The Polyphony Database
polyphonydatabase@gmail.com
About the database❯
PolyphonyDatabase.com is a detailed catalogue of early music sources designed to help musicians perform, academics study, and enthusiasts explore a vast and glorious repertoire quickly and easily. It aims to combine the practicality of CPDL with the academic rigour and ambition of the RISM census, to make use of similar projects where possible, and to directly combat the frustrations performing musicians have with all existing resources.
Its three main goals are:
- To assist performers, directors, and editors by cataloguing the contents of primary sources, source concordances, and basic information about how each piece of music can be performed.
- To provide a reliable starting point for academic research by linking to library catalogues, other existing databases, and facsimile images of early music manuscripts and prints.
- To provide a repository for properly sourced critical editions, performing scores, and recordings of as much of this music as possible, each carefully vetted for typesetting quality and accuracy, and made available for free download, so that this music might be discovered and appreciated by a wider audience.
The database was founded by Francis Bevan in 2014 as an outlet for his editing hobby and is regularly updated by him and a small team of enthusiasts. If you would like to contribute some cataloguing time, recordings or editions, submit corrections, commission an edition or just donate some cash, please get in touch with Francis via email: polyphonydatabase@gmail.com. Read more about the project's history at the 2018 Crowdfunder page.
The best way to help fund the project is to commission performing editions. New editions can be made quickly for as little as £10.
Understanding the clef images
A red clef means the voice is missing from this source. Where there are no concordances to fill in the gaps, this means the piece will require reconstruction.
A green clef means the voice is incomplete in this source. This might denote a fragment of a larger work, or a e.g. canonic voice that isn't written out in full.
A faded clef means much of the piece can be performed without this voice. For example, an extra 6th voice in the Agnus Dei of an otherwise 5vv Mass setting, or a short gimel in a big votive antiphon. Filtering by number of voices will exclude these clefs, while filtering by a specific voice combination will include them.
A blue clef denotes a voice that uses more than one clef in this source - this is particularly prevalent in earlier printed sources. We've estimated the larger clef on the left to be the most used to give an idea of voice distribution at a glance.
An X clef is used as a placeholder for voices we know are necessary, but haven't yet worked out which! This can be because there are no extant sources for a missing voice and no reconstruction has yet been attempted (it will normally become obvious which voice is missing once editing starts), or because we have catalogued a source from an incomplete facsimile that we know to be complete elsewhere.
Title |
Function(s) |
Composer |
# |
Sources |
Vivere vis recte - Proxima sed deinceps
|
|
Lechner, Leonhard
c.1553–1606
|
5 |
|
Vivere vis recte - Proxima sed deinceps
|
|
Wisme, Nicholas de
fl.1554–1564
|
6 |
|
Viver lieto voglio
|
|
Gastoldi, Giovanni Giacomo
c.1554–1609
|
5 |
Balletti a cinque voci, con li suoi V... (RISM G509)
Balletti a cinque voci, con li suoi Versi per cantare, sonare, & ballare; con una Mascherata de cacciatori a sei voci, & un concerto de Pastori a otto. Quarta impressione
Venice: Amadino, Ricciardo, 1593
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#3
|
|
Attrib: Gio: Giacomo Gastoldi |
Il bell'humore |
|
Viverò patiente forte
|
|
Lurano, Filippo de
|
4 |
|
Vive sera et tousjours perdurable
|
|
Lassus, Orlande de
c.1532–1594
|
5 |
Second livre des chansons a quatre et... (RISM 1570/6)
Second livre des chansons a quatre et cincq parties, composées par Orlando di Lassus, Cyprian de Rore, & Philippe de Mons, De nouveau corrigées & emendées, Convenables tant aux Instrumens comme à la Voix
Leuven: Phalèse the Elder, Pierre, 1570
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#23
|
|
Attrib: Orlando di Lassus |
|
Mellange d'Orlande de Lassus, contena... (RISM L834)
Mellange d'Orlande de Lassus, contenant plusieurs chansons, tant en vers latins qu'en ryme francoyses. A quatre, cinc, six, huit, dix, parties
Paris: Ballard, Robert (i) and Le Roy, Adrian, 1570
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#83
|
|
Attrib: Orlande |
|
|
Vivet Maeonides Tenedos dum stabit et Ide
|
|
Heugel, Johannes
1500-1510–1585
|
4 |
|
Vivida consilio - Nam virtus forti
|
|
Cleve, Johannes de
1528–1582
|
5 |
|
Viv’ in dolor, torment’ in doglia
