Editorial Notes
Ancient Groove Music specialises in producing editions of sacred choral music that have the highest standards of music engraving, academic rigour and performability. The catalogue consists of scholarly editions, from the Renaissance to the Baroque, designed by performers for performers.
We also publish books on music and literature written by musicians.
Crux fidelis Felice Anerio
Motet for Holy Week. This edition is taken from BL Add. 34607, (ff 21, 54, 87, 120) copied from Vatican MSS.
Note values have been halved and the music tranposed down a tone. Small and bracketed accidentals are editorial.
Crux fidelis,
inter omnes arbor una nobilis,
Nulla silva talem profert,
Fronde, flore, germine:
Dulce lignum, dulces clavos,
dulce pondus sustinet.
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Civitas sancti tui William Byrd
From Liber Primus Sacrarum Cantionum Quinque Vocum, 1589. The music is the second half of the motet Ne Irasceris Domine. It is also known by the English text of Bow Thine Ear, O Lord. Note values have been halved and the music transposed up a tone. Small accidentals and slurs are editorial; cautionary accidentals are in brackets.
Civitas sancti tui facta est deserta: Sion deserta facta est; Jerusalem desolata est.
Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Isaiah 64:10
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Senex puerum portabant William Byrd
From Gradualia I, 1610. Note values have been halved and the music displayed at original pitch. There are no editorial accidentals, except for cautionary accidentals.
Senex puerum portabat
Puer autem senem regebat.
Alleluia.The old man carried the boy
But the boy reigned over the old man.
Alleluia.
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Am Tage der Reinigung Maria Johannes Eccard
Edited by Philip Colls. Source: Preussische Festlieder, Theil 1. No. 20, from the edition by G.W. Teschner, 1858, in the absence of any known earlier source. The collection was originally published posthumously in 1642. Original note values have been retained from that edition and the music has been transposed upwards by a tone. Original clefs are c1, c1, c3, c4, c4, f4; the time signature is given as c. Slurs and the contents of square brackets are editorial, as are accidentals presented above the stave. Accidentals in round brackets are editorial and cautionary. All 5 verses, written by Peter von Hagen, are included.
Maria, das Jung-fräuelein,
ihr liebes Jesulein,
im Tempel, wie gewöhnlich war,
den Herren stellet dar,
das Opfer, wie man pflegt,
willig erlegt,
damit sie das Gesetz
ja nicht verletz.Ihr Opfer hat sie zubereit,
wie pflegten arme Leut;
zwei schlechte Turteltäubelein
ohn allen falschen Schein
damit ihr Kind sie löst,
sich kräftig tröst,
es sei das ewig Wort,
des Himmels Pfort.Da kommt auch hin ein alter Greis
aus göttlichem Geheis,
unfäht den Heiland aller Welt
und auf seinn Armen hält.
Indem er ihn ansicht,
ganz fröhlich spricht:
O Herr, mit Fried und Freud
von hinn ich scheid,Weil meine Augen han erkannt,
du seist der Welt Heiland,
ein Licht, welches die Heiden soll
erleuchten überall,
den Gott bereitet hat
aus lauter Gnad,
daß er dir Ehr und Preis
Israels heiß.Hilf nun, du liebster Jesu Christ
daß wir zu jeder Frist
an dir, wie auch der Simeon,
all unser Freude han,
und endlich sein bereit
wenn kommt die Zeit,
fein sanft zu schlafen ein,
und bei dir sein.Peter von Hagen
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O vos omnes Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa
From Sacrae Cantiones, 1605. Note values have been halved and the music is presented at original pitch. Small accidentals are used to show reduced or extended validity of source accidentals, and musica ficta. Bracketed accidentals are cautionary.
Gesualdo also composed a setting for 6 voices, published in the Responsoria of 1611.
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Cantate Domino & Deus Misereatur William Hayes
William Hayes was born in 1708 in Gloucester, where he was a chorister at the Cathedral under William Hine. In 1731, he became Organist of Worcester Cathedral, before moving to Oxford three years later, to be Organist and Master of the Choristers at Magdalen College. There, he graduated as Mus.B. in 1735, and was made a Doctor of Music in 1749. He held his post at Magdalen until 1774, when he retired after suffering a stroke. He died in 1777.
