Xopheros

Magnificat Psalmody Incipits in English
@roborgelmeister It seems that the canticles are missing in this edition. It says "For the solemn modulations of Magnificat and Benedictus vide Canticles, p. 16 and 18", On p. xvi and xviii od this book there are no canticles. Apparently t…

Comment by Xopheros May 4 permalink
Missa Brevis Sanctus, Hosanna, et Benedictus
Thanks for the hint to Athanasius Kirchner's specification of the composition rules. The video is somewhat sensationalist, but it includes a link to a sober description of a software implementation by Andrew Cashner. I am not sure, though, whe…

Comment by Xopheros April 27 permalink
Cochereau Te Deum Transcription
If you want to see attachments on your phone, go up to the menu next to “Mark All Viewed” and click on “View Full Site” Is there also a way to undo this, if one has clicked on "Full View" and wants to get back to the origial view?

Comment by Xopheros April 23 permalink
O Saving Victim (2025)
@CHGiffen Your addition of a discantus counter voice is a nice effect. By whom is the English translation? Is it in the public domain or is it necessary to obtain permission for using it?

Comment by Xopheros April 12 permalink
O Saving Victim (2025)
@trentonjconn Yes, "Nun lobet Gott im hohen Thron" is one of my favorites, too. If you like it, you might also have use for this polyphonic two part setting. Interestingly, Ulenberg used a different melody in the first edition of his psal…

Comment by Xopheros April 11 permalink
O Saving Victim (2025)
A wonderful piece, thanks for posting it with bilingual text underlay. Maybe the chorales that came M. Jackson Osborn to mind after hearing the incipit were the Genevan psalm tunes for Psalm 5 and Psalm 9? The melody for Psalm 9 was recycled by Ule…

Comment by Xopheros April 11 permalink
ICEL translation versus a new USCCB-approved translation of Easter Sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes
It's slightly off-topic, but as @Gamba mentioned some metamorphoses of the medieval Easter sequence, here is another one: Luther used the melody as a basis for his Easter chorale "Christ lag in Todesbanden". Elam Rotem from Early Musi…

Comment by Xopheros April 5 permalink
Loking for singable translation of Easterhymn about "Haec dies"
@CGM Thanks for the detailed explanations, which make perfect sense to me. I have updated the edition. And thanks to all others, too, who have contributed in one way or the other to the translation. What a helpful community here!

Comment by Xopheros April 1 permalink
Missa Brevis Sanctus, Hosanna, et Benedictus
Thanks for posting the draft. Can you please elaborate a bit what your ideal result would be? As you mention Renaissance masters: Do you want to adopt their style and create something similar? In that case, it would be worthwhile to study a book sp…

Comment by Xopheros April 1 permalink
Loking for singable translation of Easterhymn about "Haec dies"
@CGM Thanks for the kind remark on the composition and for the suggestion for improvement. It is indeed preferrable to stress "let" instead of "us". There is only a slight concern that I have with respect to replacing "exul…

Comment by Xopheros April 1 permalink
Easy Polyphony for Holy Thursday
If this is not too presumptuous, may I suggest my own Mandatum Antiphons? They all start homophonic and then unfold into a simple imitatoric section. The soprano sings the original Gregorian melody. Unfortunately, there is AFAIK only a recording of…

Comment by Xopheros March 30 permalink
Loking for singable translation of Easterhymn about "Haec dies"
From the comments, I conclude that a threefold enumeration combined with two "and"s is unusual and difficult to comprehend. The suggestion by @CGM drops the target for the praise, to which -I think- the remark by Richard Mix refers (sorry…

Comment by Xopheros March 30 permalink
Loking for singable translation of Easterhymn about "Haec dies"
Eventually I have found a facsimile of the original text by Bone and noticed, to my surprise, that only the first two lines actually are by Bone. I therefore abandoned my original plan of using the second stanza for a final part and have chosen a d…

Comment by Xopheros March 28 permalink
Congregational singing
@MatthewRoth It's slightly off-topic, but as you mention that you use LaTeX, you might be interested to know that it comes with a command line tool pdfcrop. You can thus automate the step of cropping the PDFs.

