Robert,

 

it is not just an american phenomenon. I was not the only one who noticed the absence of Renaissance polyphony from the IFCM Symposium in Copenhagen. I am afraid conductors seem to be timid about perfoming Renaissance music, probably thinking you need a specific training in the music. It is not easy for choristers (the independent lines do tend to expose weaknesses one can cover up in music that consists of melody and harmonisation, be it simple or complex), but in my experience they really learn to love it and want more of it.

 

The phenomenon is tied in with the aural character of our musical tradition: we perfrom what we hear and like hearing. And at present, we just do not hear much Renaissance music in choral concerts, conventions or symposia. It is a tough job going through piles of unknown music and finding something that strikes a chord in the soul. Perhaps we need more reading sessions on Renaissance polyphony and performances of Renaissance pieces at conventions?

 

All I can say is, be brave. It is not as difficult as it might first seem and it is worth the bother.  Especially sixteenth-century music is not really that detached (harmonically) from the other stuff we do. One can trust one's intuition in the same way as in any other repertoire. Sure, it will take a while to get it rolling, but is that not true of all other music, as well?

 

Here comes the Renaissance revolution?

 

Kari Turunen

Helsinki, Finland

 

Maybe my perspective is different; singing in the Episcopalian church, there's a lot of traditional Anglican music - Byrd (we just did the mass for 3 voices yesterday), Gibbons, and so forth.  Perhaps the issue is that there isn't so much European Renaissance music, as opposed to English Reaissance, programmed?

 

 Robert and Kari-  To encourage conductors in this area by alleviating some of the "tough job of going through piles of unknown music and finding something that strikes a chord in the soul"....  what would be your top 5 list of Renaissance pieces to study and perform?  If possible, would you share some stories or information about some of these pieces that would bring relevance to the singers and audience?  (I'm always looking for ways to "make the choral arts MATTER" as opposed to just stand-up-there-in-black-and-sing...)

 

Janine 

Without getting into a heated discussion about "authentic performance practice" I can't help but think that at least part of this comes from a real desire of many conductors to give performances that might be described as "historically informed". It's pretty hard to build a case for multiple singers on the same part when singing music from this period. Byrd, Gibbons, Farrant and the others certainly weren't think of choirs of 30-60 singers. While Tallis needed 40 for "Spem in Alium" that was still a case of 40 singers, each singing his own part.

 

Having large 21st century choirs sing this repertoire, while a good way for choristers to learn something that they might not otherwise learn, does get in the way of this goal. Please don't take my comment as a suggestion that large choirs shouldn't perform this repertoire, I'm just offering a possible rationale for selecting other alternatives.

I think that these days, there seems to be more of an emphasis of commissioning new works rather than performing music that is centuries old.  This can be a good thing since it communicates that the choral art is a living, breathing art and not just comprised of museum pieces.  Instead of asking the question, why isn't there more music from 1500 - 1700, shouldn't the question be "Is the program as balanced as possible?"  However, I do agree that more music of the 15th-17th centuries should be programed.  At the last National ACDA Convention, I don't remember hearing a lot of Renaissance music, although the choirs that I saw were so engaged in the music they did sing!

 

Past St. Olaf Choir touring programs have included music by Gibbons, Byrd, and Sweelinck (not all on the same programs). 

 

Moreover, a more important question could be "What are we communicating through the music?"  Unfortunately I am not able to attend one of the St. Olaf Choir touring concerts this year, but my guess is that Dr. Armstrong had a specific communicative reason for programming that particular motet (not necessarily related to the era it was from).

 

I agree with Kari's thoughts about the possible challenge of finding music that "strikes a chord in the soul" and that there should be more reading sessions of Renaissance music at conventions.  If the music comes from cpdl, it would be a win-win situation - a cheap reading session with quality music (with the understanding that the attendees would know where to buy good editions of the pieces).

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but I could not find a thread in the repertoire section on choralnet on music from 1500 - 1700.

 

Austen

 

P.S. In case you don't know Josquin's Nunc Dimittis, it is stunning!

 

 

Hi, Robert.

