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Views from the Choir Loft

Complete Palestrina Edition • Now Online!

Jeff Ostrowski · October 14, 2016

772 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina NTIL RECENTLY, I did not realize the complete works of GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA (d. 1594) are available online. The edition is by Monsignor Francis Xavier Haberl (d. 1910), a student of Proske, and what he produced is nothing short of miraculous. Moreover, his modal sensitivity is not what we might expect from a 19th-century musician. 1

Some might not understand how to read the clefs used by Haberl—but all you have to do is click here. Next week, I’ll demonstrate how these scores can be entered into SIBELIUS or FINALE to avoid archaic clefs.

Credit for these marvelous scores belongs to several groups, especially the IMSLP website. However, many find IMSLP confusing, partially due to numerous dead links. Therefore, a former student of mine created direct links to the complete Masses of Palestrina:

    * *  PDF   •   BOOK 1 of Masses (184 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 2 of Masses (162 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 3 of Masses (201 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 4 of Masses (147 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 5 of Masses (151 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 6 of Masses (161 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 7 of Masses (120 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 8 of Masses (150 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 9 of Masses (157 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 10 of Masses (154 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 11 of Masses (140 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 12 of Masses (144 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 13 of Masses (160 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 14 of Masses (158 pages)

* *  PDF   •   BOOK 15 of Masses (160 pages)

But Palestrina wrote more than just Mass settings!

Click here to download every piece Palestrina ever composed.

THE TREASURES are beyond belief. Consider Palestrina’s hymn settings, including an alternate version of the “Vexilla Regis” for 14 September. Consider his captivating version of “Ave Maris Stella.” Consider the polyphonic settings of the KYRIE at the beginning of his litanies—which are surely the shortest settings of the KYRIE ever composed! Consider the marvelous canons in his Missa Ad Coenam Agni Providi. Consider the awesome power of his six-voice Missa Ave Maria, especially Agnus II.

By the way, the IMSLP website contains numerous authentic part books:

776 Pange Lingua PALESTRINA

We need to ask Nancho Alvarez, the indisputable master of Renaissance scores, to do for Palestrina what he’s done for Victoria, Guerrero, and Morales. But Haberl’s editions will suffice while we wait!

 


NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Indeed, he demonstrates a better “ear & sense” for musica ficta than some modern scholars I’ve encountered. In graduate school, we were taught to look down on the efforts of Haberl—and that advice was totally wrong!

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: April 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

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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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Nothing should be allowed that is unworthy of divine worship, nothing that is obviously profane or unfit to express the inner, sacred power of prayer. Nothing odd or unusual is allowable, since such things, far from fostering devotion in the praying community, rather shock and upset it—and impede the proper and rightful cultivation of a devotion faithful to tradition.

— Pope Paul VI • 10/13/1966

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