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 |
Gentil pastor che miei
|
|
Pallavicino, Benedetto
c.1551–1601
|
6 |
Sambrook book (US-NYp Drexel 4302)
London: Tregian, Francis (ii), 1613-1619
(Score, MS)
RISM
#188
|
|
Attrib: Benedetto Pallavicino |
|
|
Gentil prince
|
|
Anon
|
3 |
|
Gentil prince de renom
|
|
Henry VIII
1491–1547
|
4 |
|
Gentils galans avanturiers
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Gentils galans compaingnons
|
|
Anon
|
3 |
|
Gentilz gallans adventuriers
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Genti peccatrici
|
|
Mortaro, Antonio
fl.1587–1610
|
5 |
Motetes a 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (E-VAcp 20)
Valencia, 1641
(Partbook, MS)
#30
|
|
Attrib: Antonii Mortari |
|
|
Gentis humanae pater atque custos - Luce cum caelos - Hic boves parent
|
|
Servin, Jean
c.1530–after 1595
|
4 |
|
Genuit puerpera regem
|
|
Senfl, Ludwig
c.1486–1542/1543
|
5 |
|
Genuit puerpera regem
Pothárn Imre
|
|
Lassus, Orlande de
c.1532–1594
|
6 |
Cantiones sacrae, sex vocum, quas vul... (RISM L1007)
Cantiones sacrae, sex vocum, quas vulgo motectas vocant
Graz: Widmanstetter, Georg, 1594
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#23
|
|
Attrib: Orlando di Lasso |
|
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
#331
|
|
Attrib: Orlandi de Lasso |
|
|
Genuit puerpera regem - Angelus ad pastores ait
|
Christmas |
Prenner, Georg
d.1590
|
5 |
|
Genuit puerpera regem - Angelus ad pastores ait
Pothárn Imre
|
Christmas |
Conflicting attributions
|
4 |
|
Genuit puerpera regem [I]
|
|
Carpentras (Genet, Elzéar)
c.1470–1548
|
4 |
|
Genuit puerpera regem [II]
|
|
Carpentras (Genet, Elzéar)
c.1470–1548
|
4 |
|
Genuit puerpera regem - O virgo virginum
|
|
Paminger, Leonhard
1495–1567
|
5 |
Primus tomus ecclesiasticarum cantion... (RISM P828)
Primus tomus ecclesiasticarum cantionum, quatuor, quinque, sex, et plurium vocum, a prima dominica adventus, usque ad passionem Domini et salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Dietrich, 1573
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#84
|
|
Attrib: Leonartum Pamingerum |
|
|
Genus electum gens sancta
|
(Responsory) |
Kerle, Jacobus de
1531/1532–1591
|
4 |
|
Georgi martyr inclite
|
|
Latre, Petit Jean de
c.1510–1569
|
5 |
|
Georgi martyr inclite - Rogamus corde intimo
|
|
Clemens non Papa, Jacobus
c.1510–1555/1556
|
4 |
|
Georgi miles Christi
|
|
Tonsor, Michael
before 1546–after 1606
|
5 |
|
Gerings umher plagt mich die Welt
|
|
Meiland, Jakob
1542–1577
|
5 |
|
Germinavit radix
|
|
Werlin, Johannes (ii)
d.c.1680
|
4 |
Melismata sacra deo ter opt. max. pub... (RISM W799)
Melismata sacra deo ter opt. max. publicoque bono, musicis modulis, binis, ternis, quaternis & quinis cum basso continuo, Organo applicato adoptata
Nuremberg: Dümler, Jeremias, 1644
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#26
|
|
Attrib: Johannis Werlini |
|
|
Germinavit radix Jesse
|
|
Paminger, Leonhard
1495–1567
|
5 |
Primus tomus ecclesiasticarum cantion... (RISM P828)
Primus tomus ecclesiasticarum cantionum, quatuor, quinque, sex, et plurium vocum, a prima dominica adventus, usque ad passionem Domini et salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Dietrich, 1573
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#100
|
|
Attrib: Leonartum Pamingerum |
|
|
Germinavit radix Jesse
|
|
Animuccia, Giovanni
c.1520–1571
|
4 |
|
Germinavit radix Jesse
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
(I-TVd 14)
Treviso, c.1560-1626
(Choirbook, MS)
#10
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Germinavit radix Jesse - Ecce Maria genuit
|
BVM |
Brouck, Jacob de
fl.1568–1583
|
5 |
|