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Views from the Choir Loft

“Agnus Dei” For Three Voices • Guillaume Dufay

Jeff Ostrowski · September 19, 2015

E HAVE BEEN ENCOURAGING choirmasters to use Solfège when training their choirs, but many readers are confused about why Solfège would help. The following piece demonstrates very well why Solfège is the best way to train amateurs in polyphony. During rehearsal, if your singers are missing a phrase, you can easily correct it when it’s done in Solfège. Isolating the incorrect pitches is much more difficult without Solfège:


For the record, my choir absolutely loves singing this Agnus Dei. It took us a while to learn, but has become one of our favorites now that it’s “clicked.”

    * *  PDF Download • “AGNUS DEI” by Guillaume Dufay (d. 1474)

EQUAL VOICES : YouTube   •   Mp3 Audio

HIGHEST VOICES : YouTube   •   Audio

MIDDLE VOICES : YouTube   •   Audio

BOTTOM VOICES : YouTube   •   Audio

The lowest voices must sing very, very softly when they ascend to the high notes—in falsetto if possible—otherwise the balance will be wrecked.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Composer Guillaume Dufay died in 1474 Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

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It would be contrary to the Constitution to decree or even to hint that sung celebrations, especially of the Mass, should be in Latin.

— Annibale Bugnini attacking “Sacrosanctum Concilium” (§36)

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