Antonio Lotti - Sacred Music

This motet is a section of a complete Credo in F, for four voices with string and continuo accompaniment, written while Lotti was at Dresden (1717-1719). For this section of the Credo, the continuo alone backs the choir; the remaining instruments are tacet, and the choir doubles to 8 parts. The work's modern popularity comes from its publication in an 1860 compilation, Musica sacra, by Franz Commer.
This edition comes from the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden, Mus 2159 D 5, a manuscript of the complete Credo, possibly in Lotti's own hand.
The original key signature has only one flat; E and A flats in the score have therefore been subsumed into the key signature. The major editorial task is realising the bass and adjusting the figures for the revised key signature. Double barlines, cautionary accidentals, commas and fermata are editorial.

The complete Credo in F for choir with strings is also available from Ancient Groove Music.

From British Library Add 14177, a complete Credo in D minor for SATB, strings and continuo. The original has three alto parts: this edition turns the third alto into a first tenor, making the part requirement SSSAATTTBB.

The complete Credo in D minor for choir with strings is also available from Ancient Groove Music.

Lotti's most famous setting of this text, for 8-parts, was taken from his Credo in F. His 10-part setting also comes from another Credo in D minor. It is not known whether this setting is also a part of a Credo, but it would seem likely. All three of the settings were published separately as motets in the 19th century.
Source: Vienna Cod. 16.187 and various 19th century published editions. Original note values and pitch are preserved.

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Sources: London, British Library Egerton 2462; Venice, Procuratoria di San Marco, B1180/1-69; Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Cod It. IV 1738
Note values have been halved (except for the Benedictus, which is quartered) and the music maintained at original pitch. The mass is also known by the title Missa quattuor vocum inaequalis. (One of the problems with cataloguing Lotti's works is that the masses are rarely given descriptive or distinctive titles.) Cautionary and bracketed accidentals are editorial.
The mass is thought to have been written in 1700. The work exists in several sources, some of which are unaccompanied, and some of which contain an organ part. The Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana also holds a set of two cornet parts.

None of Lotti's mass settings contains the words dona nobis pacem in the Agnus Dei. If required, the music may be sung a second time (or even a third) and the final words substituted in the place of miserere nobis.

Lotti's masses are rarely given uniquely descriptive names in the sources, often being described as "Mass for four voices", or "Missa Brevis". This work has recently been recorded as "del sesto tuono" (in the sixth tone), though few sources describe it as such. However, there are other masses by Lotti that have also been given this name, and on examination, the music of this mass actually appear to be based on the eighth tone.

Note values have been halved and the music maintained at original pitch. Cautionary and bracketed accidentals are editorial.

Source: Venice, Procuratoria di San Marco, B.771/1-21, a set of part books dating from the 1730s.
Note values have been halved (except for the Benedictus, which is quartered) and the music maintained at original pitch. Cautionary and bracketed accidentals are editorial. The music is thought to have been written in 1685, dated from a remark in a manuscript in the Santini collection.

Few of Lotti's mass settings contain the words dona nobis pacem in the Agnus Dei. If required, the music may be sung a second time (or even a third) and the final words substituted in the place of miserere nobis.

Source: Westminster Abbey, CG23, an 18th century manuscript in score. This is one of a number of masses by Lotti which is described in various sources as del sesto tuono (in the sixth tone). It has also been recently described as Missa Brevis in F, even though it is the longest of Lotti's masses for choir and organ. There is also another mass which fits that description more closely. In order to identify each different mass more accurately, this mass has been called Messa da Cappella in F. The name Messa dal sesto tuono has been reserved for the only mass of that name to be found in Venetian sources contemporary with Lotti.

Note values have been halved (except for triple-time sections, which have been quartered) and ths music has been transposed down a tone to avoid the relatively high compass of the tenor and bass parts. Cautionary and bracketed accidentals are editorial.

Few, if any, of Lotti's mass settings contains the words dona nobis pacem in the Agnus Dei. If required, the music may be sung a second time (or even a third) and the final words substituted in the place of miserere nobis.

Source: Venice, Procuratoria di San Marco, B781/1-33; Bibloteca Nazionale Marciana, Cod. It. IV 1739 (10). Note values have been halved (except for the Benedictus, where they have been quartered) and the music maintained at original pitch. Cautionary and bracketed accidentals are editorial. The organ part is a part reduction and is optional.

Few of Lotti's mass settings contain the words dona nobis pacem in the Agnus Dei. If required, the music may be sung a second time (or even a third) and the final words substituted in the place of miserere nobis.

Source: Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Cod. It. IV 1738-1739. A note in the score indicates that other copies are to be found transposed down to both B flat and A. The work is known as the Studentenmesse in the Viennese library of Archduke Rudolf von Habsburg-Lothringen (1788 - 1831), who was the great-grandson of Lotti's patron in Dresden. Two string parts are also to be found in a number of sources, though not in the Venetian archives. The work is also often presented transposed up a fourth in F, for SAT. Given the work's title, it is conceiveable that work was performed by the girls of the Ospedale degli Incurabili.
Note values have been halved (or quartered for triple-time sections) and the music presented at pitch. Cautionary and bracketed accidentals are editorial.

