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 |
Se congie prens de mes belles amours
|
|
Josquin Desprez
c.1450–1521
|
6 |
(I-Bc R.142)
Bologna, 1515-1530
(Partbook, MS)
#42
|
|
Attrib: Josquin |
= O Maria virgo sanctissima |
(I-Bc A-71)
Bologna, c.1515-c.1520
(Choirbook, MS)
#8
|
|
Attrib: Jusquin |
Canon Je vois devant. Je vois derrière. Va davant Lasa 4 pause de le sede. Va derero lasa 4 De le prime. |
Le septiesme livre contenant Vingt & ... (RISM 1545/15)
Le septiesme livre contenant Vingt & quatre chansons a cincq et a six parties, composees par feu de bonne memoire & tresexcellent en musique Iosquin des pres, avecq troix Epitaphes dudict Iosquin, composez par divers aucteurs
Antwerp: Susato, Tylman, 1545
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#13
|
|
Attrib: Iosquin de Pres |
|
|
Se congie prens de mes belles amours
|
|
Anon
|
6 |
|
Se congié pris
|
|
Japart, Jean
fl.1476–1481
|
4 |
|
Se congié pris
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Se contra vostra voglia
|
|
Arcadelt, Jacques
1507–1568
|
4 |
|
Se cosi dolc'e'l duolo - Ma s'averrà ch'io moia
|
|
Gesualdo, Carlo
1566–1613
|
5 |
|
Se cosi dolc'il duolo - Ma s'avverrà ch'io moia
|
|
Gesualdo, Carlo
1566–1613
|
5 |
|
Secouez moy je suis toute pleumeuse
|
|
Janequin, Clément
c.1485–after 1558
|
4 |
|
Secouhez moy je suis toute pleineuse
|
|
Lys, F. de
|
4 |
|
Secouré moy madame par amours
|
|
Pevernage, Andreas
1542/1543–1591
|
5 |
|
Secoures moi madame par amours
|
|
Anon
|
5 |
|
Secourez moy, ma dame, par amours
|
|
Sermisy, Claudin de
c.1490–1562
|
4 |
|
Secours hellas par amour je vous prie
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Secrets regrets
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
(B-Br 228)
Brussels, 1516-1523
(Choirbook, MS)
#5
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Secum infania - De templo aethero - Ast illos gelido - O si mittat opem suis
|
|
Servin, Jean
c.1530–after 1595
|
4 |
|
Secundum multitudinem dolorum meorum
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Secundus tonus
|
|
Anon
|
2 |
|
Se da'i soavi accenti
|
|
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
4 |
|
Se dal soave et amoroso sguardo
|
|
Dragoni, Giovanni Andrea
c.1540–1598
|
5 |
|
Se da si nobil mano - Amor pace non chero
|
|
Gesualdo, Carlo
1566–1613
|
5 |
Madrigali a cinque voci [libro primo] (RISM G1721)
Ferrara: Baldini, Vittorio and Stella, Scipione, 1594
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#6
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Sedea fra gigli e rose
|
|
Mel, Rinaldo del
c.1554–c.1598
|
6 |
Sambrook book (US-NYp Drexel 4302)
London: Tregian, Francis (ii), 1613-1619
(Score, MS)
RISM
#195
|
|
Attrib: Rinaldo del Mel |
|
|
Se de fede hor vengo a meno
|
|
Cara, Marchetto
c.1465–1525
|
4 |
|
Se del mio amor temete
|
|
Verdelot, Philippe
c.1480-1485–?1530/1532
|
4 |
|
Sedentem in telonio
|
|
Handl, Jacob (Gallus)
1550–1591
|
4 |
Quartus tomus musici operis harmoniar... (RISM H1985)
Quartus tomus musici operis harmoniarum quatuor, quinque, sex, octo et plurium vicum, quae ex sancto catholicae ecclesiae usu ita sunt dispositae, ut omni tempore inservire queant
Prague: Nigrinus, Georg, 1590
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#117
|
|
Attrib: Iacobo Hándl |
|
|
Sedenti in throno benedictio
|
|
Ugolini, Vincenzo
c.1580–1638
|
4 |
|