 

As you properly said, I don't want to make this personal, and I'm happy that you brought this up for discussion, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with a few of your premises.

 

As it happens, I've been doing not only renaissance but also medieval music and 17th century music--the "Terra Incognita" of centuries!--for about the past 40 years.  Now if you want to dismiss me as a "specialist" that's fine, but during the same period I've also been doing contemporary entertainment music, 18th, 19th & 20th century orchestral music, concert band music, and quite a bit of musical theater.

 

So no, I don't consider myself exclusively a "specialist," just a musician with a rather wide range of musical interests.  Perhaps that puts me somewhere out toward the right-hand side of the bell-curve of all choral conductors, but if so, so be it.

 

So I simply can't accept the premise that we ALL ignore anything earlier than Bach.  But I can certainly suggest reasons why SOME of us may put little emphasis on the 2 centuries of music you cite.

 

The first and most obvious is education.  I didn't get exposed to the actual in-depth study of earlier music until my doctoral seminars, although I had already been performing a lot of it.  It was through performing that I learned what the music was and how to approach it.  It was through score study that I learned to understand it.  But as long as graduate students have to make a choice between advanced work in music education and advanced work in choral conducting, that's going to be a continuing problem.  You can only get to know this music by performing it.  Studying it MUST come later.

 

But the second thing has been alluded to by other respondants, but not explicitly stated.  THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT WE USE--the SATB mixed choir--DID NOT EXIST IN THE RENAISSANCE!  Thanks to slavish adherence to one dogone sentence somewhere in I Corinthians, women were forbidden from singing in church.  So not only were the ensembles smaller--professional ensembles always are--but they were all male.  And while groups like Chanticleer and the Kings Singers have been very successful in reproducing renaissance music with all-male SATB enembles, many of us cannot do that, or don't want to do that, because we live in a mixed SATB world where highly experienced choirboys are few and far between, male sopranos fairly rare, and castrati almost nonexistent.  And a world, I might add, where the equality of the sexes is so firmly establish that it could not be fought even if we wanted to (and I certainly don't think we should want to!!!).

 

So on a practical level, we have music that was written for countertenors with a 2-octave range which female altos can't sing, and music written for the sweet soaring sound of boys' voices being sung by operatically-trained female sopranos.  As I said:  it's a completely different instrument!

 

So that sort of sums up the situation:  before we can perform the music, we have to know the music, we have to understand the music (and yes, all the picky little details of performance practice), and we have to have singers who can actually SING the music!

 

And one of those picky little details happens to be the simple fact that in performance, a great deal of the music which you CALL a cappella, and which LOOKS as if it were a cappella, and which can be effectively SUNG a cappella, was never in fact intended to be a cappella in all times and all places.  That's something that  renaissance choir leaders knew perfectly well, and so did composers, performers, and audiences, but it is something that seems to have escaped many of us who have never been introduced to the concept of voices and instruments being considered equal and interchangeable.

 

So yes, I think we should all be exploring as much music from as many different time periods as possible.  Right now my Early Music Ensemble is preparing a program that includes Pergolesi, Mozart, Morley, Campion, Dowland-Wigthorp, Boyce, and Handel.  (Don't forget all those lesser known baroque and classical composers!)

 

All the best, and thanks again for bringing this question up.

 

John

 

 

 Dr. William Belan, CSULA, has edited and published a lot of early music... I'll ask him to share his thoughts on repertoire...

 

janine

I am all for historically informed performance - actually I am working on a DMA in perfromance practice - but if it means restricting the perfromance of early music to specialists, I think something has gone quite wrong. First of all, there is very little unambiguous data from the past. Secondly, the application of any knowledge on perfomance practices implies interpretation and making artistic choices. Most often, clear knowledge of how early music should be performed is more an adherance to a modern tradition (in the taruskian sense) than an understanding that arises from the sources contemporary to the music.