His notable achievements include having been sub-editor to William Boyce in his famous cathedral music compilations, and conducting the first performance of The Messiah in Oxford. He also presided over the music at the opening of the Radcliffe Library and the Holywell Music Rooms.
This edition has been compiled from a compilation of Hayes' sacred works, Cathedral Music in Score, composed by William Hayes published after his death by his son Philip on 19th December, 1795. The introduction of this volume states:
In the Cantate Domino, some few passages will be found to deviate from the manuscript copies as used in may choirs of England and Ireland. ... These deviations were the effect of mature deliberation in the composer, who left behind him a more perfect score in his own hand writing.
These canticles were also published in Novello's folios of 1855, with an organ part by Vincent Novello. Copies of these were examined but disregarded.
The music is shown here at original pitch and note values. The organ part has been realised from the original figured bass part. Minor corrections and alterations to the score have been made without comment. There are no dynamics in the original.
According to the Book of Common Prayer, the Cantate Domino (Psalm 98) and Deus Misereatur (Psalm 67) may be sung as an alternative to the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis at Evening Prayer, except when either features as the appointed psalm for that evening. Each work may, of course, also be sung individually as an anthem.
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Almighty God Thomas Ford
This piece appears in an anthology of poetry by Sir William Leighton, The Teares or Lamentacions of a Sorrowfull Soule, printed in 1614. (British Library K.1.i.9.) Each poem is set to music by a different composer, including William Byrd, Thomas Ford, and Leighton himself. The first verse is laid to the music, and the following verses printed as text, much as in a hymnal. This work is usually published without the second and third verses.
The music includes tablature for lute, cittern and bandora. Viols and a flute double the vocal parts as follows:
Cantus with a treble viol, lute
Altus with a flute, cittern
Tenor with bandora
Bassus with a bass viol
Note values have been halved and presented at original pitch. Small accidentals are used to indicate editorial accidentals; the implicit cancellation of an accidental in the source; and musica ficta. Barlines and cautionary accidentals (shown in brackets) are editorial.
The first repeat and the first time bar (bar 5) are editorial. The first time bar follows previous editions, but the original Cantus part is as the second time bar (bar 6). Performers may choose to include the first repeat, or to ignore it. The repeat from bars 11 to 15 occurs in the original, and has been written out in full.
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Antonio Lotti
Editorial notes for the complete range of music by Lotti published by Ancient Groove Music may be found here. This includes motets, masses and concert works for choir and orchestra.
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Eheu! Sustulerunt Dominum Thomas Morley
Motet for Easter Day. This piece appears as an example of composition in Thomas Morley's A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music, published in 1597. Note values have been halved and the music transposed up a tone. Small accidentals are used to indicate the implicit cancellation of an accidental in the source and musica ficta. Barlines and cautionary accidentals (shown in brackets) are editorial. The text is based upon John 20:13, where Mary Magdalene speaks of the missing body of Jesus from the tomb, at the resurrection.
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Burial Sentences Thomas Morley
Perhaps the destruction during the Civil War and Commonwealth can account for the lack of contemporary sources of this well-loved collection of short pieces. However, it is more curious that the earliest complete sources date from the 18th century. There is only one 16th century Tenor part book in existence, in which the composer is not stated. Morley is credited as the composer by the time of the Restoration, however, scholars continue to debate whether it really is his work.
Sources:
Cathedral Music, by William Boyce, 1760
BL Harley 7337, by Thomas Tudway, 1715
BL Additional 17842 by William Walond, 1777
BL Additional 5054 by Henry Needler, pre-1760
Of all the sentences, Thou knowest, Lord, is the most likely to be apocryphal. The music does not seem consistent with the other sentences; and the phrase 'suffer us not' has a tellingly baroque chromaticism. It is absent from many of the sources. What is more, the Tenor part book has a different, incompatible setting of this text, which may be all that remains of the original.
