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 |
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
Pothárn Imre
|
|
Lassus, Orlande de
c.1532–1594
|
6 |
Magnum opus musicum ... Complectens o... (RISM L1019)
Magnum opus musicum ... Complectens omnes cantiones quas motetas vulgo vocant, tam antea editas quam hactenus nondum publicatas II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. IIX. IX. X. XII. vocum a Ferdinando serenissimi bavariae ducis maximiliani musicorum praefecto, & Rudolpho, eidem Principi ab Organis; Authoris filiis summo studio collectum, & impensis eorundem Typis mandatum
Munich: Heinrich, Nikolaus, 1604
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#459
|
|
Attrib: Orlandi de Lasso |
|
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Croce, Giovanni
c.1557–1609
|
4 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Ferrari, Giovanni
fl.1627–1628
|
5 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Clavijo, Bernardo
c.1545–1626
|
6 |
Motecta ad canendum tam cum quattuor,... (RISM C2641)
Motecta ad canendum tam cum quattuor, quinque, sex, & octo vocibus, quam cum instrumentis composita
Rome: Gardano, Alessandro, 1588
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#13
|
|
Attrib: Clavijo |
|
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
Pothárn Imre
|
|
Monte, Philippe de
1521–1603
|
5 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Lassus, Ferdinand de
c.1560–1609
|
6 |
Cantiones sacrae, viva voce suavissim... (RISM L753)
Cantiones sacrae, viva voce suavissimae, et omnium musicoru instrumentorum harmoniae per quam accommodatae, alias nec visae nec unquam typis subiectae sex vocibus
Graz: Widmanstetter, Georg, 1587
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#21
|
|
Attrib: Ferdinandi Di-Lassi |
|
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Billi, Lucio
fl.1601–1603
|
8 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Conflicting attributions
|
5 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Rossi, Giovanni Maria
c.1522–1590
|
5 |
Mottetti di Giovanni Maria Rosso maes... (RISM R2769)
Mottetti di Giovanni Maria Rosso maestro del Duomo di Mantova; nuovamente dati in luce et corretti da Claudio da Correggio, a cinque voci, libro primo
Venice: Merulo, Claudio, 1567
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#2
|
|
Attrib: Giovanni Maria Rosso |
|
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Anon
|
8 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Mosto, Giovanni Battista
before 1550–1596
|
5 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Anerio, Felice
c.1560–1614
|
8 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Belli, Girolamo
1552–c.1620
|
6 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
López de Velasco, Sebastián
1584–1659
|
8 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Viadana, Lodovico
c.1540-1560–1627
|
1 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Patta, Serafino
fl.1606–1619
|
1 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
|
|
Anon
|
5 |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
septimi toni
|
|
Anon
|
5 |
(A-Wn 15943)
Vienna: Moser, Georg, c.1600-c.1699
(Choirbook, MS)
RISM
#6
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
fauxbordon |
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi - Exurge Domine
|
|
Clemens non Papa, Jacobus
c.1510–1555/1556
|
4 |
Liber primus ecclesiasticarum cantion... (RISM 1553/8)
Liber primus ecclesiasticarum cantionum quatuor vocum
Antwerp: Susato, Tylman, 1553
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#10
|
|
Attrib: Ia. Clemens non Papa |
|
Liber sextus cantionum sacrarum vulgo... (RISM C2705)
Liber sextus cantionum sacrarum vulgo moteta vocant, quatuor vocum, nunc primum in lucem editus
Leuven: Phalèse the Elder, Pierre, 1559
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#7
|
|
Attrib: Clemente non Papa |
|
Tertia pars magni operis musici, cont... (RISM 1559/2)
Tertia pars magni operis musici, continens clarissimorum symphonistarum tam veterum quàm recentiorum, praecipue vero Clementis non Papae, Carmina elegantissima. Quatuor vocum
Nuremberg: Berg, Johann and Neuber, Ulrich, 1559
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#41
|
|
Attrib: Nobilis Clemens non Papa |
|
(D-AN VI g 16)
Ansbach, 1565-1566
(Choirbook, MS)
RISM
#5
|
|
Attrib: Clemens non Papa |
|
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi - In die tribulationis meae
Pothárn Imre
|
|
Gabrieli, Andrea
1532/1533–1585
|
5 |
Sacrae cantiones (vulgo motecta appel... (RISM G49)
Sacrae cantiones (vulgo motecta appellatae) quique vocum, tum viva voce, cum omnis generis Instrumentis cantatu commodissimae Liber Primus
Venice: Gardano, Antonio, 1565
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#19
|
|
Attrib: Andreae Gabrielis |
|
Sacrae cantiones (Vulgo motecta appel... (RISM G51)
Sacrae cantiones (Vulgo motecta appellatae) quinque vocum, tum viva voce, tum omnis generis instrumentis cantatu commodissimae. Liber Primus
Venice: Gardano, Angelo, 1584
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#19
|
|
Attrib: Andreae Gabrielis |
|
|
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi - In die tribulationis meae
|
|
Gerarde, Derrick
fl.c.1540–1580
|
5 |
|
Vocem iocunditatis annuntiate et audiatur
|
|
Willaert, Adrian
c.1490–1562
|
6 |
|
Vocem iucunditatis nunciate
|
Easter VI |
Bassano, Giovanni
c.1561–1617
|
8 |
|
Vocem iucunditatis nunciate
|
Easter VI |
Marsolo, Pietro Maria
c.1580–after1614
|
5 |
|
Vocem iucunditatis nunciate
|
Easter VI |
Bagni, Benedetto
fl.1608
|
8 |
|