 

I am going through all I can find on perfroming vocal polyphony in Rome in the latter part of the sixteenth century. I would say that the most important thing I have come across is the diversity of the performing groups and the ways of performing the same work. Almost anything we might put together probably would have had a precedent in the Rome of Palestrina. Palestrina's students at the Seminario Romano sang polyphony daily, they would have numbered in the tens. At the same time he had four professional singers at his disposal, so solo performance was certainly on the cards. The Cappella Sistina numbered around 25 in the latter half of the sixteenth century, the Cappella Giulia around 18. And in the poorer churches, two singers might perfrom the same motet with the organist filling in the rest of the parts. The papal choir sang the office and mass strictly a cappella, St. Peter's had several organs that were used in the services and other instruments may well have been in use on festal days. Getting the music perfromed seems to have been the most important thing. I think we could all learn from this attitude.

 

John's comment about the male singers and the timbre is relevant. I have grown weary of the perfromances with high soprano parts (they are normally the result of either editors transposing the music upward or perfromers not taking into account the high clefs or chiavette that imply downward transposition). In my own SATB choir I have transposed the pieces with low keys up a tone and the chiavette pieces down a minor or major third. It works surprisingly well. I don't think the question is really gender (after all, we do sing Bach with mixed voices) but the high, strained tessitura in almost all the voices. For example, Palestrina's soprano parts seldom go above d2, the normal alto range is a-a1, tenor d-d1 and bass F-a. On the low side, but completely accessible for an SATB ensemble.

 

As to the suggestions, here are just a few:

di Lasso: Aurora lucis rutilat & Magnificat super Aurora lucis rutilat

Palestrina: Lamentations; motets O magnum mysterium, Assumpta est Maria

Josquin: Déploration sur la mort de Johannes Ockeghem

Mouton: Nesciens mater

 I'm not a conductor so cannot answer for them, but as a choral singer jump to any opportunity to sing, and promote medieval and earlier music- the experience of Perotin/Leonin is as modern/minimalistic as is. Dufay & Busnoys/Obrecht/Finck as challanging as I'd want.  The women in our circle, given proper editions- feel similarly, and for them in addition will have somewhat later more secular works.

Our Friday sight reading sessions, started by musicology students  in 1951, expands and grows constantly with young, fascinated singers, even those not exposed to Collegiums. 

Don't conductors realize the effect on an audience of doing Isaac's Kaisermottete , especially throwing in some trombones- or Sennfl's Ave Maria? Where ARE they?

In addition to the many other points made here, one of the realities that impacts the selection and performance of choral literature in our colleges and universities is the training of singers and the relationship between voice teachers and choral conductors, particularly in our more prominent music schools. (I will tread very carefully here, as this may very well be the elephant in the room; in NO WAY do I mean this as a comment specific to St. Olaf's or another institution, though we all might nod our heads in recognition).

 

If you are dealing with voices that are primarily trained operatically, and a voice faculty that may not entirely support a choral conductor who attempts to put "boundaries" on production, vibrato, and the like, it's often easier to bypass some literature altogether (and I don't mean just the Renaissance). It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario; you are beaten up by students and faculty for asking for a narrower vibrato or some other restraint on expressiveness in service to what it is that we do know (or think we know) about performance practice and the demands of the literature, and you are often then criticized by listeners who criticize a performance that falls short of "authentic," or at least doesn't service the kind of voices you have well, if at all. After awhile, you learn to program in areas that meet lesser resistance or feed fewer anxieties (even if it isn't a conscious decision on your part). There is so much music out there--why go looking for problems? We all do this to some degree--if not with this literature, then in some other style or period.

 

So, it doesn't surprise me that at conventions or on high profile concert tours you don't hear a lot of Renaissance repertoire unless it is a very specialized group--the professional risk to the conductor and to the school's or organization's reputation is too great.

 

However, this scenario doesn't apply to everyone, and I would also say that there is still a great deal of polyphony being performed, though perhaps not the style of polyphony or the composers the writer prizes. There are many high school and collegiate programs that do regularly program Renaissance music (and certain styles of 20th century composition) because it fits the kinds of students they service; fewer highly trained voices (read narrower vibratos), often less private instructor interference, not as big a microscope to contend with, and in many cases, a more cerebral/intellectual type of student (I intend no kind of quality judgement here, just a recognition of individual ways of interacting with music). I've heard several colleges in the past year perform Renaissance literature quite well, and it made up a good portion of their tour repertoire, but they aren't THOSE choirs. I suspect that if you look at many high school honor programs, you will see a fair amount of this literature as well.