Comment by Xopheros March 19 permalink
SA/SSA/SAA music for Good Friday
Sorry, forgot to mention the obvious: Vexilla regis. CPDL lists many settings, some of which are for equal voices. Even the setting by Palestrina includes one stanza for three parts, which, appropriately transposed, can be sung with SAA, and you can…

Comment by Xopheros March 13 permalink
Congregations which have learned pieces incorrectly?
@a_f_hawkins Out of curiosity, I have just checked a random Magnificat antiphon in the "Antiphonale Monasticum" from 2005 ("Accipite Spiritum Sanctum", p.309) and can confirm your conjecture. The antiphons use the older text set…

Comment by Xopheros March 12 permalink
Congregations which have learned pieces incorrectly?
@francis When the new Missal came out in 2011, I felt justified in my long-term habit of abandoning composing music in English for the mass. The beauty of Latin: it’s a dead language, unchanging, and universal. Not entirely: The Vatican is constantl…

Comment by Xopheros March 11 permalink
SA/SSA/SAA music for Good Friday
Caspar Othmayer has a wonderful two part setting of "Aus tiefer Not" (Psalm 130) for TB or SA as no. XIII in "Bicinia sacra" (1547). I have not found a modern edition, but the original part books are very legible and can be used …

Comment by Xopheros March 11 permalink
Looking for "lively" Motets for the Easter Season
I would second the suggestion by @Nathan_the_Organist: "Ascendens Christus in altum" by Victoria. The piece is thrilling not only due to the smooth polyphony, but also due to some madrigalesque text interpretations. It also seems to cite …

Comment by Xopheros March 11 permalink
Original Music for Psalms
@CMunro11 "I'd like to understand how existence works in a world where, obviously, people used to create things that have been passed down, but nothing is able to be created now." Please don't confuse the opinion of some church …

Comment by Xopheros March 2 permalink
Original Music for Psalms
@CMunro11 In the hope that you eventually create some psalm settings: I would greatly appreciate, if you drop a link here to a rendition. Out of curiosity: You write that you are a skilful songwriter; I would thus be very interested in listening to…

Comment by Xopheros February 24 permalink
Original Music for Psalms
@CMunro11 To find out which Psalm (verses) are to be sung at mass on each particular day or feast, see the Schott mass book, which should be kept in the sacristy of your local church. For an online version, I am only aware of the website of the Bene…

Comment by Xopheros February 22 permalink
Loking for singable translation of Easterhymn about "Haec dies"
@CGM Thank you very much for the kind feedback which I am glad to hear. The choir that commissioned this Magnificat & Nunc dimittis had the unusual requirement that the entire piece must be easily learnt within half an hour, which was the prepar…

Comment by Xopheros February 21 permalink
Loking for singable translation of Easterhymn about "Haec dies"
@CGM Yes, there is still room for improvement. The two verses with the "rhyme" made - glad were originally by Watts, though, which IMO is some justification to keep them. Unfortunately, all other metric psalters that I have checked use the…

Comment by Xopheros February 20 permalink
Loking for singable translation of Easterhymn about "Haec dies"
@chonak Thanks for the insightful observations. I understand that it is unsatisfactory to end the text with this verse, which is somewhat below the otherwise high standard of the respectable Isaak Watts. Concerning the light metaphor, I prefer the …

Comment by Xopheros February 19 permalink
Loking for singable translation of Easterhymn about "Haec dies"
@chonak Yes, the Gotteslob was my source, too. Due to copyright restrictions, it is only allowed to translate the first three stanzas, but, for my purposes, I actually only need two stanzas. Thanks for the first draft of a translation, which I have…

Comment by Xopheros February 18 permalink
Aichinger “Missa de Beata Virgine” - cantus firmus?
This cantus firmus choice seems to be unusual because most other Missae de Beata Virgine (Josquin, Morales, Palestrina, ...) are based on the first ordinary of the "Missa In Festis B.M.V." (Graduale Romanum, p. 32*) or the ordinary "S…

Comment by Xopheros February 17 permalink
Edward Paston and other polyphonic works arranged for unison voices
@Charles_Weaver Wow, I did not expect to meet such an exquisite fellow lutanist in this forum. You have digged out a wonderful repertoir and your performances are exemplary (the second and third link point to the same video, BTW). This has whetted …

Comment by Xopheros February 12 permalink
Edward Paston and other polyphonic works arranged for unison voices
@Charles_Weaver Thanks for posting your transcription, The Taverner arrangement seems to be interesting in several ways. First, it is in Italian tab, wheras most English lute sources use French tab as far as I know. And second, it is an almost comp…

Comment by Xopheros February 12 permalink
Edward Paston and other polyphonic works arranged for unison voices
A good reference for looking up historic arrangements is "Instrumental Music Printed Before 1600" by Howard Mayer Brown. It only covers printed music, but that already is enough for a lifetime. There are several indices, e.g., by title or …

Comment by Xopheros February 12 permalink

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Username: Xopheros
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