Obviously, the music was originally set to the text of the Edwardian Prayer Book of 1559. However, the sources use the text of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, taken from the King James Bible. These different attempts to fit the text to the music have met with varying degrees of success. This edition attempts to re-set the original text to the music. The syllabic differences are greatest in the sentences I know that my Redeemer and We brought nothing. For that reason, the underlay and some note division in those sentences is conjectural.
Note values have been halved and the music transposed up a tone. Small, bracketed accidentals are cautionary. All other accidentals appear full size, and represent a conflation of the sources and editorial speculation. Small notes are editorial.
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O Lord the maker William Mundy
As with so much of Mundy's music, the attribution is questionable. Whilst the text is from the King's Primer of 1545, the earliest music sources date from 1625, some thirty-five years after Mundy's death. British Library MS Harley 7339, dated 1716, claims that the piece was 'composed first in Latin by Henry viii and sung in his own Royall Chappell' although the scribe, Thomas Tudway, may be giving a confused account of the text. Manuscripts, dated 1664, of music sung at Durham Cathedral, (Additional 30478-9) attribute the work to John Sheppard; however Mundy is clearly given credit in a Durham Cathedral Library organ book of 1635.
Thomas Tudway's score of 1716 was copied from a Chapel Royal source which no longer survives. William Mundy became a Gentleman of St George's Chapel in 1564, during the reign of Elizabeth I, and may well have composed the work there, given the text's association with her father. (However, if Mundy did produce this piece in Henry's time, then he would have done so rather impressively when he was still Head Chorister at Westminster Abbey in his late teens.)
BL Additional 29289, dated 1625, includes a second Alto part for the last seven bars. The initial phrase completes the canon throughout the parts, but is most likely to be a seventeenth century addition, as the music for "be laud and praise" is clumsy, all the notes being covered by other parts. The Amen similarly adds to the harmony initially, then covers the original alto part in the last two bars.
Also shown in Add. 29289 and other manuscripts are antiphonal indications for Decani and Cantoris. In some of the later sources, a repeat is indicated. Both of these indications are shown in this edition, but should by no means be considered obligatory. Slur markings are editorial. The lower three parts in bar 45 are editorial, as is the last alto note in bar 42, original a third lower.
O Lord, the maker of all thing,
We praie Thee nowe in this evening
Us to defende through Thy mercie
From all deceite of our enemie.
Let neither us deluded be,
Good Lord, with dream or fantasie;
Our harts waking in Thee Thou keepe
That we in sinne fall not on sleepe.
O father, through Thy blessed sonne,
Grant us this our petition,
To whom, with the Holy Ghost alwaies,
In heaven and earthe be laud and praise.The King's Primer, 1545
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Evening Service for Men William Mundy
Sources: Peterhouse College, Cambridge: MSS 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42 ,43 and one unnumbered MS.
Durham Cathedral : MS a . 3.
Transposed up a minor third: note values halved. Small accidentals are editorial. Small notes are those not in the part-books but in the Durham organ book. Part allocation is taken from each part-book's title.
It is not known which of the Mundy family composed this setting and the morning service which accompanies it; the sources only give the author's name as 'Mr Mundy'. It has been thought to be possibly the work of William Mundy's father, Thomas, or, although more unlikely, William's son John. Although we cannot be certain without new evidence, it is stylistically most in keeping with the work of William Mundy.
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Fratres ego enim accepi Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
For double SATB choir.
Source: British Library G.509 and H.790
Note values have been halved and the music transposed down a tone. Barlines, small and bracketed accidentals are editorial. Small accidentals are used to show extended or reduced validity of source accidentals, and musica ficta. Bracketed accidentals are cautionary. Some underlay is editorial.
Brothers, for I have also received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said: Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
1 Corinthians 11:23-24
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Stabat mater dolorosa Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
For double SATB choir.
Source: British Library G.509 and H.790
Several variations to the text exist, and this edition conforms to the Analecta version of the poem.