 

Mike

I have just returned from a rehearsal where we sang very little else other than music from that period. We are preparing for a tour to Winchester Cathedral in July. See www.cantabile.org.je for details.

 

May I humbly suggest that part of the reason may be that a lot of this repertoire is far better suited to worship than concert performances? How much opportunity do choirs in the USA have to sing for services in carhedrals etc?

 

(Fr.) Derek Turner

(Old) Jersey.

 

 

I saw this thread begin but have been too busy this week until now to respond.

 

There have been several good observations on this thread.  If I were to pick the main points, I'd say:

- lack of coaching in using the voice in a variety of ways (some pop singers could do it better than many classically trained singers)

- fear of singing without instrumental support stemming from the false assumption the music must be performed that way

- conductors not being exposed to exciting "historically informed" performances as opposed to somber, "romantic" renderings

- the fact that most of this music suffers greatly in the acoustically dead churches & auditoriums so pervalent in the USA

 

Terry Hicks

Dear RW, I, too, love the "golden age" of choral singing--the Renaissance.  You'll be happy to know that each year, my choirs do at least 2 Renaissance pieces each year.  Selections from the past few years have included "Hosanna to the Son of David" (Weelkes), "Exultate Justi in Domino" (Hakenberger), "Psalm 96" (Sweelinck), "Sicut Cervus" & "Exultate Deo" (Palestrina), "I Will Not Leave You Comfortless" (Byrd), "O Quam Gloriosum" & "O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria).  I could add more titles if I went back further.  (Incidentally, you can check some of them them out by searching "ohscc"--Owatonna HS concert choir--on youtube for posts from a former student)  We also do a lot of contemporary works.  I guess I could be criticized for not doing enough Baroque or Classical works.  Truth be told, as a bass, these works are not very fulfilling to me as we often double the piano or cello/bass.  There is so much great choral music out there that it's tough to represent all eras/styles.    I think Renaissance music is very difficult to perform, and a tough sell for most high school kids.

 

Hope that "helps"!

CH

Coming in rather late on this topic, I have to say that this is an issue about which I have been banging on (politely, I hope!) ever since I came to the US in 1994. I shall probably spend my declining years going round giving workshops on how essential it should be that all young choirs from middle school upwards perform Renaissance music - the most expressive music available to us and the foundation of all we do. I taught the University fo Kansas Chamber Choir to sight-read by throwing the Tallis Spem in Alium at them in my first year and telling them to get on with it - loosely speaking, that is! Their singing of that masterwork under the spire of Salisbury Cathedral remains the most powerful musical memory of my lifetime. Sweeping expressive polyphonic lines have their own energy if one gives the singers freedom and help greatly to teach the importance of individual responsibility. Being alert to word stress and the emotional tug of the suspension gives one the basic tools needed to "interpret" the music and nowadays of course there is a vast catalogue of magnificent recordings of Renaissance music of all kinds to guide one if "style" is a worry. I agree with Kari and encourage everyone to  be brave, be adventurous and have a go. There is no doubt in my mind that the music my mid-western students remember performing with most affection is Renaissance music - and Poulenc of course!

Simon Carrington

 

Thanks for your responses, I notice a few common themes have emerged and I wanted to get a few comments in here.

To Lee and others,

My criticism was mainly directed at 'academic' rather than church choir directors. I should have specified that. I know that most church choir directors have a better grasp on 16-17 ^th century choral music because the wealth of good anthems found therein. Thank you, Oxford Easy Anthem Book.