Source: Venice, Procuratoria di San Marco, B 774/1-16. Note values have been halved and the music presented at pitch. Cautionary and bracketed accidentals are editorial. This edition also includes the Libera me, which exists in a single, separate autograph source.

Source: Venice, Procuratoria di San Marco, B 774/1-16; British Library Additional 14177.
Note values have been halved and the music presented at original pitch.

A setting of the entire psalm (Vulgate 50). Sources: Venice, Procuratoria di San Marco, B766, a score dating from the 1733; London, British Library MS Add. 14177, in the hand of G. Sigismondo (1739 - 1826). Note values have been halved and the music presented at pitch. Editorial and cautionary accidentals are in brackets. Double barlines, dividing the work into sections, are editorial. The work is thought to have been composed in 1733.

Source: Bergamo Istituto Musicale Donizetti, XXVI c. 95893; also various 19th century published editions. Note values have been halved and the music presented at pitch. Editorial and cautionary accidentals are in brackets.

Source: Westminster Abbey Library, CG23, an 18th century manuscript in score. Note values have been halved and the music presented at original pitch. The plainsong is not present in the source; and is taken from the liber usualis.

Choir with instruments

Credo in F (including Crucifixus 8vv) - SATB, 2 violin, viola, cello, bass continuo, organ

This edition comes from the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden, Mus. 2159-D-5, a manuscript of the complete Credo, possibly in Lotti's own hand. The work was written while Lotti was at Dresden (1717-1719), and is not believed to be associated with a complete Mass, though a Kyrie and Gloria for the same forces exists. The instruments play throughout the work, except for the Crucifixus, where the choir divides into 8 parts, accompanied only by the organ continuo. The strings then return in fanfare, to proclaim the Et resurrexit.
The major editorial tasks are the creation of a part reduction for the vocal score; realising the figured bass; and the transfer of source accidentals in the Crucifixus into the key signature.

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Credo in D minor (including Crucifixus 10vv) - SSSAATTTBB chorus, 2 violin, viola, cello, bass continuo
From British Library Additional 14177, an early 19th century ms in score. The work originally has no key signature. One flat has therefore been added to the key signature in the edition. The continuo part is unnamed and contains no figures, but does have tremolos. As with the Credo in F, the Crucifixus of this work is known separately as a motet for 10 voices, and the strings are tacent for that section.

Mass for four voices: (Kyrie in Gm & Gloria in F) SATB chorus, 2 violin, viola, cello, bass continuo, organ

Source: British Library Additional 24297. The Kyrie is identical to that found in the Missa Sapientiae, which was re-orchestrated by Zelenka. The pairing of this Kyrie and Gloria may well be the original, as both are scored for the same musical forces (also the same as the Credo in F, which may have been performed with this mass).

There are only two sections, Kyrie and Gloria, as these are the only parts of the Ordinary of the Lutheran Mass, which suggests that this music was written in Dresden for the Hofkapelle.

Gloria a cinque in C: SSATB, 2 violin, viola, trumpet, oboe, basoon, continuo

Missa Sapientiae (Kyrie & Gloria) SATB divisi, 2 oboe, trumpet, flute, bassoon, 2 violin, 2 viola, bass continuo, organ
The work was given this title by Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679 - 1745), who took Lotti's original music for choir, 2 violins, 2 violas, oboe and continuo section, and 'strengthened' the instrumentation with woodwind and trumpets. There are only two sections, Kyrie and Gloria, as these are the only parts of the Ordinary of the Lutheran Mass.

The work has one major Soprano solo and an ATB trio; though other parts are marked as soli within choruses, and could be performed by a semi-chorus or individuals from the chorus.

It would be easy to reduce the forces back to Lotti's original intentions. For much of the work, the oboes double the strings. In the Laudamus te, the 2 oboes and bassoon appear as an antiphonal effect between them and the strings: originally, it was just strings. The flute is only needed in one movement, Domine Deus Rex coelestis, and was originally a violin solo(the movement is for soprano solo with oboe, flute and continuo.)

Handel jotted down notes on the Missa Sapientiae, as he was accustomed to do, for study and inspiration.
Lotti's original Kyrie is to be found in British Library Add 24297, paired with a different Gloria for choir and strings, produced here as the Mass for four voices.

Requiem Mass

Dixit Dominus (Vulgate Psalm 109)

Confitebor tibi (Vulgate Psalm 110) - SATB, 2 violin, viola, cello, oboe, continuo

Sources: British Library Additional 39817; SLUB Dresden Mus 2159-D-11; Westminster Abbey Library CG67

Laudate pueri (Vulgate Psalm 112)

Credidi (Vulgate Psalm 115)

Antonio Lotti - Editorial Notes

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Works for Choir and Organ

Choir with instruments