscripts, but sung by Corsican-tradition singers.

    The Kyrie for Missa Orbis Factor is on the Internet, and it's not all that elaborately different from the basic Kyrie tune. (Probably why the seniors like it.)

    It is possible that you are working too hard on this. Why not make the seniors transcribe this sucker, if they like it so much, or learn it for themselves aurally? It's only November 1; graduation's not until next spring. Make it a real senior project.

    As for traditionalism... Corsica was Byzantine, then Vandal, then Byzantine, then Goth, then under the Exarchs of Ravenna. Then Pepin the Short's Donation made Corsica papal land from 754 to 1000 or so. Pisa then claimed it, and then Genoa from 1300 to 1768. Then France got it, just in time to get Napoleon too. Anyway, it's sufficiently clear that Corsica spent most of its time from 739 under the jurisdiction of Latin Rite bishops and the Pope, and if they didn't like Corsican polyphony, they would have stamped it out. Since it was kept up by confraternities closely tied to singing for Masses, funerals, and feastdays, clearly the Corsican church was all in favor of this music.
  • ossian1898ossian1898
    Posts: 142
    I don't know if I'm working too hard, all I did was Google and CPDL it. :-) I appreciate the help and the history lesson. I knew nothing about Corsica...
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    The Kyrie for Missa Orbis Factor is on the Internet, and it's not all that elaborately different from the basic Kyrie tune. (Probably why the seniors like it.)


    I happen to love that Ensemble Organum recording, but is there anything Corsican about it?

    And also, not to put too fine a point on it, those tropes are definitely suppressed for liturgical use, aren't they?
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    Out of curiosity, how did they come across it?
  • ossian1898ossian1898
    Posts: 142
    I think someone brought it by the school last year before I was hired and the students really enjoyed listening to it in the common area (this is a boarding school). We wouldn't use the tropes unless they did it extra-liturgically. Personally I think troping can and should be used for things like processions. I toyed with the idea of processing tomorrow for All Souls with a long, troped Kyrie. But I didn't have time to rehearse them on it.
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Oh yes, when I said "suppressed for liturgical use," I meant merely when used for the Kyrie (i.e., Penitential Rite -- I guess the language can get confusing, since you can also call the piece itself a Kyrie no matter when you use it ...)
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