Janine,
Your question about recommending 5 pieces is a good one.
In general I think the following 5 are essentials:

Tallis' lamentations (both settings)
Josquin Ave maria
Schutz Psalms of David (you have 26 to choose from)
Johann Ludwig Bach 8-voice motets (older cousin of JS, JSB performed these pieces quite often and used them as models for his own motets)
Robert Carver O bone Jesu a19 or Missa Dum Sacrum Mysterium a10

I want to encourage exploration of the entire repertory rather than trying to push a handful of gems into the canon. To really make good suggestions I would want to know the size of the group, skill level, age etc. This brings me to a point of contention I have with some of your responses. ATTB is not THE choir of the Renaissance, far from it. Music for ATTB, which was quite common in the late 15 ^thc and still around in the 16 ^thc, was not the norm. 5 and 6 part textures were the most common in the 16 ^th century. The ubiquitous SATB texture that most people think of when they think choral music is a concept best left behind when dealing with this repertoire. While John H. makes a good point that our modern instrument is the SATB choir, which did not exist during the period in question, I would counter that our instrument is the voice, and we can arrange our voices in a manner which results in successful and rewarding performances of these pieces.

The Gender issue:
Yes you are correct when you say that women did not sing in church choirs during this period. Women did not act in Shakespeare's day, should we pull his plays from high school and college theatre departments across the world? Whether you prefer The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, or any of the great recordings with male altos and boy trebles, you have to admit that the mixed-ensemble approach to Renaissance and early Baroque music is as viable an artistic product as the all-male ensemble. The only problem I see is the question of the alto part. Who should sing it? My answer is: whoever can, be they low altos (rare in younger women), high tenors (more common), male falsettists (often the unused vocal resource in hs and college choirs), or a mixture of those three. Experimentation is encouraged.

A question of numbers:
College Choir Conductor: "My top choir has 40-50 voices so I can't do Renaissance music because that would mean 10 singers on a part."
Informed advocate: "STOP thinking 4-part texture. There is a wealth of a7, a8, a9, and a10 repertoire that would let smaller numbers per part."

Not all Renaissance choirs were small. Thanks to research by Christopher Reynolds we know that Lassus had 64 singers and 32 instrumentalists at his disposal in Munich in 1570. Not that they all sang together for every service, but the polychoral style allows for larger numbers. There is also evidence from Northern Italy in the latter part of the 16 ^th century that they had 40-60 singers performing masses together. Striggio was writing music for huge forces.

Another angle on this issue: Most school orchestras have a roster of 50-70 players. Do they use all their players on every piece? No because you can only do so much Mahler in a year. The size of the ensemble is larger or smaller depending on the repertoire. Less strings for Haydn, percussion comes and goes, winds doubled or single. The LITERATURE dictates the performing forces, not the other way around.

Pitch:
James, please allow me to point out one error in your conception of choral pitch during this period.
"but remember that the pitches were lower then." While organ pitch and instrumental pitch can be nailed down for various locations and times across Europe during the early Baroque, choral pitch should not be tied to those standards. My Master's thesis is on the history of choral pitch and the performance practice of vocal transposition. It was the practice of choir directors to choose a good pitch for each composition based on a variety of factors, such as skill and range of the singers, solemnity of the text, and even time of day. Conrad von Zabern wrote a treatise on good singing c 1475 stating his #3 rule for good singing as mediocriter; or choosing a moderate pitch so that all the singers stay within their comfortable vocal ranges. This is not just for a cappella music, but also music intended to be accompanied by organ. Two organ treatises, Schlick (1511) and Diruta (1597 vol 1, 1618 vol 2) have chapters that provide transposition exercises for organists 'per l'accomodatio il coro' (to accommodate the choir) Both authors write that it is important to play with the choir at whatever pitch level best suits the voices. So basically, we should feel free to place these compositions in whatever key works best for our current singers. Unfortunately that does not always solve our alto problems.

John Howell's statement, "But as long as graduate students have to make a choice between advanced work in music education and advanced work in choral conducting, that's going to be a continuing problem" is perhaps the most striking and resonant thing I have read, and I wholeheartedly agree.
In music education programs (to the best of my knowledge) the emphasis is on pedagogy and not history/literature. They are not introduced to many of the masterpieces of pre-Bach composition.

Some things I don't have time to get to but will be thinking about:

-The publishing industry, promoting new over old works.