|
|
Jeune, Claude le
c.1528–1600
|
5 |
|
Vivite felices divi sub numine petri - Sepe merum libate precor
|
|
Bruhier, Antoine
d. after 1521
|
4 |
|
Vivit in arce patris
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Vivo ardor viva fiamma
|
|
Casulana, Maddalena
c.1544–c.1590
|
4 |
|
Vivo ego dicit Dominus
Francis Bevan (SATB)
Coro Victoria
|
Lent |
Lobo, Alonso
1555–1617
|
4 |
|
Vivo ego dicit Dominus
|
Lent |
Knöfel, Johann
1525-1530–1617
|
5 |
Dulcissimae quaedam cantiones, numero... (RISM K989)
Dulcissimae quaedam cantiones, numero XXXII. Quinque, sex et septem vocum, ita factae, ut tum yumanae voci, tum musicis instrumentis aptae esse possint
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Dietrich, 1571
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#32
|
|
Attrib: Ioanne Knefelio Laubensi |
|
|
Vivo ego dicit Dominus
|
Lent |
Dressler, Gallus
1533–1580-1589
|
5 |
XIX. Cantiones, quatuor et quinque vocum (RISM D3519)
Magdeburg: Kirchner, Wolfgang, 1569
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#3
|
|
Attrib: Gallo Deslero |
|
XC cantiones quatuor, quinque et plur... (RISM D3520)
XC cantiones quatuor, quinque et plurium vocum
Magdeburg: Kirchner, Wolfgang, 1570
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#8
|
|
Attrib: Galli Dreßleri |
|
Opus sacrarum cantionum, quatuor, qui... (RISM D3522)
Opus sacrarum cantionum, quatuor, quinque et plurium vocum, nunc denuo recognitum, et multo quam antea correctius in gratiam Musicorum editum
Nuremberg: Berg, Johann and Gerlach, Katharina, 1577
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#8
|
|
Attrib: Galli Dressleri Nebraei |
|
|
Vivo ego dicit Dominus
|
Lent |
Dressler, Gallus
1533–1580-1589
|
4 |
XC cantiones quatuor, quinque et plur... (RISM D3520)
XC cantiones quatuor, quinque et plurium vocum
Magdeburg: Kirchner, Wolfgang, 1570
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#63
|
|
Attrib: Galli Dreßleri |
|
Opus sacrarum cantionum, quatuor, qui... (RISM D3522)
Opus sacrarum cantionum, quatuor, quinque et plurium vocum, nunc denuo recognitum, et multo quam antea correctius in gratiam Musicorum editum
Nuremberg: Berg, Johann and Gerlach, Katharina, 1577
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#59
|
|
Attrib: Galli Dressleri Nebraei |
|
|
Vivo ego dicit Dominus
|
Lent |
Anon
|
3 |
|
Vivo ego dicit Dominus [I]
|
Lent |
Paminger, Leonhard
1495–1567
|
5 |
Tertius tomus ecclesiasticarum cantio... (RISM P830)
Tertius tomus ecclesiasticarum cantionum, quatuor, quinque, sex, et plurium vocum, a prima dominica post festum S. Trrinitatis, usque ad primam Dominicam Adventus Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi. His commune de Sanctis Ecclesiae Dei, et quaedam Fragmenta ex canticis Canticorum salomonis, accesserunt.
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Dietrich and Gerlach, Katharina, 1576
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#69
|
|
Attrib: Leonarto Pamingero |
|
|
Vivo ego dicit Dominus [II]
|
Lent |
Paminger, Leonhard
1495–1567
|
5 |
Tertius tomus ecclesiasticarum cantio... (RISM P830)
Tertius tomus ecclesiasticarum cantionum, quatuor, quinque, sex, et plurium vocum, a prima dominica post festum S. Trrinitatis, usque ad primam Dominicam Adventus Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi. His commune de Sanctis Ecclesiae Dei, et quaedam Fragmenta ex canticis Canticorum salomonis, accesserunt.
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Dietrich and Gerlach, Katharina, 1576
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#167
|
|
Attrib: Leonarto Pamingero |
|
|
Vivo ego nolo mortem
|
Office for the dead |
Elsbeth, Thomas
d. after 1624
|
6 |
Selectissimae et novae cantiones sacr... (RISM E656)
Selectissimae et novae cantiones sacrae vulgo motecta appellatae, nec umquam antehac in lucem emissae sex vocum tum ad vivam, tum ad omnis generis
Frankfurt: Hartmann, Friedrich, 1600
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#4
|
|
Attrib: Thomam Elsbethum |
|
|
Vivo in guerra mendico - E gl'occhi al cielo
|
|
Marenzio, Luca
1553/1554–1599
|
5 |
|
Vivo lieto nel tormento
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Vivons en paix tous leaulx amoureux
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Vivons joyeusement
|
|
Gerarde, Derrick
fl.c.1540–1580
|
5 |
|
Vivons, m’amye
|
|
Phinot, Dominique
c.1510–c.1556
|
8 |
|
Vivo sol di speranza
|
|
Viola, Francesco
d.1568
|
4 |
Madrigali de la fama a quatro voci co... (RISM 1548/7)
Madrigali de la fama a quatro voci composti da l'infrascritti autori, novamente con diligentia stampati & corretti. Cypriano De Rore, Francesco Da la Viola, Francesco Manara
Venice: Gardano, Antonio, 1548
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#16
|
|
Attrib: Francesco Da la Viola |
|
|