• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

“Arranging Polyphony for One Voice” • (Live Rec.)

Charles Weaver · October 10, 2020

OST OF MY RECENT WORK as a church musician has been an adaptation to reduced circumstances as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent regulations on singing and public worship. As I have written elsewhere, the treasure of the Church’s chant is the perfect remedy for this situation. But I also take a great interest in other musical styles developed in the church in various times and places as a response to limitations on performing forces. As an example, consider the reason Lodovico Viadana, the innovative seventeenth-century Franciscan composer, gives for his publication of sacred monodies:

It seems that singers who sometimes wish to sing with the organ, either with three voices, or with two, or with one alone, were forced by the lack of suitable compositions, to choose one, two, or three parts from motets for five, six, seven, and even eight. Because they ought to be united with the other parts, needed for the piece to have imitations, cadences, counterpoints, and other features, these performances are full of long and repeated rests, lacking cadences and melody, and with little coherence, leaving aside the frequent interruptions of the words.

Viadana’s solution to this problem is a subject for another post, but it is worth reflecting on this situation he describes. Apparently, in the sixteenth century, when faced with the prospect of a choir of three or fewer singers, the natural solution was to sing polyphony for more parts, possibly with the organ filling in for the missing singers.

Sixteenth-century polyphony was not generally published in score. In order to perform polyphonic music, then, an organist or instrumentalist would have to reduce several parts, printed separately, for the keyboard. There is ample evidence that this was a common practice. Juan Bermudo, another Franciscan, described three methods for doing this in 1555:

All we have said so far is to this end: to play mensural music at the keyboard. You cannot call yourself a performer if you do not know how to play the music of yourself or others. I present three ways of playing, and all others can be reduced to these three. The first is to have the book of mensural music in front of you. If he is a good singer and knows composition, by studying what has already been said in this book and understanding the keyboard, the aspiring performer can play works with only the book before him. This way of playing is very laborious, because it involves keeping track of all the voices, but it is very profitable. You can make with it a great wealth of music.

Bermudo describes a simpler method for the less skillful. One can make either a score (by adding barlines) or a tablature. This opens up a huge repertoire (Bermudo’s “great wealth of music”) for smaller choirs, even down to one voice, since it seems quite natural, when confronted with reduced choral forces, to arrange music for the group at hand. This need not be limited to the organ either, since there is plenty of evidence for other instruments arranging vocal music in this way. For instance, there is a large repertoire of sacred music arranged for lute and voice by Edward Paston, who was a recusant Catholic living in Elizabethan England. It is possible that his arrangements were used for illegal celebrations of Mass in private homes. Paston is another subject for a future post.

This led me to try arranging Victoria’s Missa quarti toni for voice and lute.

*  PDF Download • Victoria Benedictus
—From Missa quarti toni, transcribed by Charles Weaver.

In this arrangement a singer performs the soprano part, while the lute plays the lower parts. Here is a video of the Benedictus from a recent performance.

Here’s a direct link to that YouTube video.

This version certainly loses the richness that a choral performance supplies. But I believe it retains the dignity of the sacred and the genius of Victoria’s counterpoint. And in our current season of limitations on size of performing groups, it shows one way that we can keep polyphony alive.

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

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: October 10, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

About Charles Weaver

Charles Weaver is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and serves as director of music for St. Mary’s Church. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Alabama Assessment!

We received this evaluation of Symposium 2022 from an Alabama participant:

“Oh, how the Symposium echoed the words of Cardinal Merry Del Val: …choosing only what is most conformed to Thy glory, which is my final aim. In one short and fast paced week, the faculty and attendees showed me the hand of God and our Lady working in our lives. The wide range of education—from Gregorian Chant, jazz modes in organ improvisation, to ‘staying sane’ while leading a choir—were certainly first-class knowledge from the best teachers of the art. However, the most powerful lesson was learning how to pray as a choir. The sacrifice of putting songs together, taking time to learn the sacred text, meditating on the church teaching through the chants, and gaining the virtues required to persevere in these duties were not only qualities of a choir but of a saint. The sanctification of the lives of the attendees was a beautiful outcome of this event … and that in itself is worth more than a beautifully-sung Solesmes style chant!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Naturally the accompaniment of the organ is merely tolerated during the office of the dead, but in fact, in nearly every parish this toleration has become a habit.”

— Henri Potiron, 1958

Recent Posts

  • “Chant Rhythm Wars” • Dueling Lectures!
  • “I Decided to Get a Plane Ticket and Fly 8,700 Miles From Singapore to Take Part.”
  • Alabama Assessment!
  • “How Has Nobody Done This Before?” • Vol. 1
  • “Exceeded Every Expectation!” • Mr. O’Brien’s Review

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.