-I taught HS choir for 4 years and I know that the pressure to keep enrollment up is a difficult issue. We are not really educators in the way that Math or English teachers are. They can design their syllabus with a blind eye to its popularity. The balancing act of introducing young singers to good repertoire and making sure they have a positive experience can be a tough one.

-mixed ensembles of voices and instruments, some of you wisely noted that this was the norm, and that strictly a cappella performance of this repertory was not as common as we might think. Schutz, in the preface to his Psalms of David says something like, 'using instruments on vocal lines is fine but if you can have all singers, so much the better.' I am all for the mixing of instruments and singers for this repertory and believe that both groups will come out of the experience with a more sensitive approach to making music. The difficulty lies in the structure and segregation of musical ensembles in academia. Other than the collegiums setting, how will we go about bringing together the two groups to rehearse this music? A choral department asking the orchestral department for the use of string players for a project of 17 ^thc will be met with varying degrees of success.

I had better stop before I open up any other can of worms.

RW

Robert Whyte is not only the author of the original post but also a fabulous Renaissance composer whose lamentations are second to none! The Christe Qui Lux is also marvelous.

 

Thank you for raising this issue. I agree that it's a pity that more Renaissance music is not sung for two big reasons 1) the wealth of beautiful pieces readily available -- for free! -- is staggering and 2) no other period is better suited to teach students the fundmentals of phrasing and intonation and build individual musical accountability.

 

On 1)

I had the pleasure of conducting an all-professional church choir in CT, made up of undergraduate and graduate singers, that sang more than 200 masses, motets, and anthems each year. Of those, about half were written before 1700. CPDL alone provides hundreds of excellent choices. Mapa Mundi and Notre Dame also put out wonderful editions. I resist the notion that this music cannot be sung because of inappropriate ranges. While there are many pieces whose "alto" ranges stretch beyond the comfortable ranges of female altos and whose tenor parts seem impossibly high, there are also many pieces whose four parts fit comfortably within singable ranges. I have also, on many occasions, made my own performing edition of a piece in order to place it in a more suitable key. (Much of the Victoria available on CPDL is in F but works much better in A, for instance, where A is the low point for the altos and the basses and the sopranos rarely go above E).

 

On 2)

The abundance of perfect intervals in important structural positions in Renaissance music offers the conductor-educator an opportunity to teach students that singing in tune is not a theoretical concept but a physical sensation. When octaves and fifths are tuned true, students can feel the acoustics take over. I have found repeatedly that focusing on intonation in Renaissance works reaps huge rewards in other repertoire where the fifths and octaves can be more easily "fudged." The shapley, vocalise-like melismas so common in Renaissance music offer students the opportunity to experiment with phrasing and try phrases in several shapes. Indeed, the lack of expressive markings in the music demands that the singers interpret the music and make critical decisions. (For this reason, I never use older editions of Renaissance music with editorial dynamics, crescendi, etc). When teaching the music, I invariably begin by having all of the students sing each point of imitation, in unison, until it has a clear contour, phrase, and identity. They then apply that to their own versions of the point of imitation. Soon the music transforms from a wash of counterpoint into a tapestry of familiar ideas. Though the initial learning stages can be difficult, I have found repeatedly that students soon fall in love with this music and the freedom it gives them to bring their own musicianship to phrases whose shapes are not predetermined and the responsibility to get those phrases started on time and on the right pitch. My students absolutely delight in tuning chords such that the overtones fall into place and have, after steady work, learned to self correct their intonation issues. Even my students who didn't really "read" music were able to build intonation and phrasing skills. Once they learn how the music is put together and how it "works," they learn new pieces from this period with much greater ease. We just have to work to get over that "hump."

 

Also, we also musn't shy away from doing this music with students who are being "operatically trained" elsewhere in their course of study. Too often, "blend" is achieved by the reduction of overtones in the sound and the dampening of resonance. Renaissance music with no ring in the tone is lifeless. There exists a way to sing this music while maximizing the resonance in the sound without obscuring the clarity of its lines. Having done Renaissance music with "uninitiated" "operatic" sopranos this year, I've realized that they learn that vibrato is just one expressive tool in their tool kit. When vibrato is not a constant, they realize how often they were undernourishing their sound and letting their vowels sag, hiding behind a flutter of vibrato. Both Simon Carrington and Joe Miller find ways to sing this music expressively without choking their singers and have routinely worked with choirs populated by students studying to be soloists.