Note values have been halved and the music presented at original pitch. Barlines, small and bracketed accidentals are editorial. Small accidentals are used to show extended or reduced validity of source accidentals, and musica ficta. Bracketed accidentals are cautionary. Some underlay is editorial.
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Almighty and Everlasting God William Smith
17th century verse anthem, with two 'duelling' Countertenor soli. Edited by Dr. Simon J. Anderson from manuscripts in Durham Cathedral Library. Transposed up a minor third, with original note values. Small notes and bracketed accidentals are editorial. The text is taken from a collect for Candlemas / The Presentation of Christ at the Temple / Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
William Smith is best known for his setting of the Preces and Responses.
Almighty and everlasting God,
We humbly beseech thy Majesty,
That, as thy only-begotten Son was this day
Presented in the temple in substance of our flesh,
So we may may be presented unto thee
With pure and clean hearts,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.Collect for the Purification of the Virgin Mary, 1549.
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Mass for four voices Thomas Tallis
SOURCES: British Library MS Additional 17802-17805, a set of late sixteenth century part books, where it is described as “mass
without a name” in the catalogue. The music starts on the following folios: i, f.72b; ii. f.68b; iii, f.71; iv, 66b.
PITCH: As with much music of the period, the question of transposition and part allocation is not without difficulty. At original
pitch, nearly all the parts sit low in the range of today’s voices, and it is unlikely that the music would have actually been
performed thus. This edition gives a ‘compromise’ pitch of a minor third upwards, which offers the least bad placing of
voices. (Key signatures in flats also lend themselves well to the correct display of source accidentals.) This leads to a part
allocation of Alto, Tenor 1, Tenor 2 (or Baritone) and Bass. Conductors should feel free to transpose the piece for comfort.
If suitable forces are willing, the piece could even be transposed up a tone or two from written pitch and sung as SATB.
EDITORIAL METHOD: Note values have been halved. There are almost no accidentals in the original, and so almost all accidentals should be considered editorial.
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Salvator mundi 1 Thomas Tallis
This is the opening work of the famous 1575 collection of sacred motets by William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, Cantiones sacrae. It is also one of two settings of this text by Tallis in the collection.
Notes values have been halved, and the music transposed up a tone. Barlines, small and bracketed accidentals are editorial. Small accidentals are used to show extended or reduced validity of source accidentals, and musica ficta. Bracketed accidentals are cautionary. All other accidentals are as in the original, except in the Superius part, where written F sharps in this edition are stated in the source by the key signature, which is different from that of the other parts. Repeat marks in the underlay have been filled in. The music should be performed SAATB.
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Salvator mundi 2 Thomas Tallis
This is the twenty-first work in the famous 1575 collection of sacred motets by Byrd and Tallis, Cantiones sacrae. It is also one of two settings of this text by Tallis, the other one being the first piece in the same collection. It is notable for a canon between the Treble and Tenor line, running through the entire piece.
Notes values have been halved, and the music transposed up a tone. Barlines, small and bracketed accidentals are editorial. Small accidentals are used to show reduced or extended validity of source accidentals, and musica ficta; bracketed accidentals are cautionary. The music should be performed SATTB.
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Dum Transsiset Sabbatum John Taverner
Motet for Easter Day. Sources are from Christ Church Oxford, MSS 979-88.
Note values have been halved and the music transposed up a tone. The original clefs are g2, c2, c4, c4, f4. Barlines, small and bracketed accidentals are editorial. Small accidentals are used to show reduced or extended validity of source accidentals, and musica ficta. Bracketed accidentals are cautionary.
The plainsong is taken from the Sarum Missal, as are the repeat indications. The text is associated with Easter Day.
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Quemadmodum desiderat cervus John Taverner
This work exists in only four sources: Ch.Ch. 979-83; Essex Record Office D/DP Z6/1; BL Add. 31390; Tenbury MS 389 - all of which present the music for viols, with no underlay. However, all are titled with the word Quemadmodum, and this has led many to believe that the text of Vulgate Psalm 41 can be fitted to the music. A great many vocal works of the time, written for church services, found their way into viol table books, without the words that they originally contained.
