CHRISTOPH DALITZ is a contemporary composer with an impressive arsenal of sacred music to his name. His website is so simple and satisfying to browse, with pieces listed by genre, voice number, theme and composer. That last list mostly holds his own compositions, but also includes a good smattering of editions of other Medieval and Renaissance composers. Curiously enough he also includes a variety of sacred music in Esperanto.
Having a small choir, I eagerly leafed through the pieces for three voices. Earlier this year we sang his Vexilla Regis in three parts for Palm Sunday. Dalitz’ edition used an ancient version of the words and the chant tune, which was confusing for our choristers, being accustomed to the Vexilla Regis in the Liber Usualis. Also, his was pitched a little too high for our available voices, which lead me to produce these versions:
- SAB: Passiontide, post Urbanite (Liber Usualis) vexilla-dalitz-passiontide
- SAB: Passiontide, pre Urbanite (Antiphonale Monasticum) vexilla-dalitz-passiontide-orig
- SAB: Triumphal (outside passiontide), post Urbanite (Liber Usualis) vexilla-dalitz-triumph
- SAB: Triumphal (outside passiontide), pre Urbanite (Antiphonale Monasticum) vexilla-dalitz-triumph-orig
Dalitz has composed a piece that sounds beautiful and is surprisingly practical to master. Although it was composed recently, it has a much earlier feel to it. Each polyphonic verse starts out in unison, making a more secure start for any less confident singers. The overlapping parts add interest without being taxing. This is a really manageable piece to add to your choir’s repertoire.
There is just one line difference for Passiontide – “Hoc Passionis tempore” which is replaced by “In hac triumphi gloria” at other times. With a bit more imagination I may have been able to include the alternative in a way that was easy to understand. Separate editions seemed the safest way at the time. The Lilypond file is here if anyone wants to have a shot at it.
Here is the recording we made for our Palm Sunday rehearsals:
The Palm Sunday Masses went beautifully. We had a look at another Dalitz piece, O Filii et Filiae for Easter, but time got away that time and didn’t quite pull it together in time.
Then looking forward to the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in September, another choirmaster noticed a SATB version of Vexilla Regis and requested a similar treatment. Here are the four further editions for your four part choir:
- SATB: Passiontide, post Urbanite (Liber Usualis) vexilla-dalitz-a4-passiontide
- SATB: Passiontide, pre Urbanite (Antiphonale Monasticum) vexilla-dalitz-a4-passiontide-orig
- SATB: Triumphal (outside passiontide), post Urbanite (Liber Usualis) vexilla-dalitz-a4-triumph
- SATB: Triumphal (outside passiontide), pre Urbanite (Antiphonale Monasticum) vexilla-dalitz-a4-triumph-orig
You can see the same structure but with a little more depth to the harmonies.
I haven’t heard this one yet, but the choir was happy with it. So much so that the choir master let me know all the typos I had made and encouraged me to iron them out thoroughly so he could make proper copies for their folders. Therefore these PDFs should be perfect now.