 

Recent discs by the British ensemble Stile Antico could be useful in getting students excited about this repertoire. The recordings sound great, and the ensemble is made up of young singers who started their own group from scratch and in only a few years have won a Grammy. They sing without a conductor and epitomize the sense of individual musical accountability this music demands of its performers.

 

Below I've listed some pieces that have worked very successfully in my ensembles. Those in bold seemed more accessible to my singers.

 

Please keep singing this music everyone!

Ryan Brandau

Santa Clara University

 

Byrd, William Mass for Four Voices
Byrd, William Mass for Five Voices

Palestrina Missa Emendemus
Cannicciari, Pompeo Missa Phrygia

Blitheman, William In Pace
Blow, John Be Merciful Unto Us
Byrd, William Alleluia, Cognoverunt Discipuli Dominum
Byrd, William Beati Corde Mundo Christ Church Choir
Byrd, William Christe Qui Lux Est et Dies a 4
Byrd, William Civitas Sancti Tui
Byrd, William Confirma Hoc Deus
Byrd, William Emendemus in Melius
Byrd, William Factus Est Repente
Byrd, Williams Gaudetes Omnes
Byrd, William Gloria Patri Qui Creavit Nos
Byrd, William Haec Dies
Byrd, William In Manus Tuas
Byrd, William Lord, Make Me To Know Thy Ways
Byrd, William Miserere Mei, Deus
Byrd, William Ne Irascaris Domine
Byrd, William Non Vos Relinquam
Byrd, William O Lux, Beata Trinitas
Byrd, William O Quam Suavis Est
Byrd, William Pacha Nostrum
Byrd, William Rorate Caeli

Byrd, William Suscepimus Deus
Byrd, William Vigilate
Byrd, William Viri Galilei
Campion, Thomas Never Weather Beaten Sail
Cannicciari, Pompeo Christus Factus Est

Cardoso, Manuel Cum Audisset Joannes

Gibbons, Orlando Drop, Drop Slow Tears
Gibbons, Orlando Hosanna to the Son of David

Guerrero, Francisco O Crux Benedicta
Guerrero, Francisco O Domine Jesu Christe
Guerrero, Francisco Regina Caeli a 8
Guerrero, Francisco Simile Est Regnum Caelorum
Guerrero, Francisco Useuquo, Domine

Lasso, Orlando di Ave Regina Caelorum a 6
Lasso, Orlando di Confortamini
Lasso, Orlando di Illuminare
Lasso, Orlando di In pace inidipsum
Lasso, Orlando di Justorum Animae
Lasso, Orlando di Salve Regina a 4
Lasso, Orlando di Salve Regina a 6
Lasso, Orlando di Surgens Jesus
Lasso, Orlando di Surrexit Pastor Bonus

Lupo, Thomas Salva Nos, Domine
Marenzio, Luca Quia Vidisti Me Thoma
Marenzio, Luca Tribus Miraculis

Merulo, Claudio Tribus Miraculis

Morales, Cristobal de Dominus Meus
Morales, Cristobal de O Domine Jesu Christe

Mouton, Jean Stetit Jesus in Medio
Mudd, Thomas Let Thy Merciful Ears
Mundy, William Adoloscentulus sum ego
Mundy, William O Lord, the Maker of All Things

Palestrina, Giovanni di Ascendit Deus
Palestrina, Giovanni di Dextera Domini
Palestrina, Giovanni di Ego Sum Panis Vivus
Palestrina, Giovanni di Salvator Mundi
Palestrina, Giovanni di Sicut Cervus
Palestrina, Giovanni di Sitivit Anima Mea
Palestrina, Giovanni di Surge Propera Amica
Papa, Clemens non Tu Es Petrus

Parsons, Robert Ave Maria
Parsons, Robert Nunc Dimittis
Parsons, Robert Retribue Servo Tuo