In Music & Letters, Vol. VI, No.4 in 1925, the scholar H. B. Collins writes: Though the words are unfortunately wanting, there can be no doubt that the piece is a setting of the first two verses of Ps. 41; and an examination of the motives enables us to trace ... the allocation of the text.
This edition is based upon BL Add. 31390. Note values are halved and the music transposed up a minor third. Bracketed accidentals are editorial. The underlay is entirely editorial.
Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks,
so longeth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul is athirst for the strong, living God.
When shall I come to appear before the face of God?
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St John Passion Tomás Luis de Victoria
Note values have been halved and the music transposed down a tone.
Source: Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae 1585
Victoria’s superb fauxbourdon setting of the story of Jesus’s prosecution and crucifixion is a piece of musical theatre. Taking his cue from the plainsong, where the words of different speakers are intoned differently, he dramatises the story by having the various ‘crowds’ in the story sung as choral parts.
The original music was set to the Latin Vulgate, and the major editorial task is setting English text to the notes. This was first achieved in 1931 by Francis Burgess, in his edition for the Plainchant Publications Committee. That publication was plagued by misprints in both music and text (“I thrist”) and suffers from a lack of legibility caused by long note values set in short score.
This edition takes its lead from that of Burgess, but has gone back to Victoria’s original music, matching the original phrasing schemes more closely, wherever possible. Four different English language translations of the Bible were considered for best fit, and, in consultation with various interested parties, the Authorised Version was chosen. In contrast to Burgess, final ‘-ed’ syllables are not voiced.
The most problematic phrase is “Away with him, away with him”, which must be fitted into the Latin of “Tolle, tolle”. Here, the fauxbourdon has been extended to account for the extra syllables. Only the last two bars of this phrase were in Victoria’s original; this music has been duplicated to incorporate the extra syllables.
The plainchant sections should be sung in speech rhythm, freely. The use of crotchets should not be thought of as a note double that of the quavers, but simply weightier and longer by a discernable value.
This edition is currently only available in the shortened form, which consists of John chapter 19, vv1-37. The full version starts at the beginning of chapter 18, and will be made available soon.
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O quam gloriosum est regnum Tomás Luis de Victoria
The music is from Victoria's published collection of motets in 1572, Motecta. Suitable for All Saints' Day.
Note values have been halved and the music is presented at original pitch. Small accidentals are used to indicate the implicit cancellation of an accidental in the source and musica ficta. Barlines, small notes and cautionary accidentals (shown in brackets) are editorial.
O how glorious is the kingdom wherein all the saints rejoice in Christ.
Clothed in white robes, they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
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O vos omnes Tomás Luis de Victoria
The music is from Victoria's published collection of motets in 1572. (Victoria wrote another setting of this text in his collection of music for the Offices of Holy Week in 1585.) It is performed liturgically on Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Note values have been halved and the music transposed down a minor third. Small accidentals are used to indicate the implicit cancellation of an accidental in the source and musica ficta. Barlines, small notes and cautionary accidentals (shown in brackets) are editorial.
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O Regem caeli -- Natus est nobis Tomás Luis de Victoria
Two Christmas motets for men's voices: TTBB. Natus est nobis is the second part of O Regem caeli. The music is from Victoria's published collection of motets in 1572, Motecta. Note values have been halved, except for the triple-time section, where the notes have been quartered. This more accurately reflects the relationship between the different time signatures. The music has been transposed down an octave, and this transposition is implied by the original clefs. Small accidentals are used to indicate the implicit cancellation or extension of a source accidental and music ficta. Cautionary accidentals, shown in brackets, and barlines are editorial.
O Regem caeli,
cui talia famulantur obsequia!
stabulo proponitur
qui continet mundum:
Iacet in praesepio et in caelis regnat.
Alleluia.Natus est nobis hodie salvator,
qui est Christus dominus
in civitate David.
Iacet in praesepio et in caelis regnat.
Alleluia.
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