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 |
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Porta, Costanzo
c.1528–1601
|
4 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
Nancho Alvarez
The Sixteen
|
Easter |
Victoria, Tomás Luis de
1548–1611
|
4 |
Hymni totius anni, secundum Sanctae R... (RISM V1428)
Hymni totius anni, secundum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae consuetudinem, qui quattuor concinuntur vocibus, una cum quattuor psalmis, pro praecipuis festivitatibus, qui octo vocibus modulantur
Rome: Basa, Domenico, 1581
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#8
|
|
Attrib: Thomae Lvdovici a Victoria |
|
Hymni totius anni Iuxta ritum Sanctae... (RISM V1429)
Hymni totius anni Iuxta ritum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae A Ludovico de Victoria Abulensi, & in Artem Musices celeberimo: Nuper in lucem editi cum quattuor vocibus
Venice: Vincenti, Giacomo, 1600
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#8
|
|
Attrib: Lvdovico de Victoria |
|
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Mantua, Jacquet de
1483–1559
|
4 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Stivori, Francesco
c.1550–1605
|
8 |
(SI-Lnr 343)
Ljubljana: Kuglmann, Georg, c.1600
(Choirbook, MS)
RISM
#63
|
|
Attrib: Franciscus Stivorio |
|
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Anon
|
4 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Busnoys, Antoine
c.1430–1492
|
3 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Massaino, Tiburtio
before 1550–after 1608
|
4 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Anon
|
5 |
(D-Sl 24)
Stuttgart: Peuschel, Nikolaus and Chamerhueber, Johann, 1557
(Choirbook, MS)
#20
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Lassus, Orlande de
c.1532–1594
|
4 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Febure, Jan Le
fl.1596–1612
|
4 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
(Hymn), Easter |
Esquivel Barahona, Juan
c.1562–c.1625
|
4 |
Psalmorum, Hymnorum, Magnificarum, et... (E-RON Esquivel 1613)
Psalmorum, Hymnorum, Magnificarum, et B. Mariae quatuor antiphonarum de tempore, necnon et missarum. Tomus secundus
Salamanca: Cea Tesa, Francisco de, 1613
(Choirbook, Print)
#16
|
|
Attrib: Ioannis Esquivel |
Hymn |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Anon
|
4 |
(I-Vsm 14)
Venice
(Choirbook, MS)
#29
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
Cuius corpus sanctissimum |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Navarro, Juan
c.1530–1580
|
4 |
Psalmi hymn ac magnificat totius anni... (RISM N283)
Psalmi hymn ac magnificat totius anni secundum ritum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae quatuor quinque ac sex vocibus concinendi necnon Beatae Virginis Dei genitricis Mariae diversorum temporum antiphonae in finem horarum dicendae
Rome: Coattino, Francesco, 1590
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#17
|
|
Attrib: Ioannis Nauarro |
Gloria tibi: Canon in unisonus |
|
Ad caenam agni providi
Nancho Alvarez
|
Easter |
Guerrero, Francisco
1528–1599
|
4 |
Liber vesperarum (RISM G4873)
Rome: Basa, Domenico, 1584
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#13
|
|
Attrib: Francisco Gverrero |
|
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Monte Regali, Eustachius de
d.?1527
|
5 |
(I-MOd III)
Modena: Monte Regali, Eustachius de, 1520-1530
(Choirbook, MS)
#30
|
|
Attrib: Eustachius de moteregali |
|
|
Ad caenam agni providi
|
Easter |
Anon
|
4 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi [I]
|
Easter |
Carpentras (Genet, Elzéar)
c.1470–1548
|
6 |
|
Ad caenam agni providi [I]
|
Easter |
Anon
|
4 |
(D-Sl 24)
Stuttgart: Peuschel, Nikolaus and Chamerhueber, Johann, 1557
(Choirbook, MS)
#21
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Ad caenam agni providi [I]
|
Easter |
Carpentras (Genet, Elzéar)
c.1470–1548
|
4 |
(I-MOd III)
Modena: Monte Regali, Eustachius de, 1520-1530
(Choirbook, MS)
#57
|
|
Attrib: Carpentras |
|
|
Ad caenam agni providi [II]
|
Easter |
Carpentras (Genet, Elzéar)
c.1470–1548
|
4 |
(I-MOd III)
Modena: Monte Regali, Eustachius de, 1520-1530
(Choirbook, MS)
#31
|
|
Attrib: Carpentras |
|
Liber hymnorum usus Romanae ecclesiae... (RISM G1573)
Liber hymnorum usus Romanae ecclesiae authore Carpentras
[Avignon]: Channay, Jean de, c.1532-c.1537
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#10
|
|
Attrib: Carpentras |
Tempore paschali. With alternative verses at end |
|
Ad caenam agni providi [II]
|
Easter |
Anon
|
4 |
(D-Sl 24)
Stuttgart: Peuschel, Nikolaus and Chamerhueber, Johann, 1557
(Choirbook, MS)
#22
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Ad celebres rex caelice
|
|
Isaac, Heinrich
c.1450–1517
|
4 |
|
Ad Dominum clamavi et exaudivit me
|
|
Stivori, Francesco
c.1550–1605
|
5 |
|
Ad Dominum cum tribularer
|
Ordinary Time 8 (Sunday in the octave of Corpus Christi) |
Porta, Costanzo
c.1528–1601
|
8 |
Liber quinquaginta duorum motectorum.... (RISM P5181)
Liber quinquaginta duorum motectorum. quatuor, quinque, se, septem, & octo vocum
Venice: Gardano, Angelo, 1580
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#42
|
|
Attrib: Constantii Portae |
|
Continuatio cantionum sacrarum quatuo... (RISM 1588/2)
Continuatio cantionum sacrarum quatuor, quinque, sex, septem, octo et plurium vocum de festis praecipuis anni
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Katharina, 1588
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#55
|
|
Attrib: Constantii Portae |
|
|
Ad Dominum cum tribularer
Francis Bevan (SATTB)
|
Ordinary Time 8 (Sunday in the octave of Corpus Christi) |
Hassler, Hans Leo
1564–1612
|
5 |
Sacri concentus quatuor, 5, 6, 7, 8, ... (RISM H2328)
Sacri concentus quatuor, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, & 12, Vocum
Augsburg: Schönigk, Valentin, 1601
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#19
|
|
Attrib: Ioanne Leone Haslero |
|
|