Purcell, Henry Hear My Prayer
Purcell, Henry In the Midst of Life
Purcell, Henry Let Mine Eyes Run Down with Tears
Purcell, Henry Lord, How Long Wilt Thou Be Angry
Purcell, Henry Man That is Born of a Woman
Purcell, Henry Thou Knowest Lord

Sheppard, John In Manus Tuas
Sheppard, John In Pace
Sheppard, John Jesu, Salvator Seculi
Sheppard, John Justi in Perpetuum Vivent
Sheppard, John Libera Nos I
Sheppard, John Libera Nos II
Sheppard, John Paschal Kyrie
Schütz, Heinrich Sicut Moses Serpentem in Deserto

Soriano, Francesco Ave Regina Caelorum
Soriano Francesco Regina Caeli

Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon Hodie Christus Natus Est Christ Church Choir
Tallis, Thomas A New Commandment
Tallis, Thomas Dum Transisset Sabbatum
Tallis, Thomas Euge Caeli
Tallis, Thomas Gloria Patri
Tallis, Thomas In Manus Tuas
Tallis, Thomas Loquebantur Variis Linguis
Tallis, Thomas O Lord, Give Thy Holy Spirit
Tallis, Thomas O Nata Lux
Tallis, Thomas O Sacrum Convivium
Tallis, Thomas O Salutaris Hostia
Tallis, Thomas Purge Me, O Lord
Tallis, Thomas Salvator Mundi
Tallis, Thomas Verily, Verily I say

Tye, Christopher Give Almes of Thy Goods
Tye, Christopher Nunc Dimittis
Tye, Christopher O God Be Merciful Unto Us

Victoria, Tomas Luis de Alma Redemptoris Mater a 5
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Animam Meam Dilectam Tradidi
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Ave Regina Caelorum a 5
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Ave Regina Caelorum a 8
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Doctor Egregie Paule
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Dum Complerentur dies Pentecostes
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Lucis Creator Optime
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Ne Timeas Maria
Victoria, Tomas Luis de O Crux Ave
Victoria, Tomas Luis de O Magnum Mysterium
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Quicumque Christus Quaeritis
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Regina Caeli a 5
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Regina Caeli a 8
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Resplenduit Facies Tuo
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Senex Puerum
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Te Lucis Ante Terminum
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Tibi Christe
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Veni Creator Spiritus
Victoria, Tomas Luis de Vere Languores

James,

 

On rising pitch and the increasing combination of instruments with voices you are correct.  I guess I still disagree with this: "With our current 440A tuning, tell me that boys sing above an F with any ease."  If a soprano section (male or female) can't sing a line without sounding strained, transpose it down or, if that creates other problems in other sections, choose another piece.  I would argue that 'our current 440 tuning' has nothing to do with the performance of acappella Renaissance music other than the fact that we use the piano to teach our singers these compositions.  Being tied to the piano and therefore to a440 is a problem with choral education in general, and a wider issue.

 

I included Schutz in my list because, as you will see from the original title of this thread, I am interested in promoting choral music written between 1500-1700.  It's not just Renaissance choral muisc that is neglected.  Schutz is one of the most prolific choral composers in the entire Baroque and you don't see his name very often on Collegiate programs.  I thank John Howell for providing further insight on the Psalms of David.  I absolutely love those pieces and think they are a 'must know' for choral conductors.

 

Ryan,

Your points about what students can learn from this style of music are SPOT ON!  Phrasing, the delights of finding those pure chords in just intonation, the skills it takes to sing polyphonic rather than homophonic writing, and many other benefits await students of this music.  I think the primary goals of choral education in the high school should be to teach kids musical literacy.  It blows my mind when I meet college freshman who have been 'singing' in choir for four years who can't sight read their way out of a paper bag.  The interval training one can get just from learning a josquin or palestrina motet is immense, as long as we force them to 'read' it and not spoon-feed from the keyboard.  Yes I know the same could be said of later repertories, but I find most of that repertoire is either intended to be accompanied by keyboard or too harmonically complex for beginning singers to actually put together on their own.  Also, Great list.

 

RW