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 |
Sis memor oro mei - Qua potens excusa
|
|
Quinos, Bruno
fl.1575
|
5 |
Cantiones aliquot quinque vocum cum v... (RISM Q109)
Cantiones aliquot quinque vocum cum vivae voci, tum omnis generis instrumentis musicis commodissimae, quas omnes versa pagina ostendet, nunc primum in honorem illustrium et generosorum comitum Barbyensium &c. Dominorum clementiss : editae, $ tanta diligentia correctae, ut neque in collocatione notularum ac pausarum, neque in applicatione textus quicunque desiderari possit
Wittenberge: Schwenck, Lorenz, 1575
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#4
|
|
Attrib: Brvnone Quinos |
|
|
Si souvenir pouvoit au cueur complaire
|
|
Coste, Gabriel
fl.1538–1543
|
4 |
|
Sis praesens Deus alme
|
|
Fabritius, Albinus
d.1635
|
6 |
|
Sis puer Ascaniae dux
|
|
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
#71
|
|
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
#62
|
|
Attrib: Galli Dressleri Nebraei |
|
|
Sistite mortales
|
|
Porta, Costanzo
c.1528–1601
|
6 |
|
Si sumpsero
|
|
Obrecht, Jacob
1457/1458–1505
|
3 |
|
Si tantos monteros
|
|
Anon
|
2 |
|
Si te benigne Jesus
|
|
Nanino, Giovanni Maria
1543/1544–1607
Molinaro, Simone
c.1570–after 1633
|
6 |
|
Si te vas a bañar, Juanilla
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
|
Sit fast
|
|
Tye, Christopher
c.1505–1573
|
3 |
|
Sit gloria Domini in aeternum
|
|
Rogier, Philippe
c.1561–1596
|
6 |
|
Sit gloria Domini in aeternum - Cantabo Domino
Pothárn Imre
|
|
Monte, Philippe de
1521–1603
|
5 |
|
Sitientes venite ad aquam
|
|
Pesciolini, Biagio
|
10 |
|
Sitio
|
|
Besler, Samuel
1574–1625
|
1 |
|
Sitivit anima mea
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
(D-Mbs 2747)
(Choirbook, MS)
#17
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
Officium defunctorum: Matins, third nocturn (Ps. 41: Quemadmodum desiderat) |
|
Sitivit anima mea
|
|
Vasquez, Juan
c.1500–c.1560
|
4 |
Agenda defunctorum (RISM V996)
Montedosca: Montedosca, Martin de, 1556
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#14
|
|
Attrib: Ioanes Vasquez |
|
|
Sitivit anima mea
|
|
Cardoso, Manuel
1566–1650
|
6 |
Missae quaternis, quinis
et sex voci... (RISM C1039)
Missae quaternis, quinis
et sex vocibus liber primus...
Lisbon: Craesbeeck, Pedro, 1625
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#11
|
|
Attrib: Emmanuele Cardoso |
|
|
Sit nomen Domini
|
|
Lambardi, Girolamo
fl.1586–1623
|
4 |
Antiphonae omnes iuxta ritum Romani b... (RISM L367b)
Antiphonae omnes iuxta ritum Romani breviarii pro totius anni dominicis diebus in primis, & secundis vesperis nunc primum ... Secunda pars
Venice: Caenobio Sancti Spiritus, 1600
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#36
|
|
Attrib: Hieronymo Lambardo |
|
|
Sit nomen Domini benedictum
|
|
Borsaro, Arcangelo
fl.1587–1616
|
8 |
|
Sit nomen Domini benedictum
|
|
Agostini, Paolo
c.1583–1629
|
4 |
|
Sit nomen Domini benedictum - Nudus egressus sum
|
|
Phinot, Dominique
c.1510–c.1556
|
6 |
Liber secundus mutetarum, sex, septem... (RISM P2017)
Liber secundus mutetarum, sex, septem, et octo vocum
Lyons: Beringen, Godefroy, 1548
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#6
|
|
Attrib: Dominico Phinot |
|
Septimus liber modulorum, quatuor, qu... (RISM 1556/11)
Septimus liber modulorum, quatuor, quinque et sex vocum, (quos vulgus moteta vocat) à quibusvis celeberrimis authoribus excerptus, & nunc primùm in lucem aeditus.
[Geneva]: Du Bosc, Simon, 1556
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#3
|
|
Attrib: D. Phinot |
|
|
Sit nomen eius benedictum
|
|
Trombetti, Geronimo
|
8 |
|
Si traviato e'l folle mio desio
|
|
Padovano, Annibale
1527–1575
|
4 |
|
Si traviato e'l folle mio desio a seguitar - Et poi che'l fren per forz'a se
Pothárn Imre (ATTTB)
|
|
Rore, Cipriano de
1515/1516–1565
|
5 |
Musica di Cipriano Rore sopra le stan... (RISM 1548/10)
Musica di Cipriano Rore sopra le stanze del Petrarcha in laude della Madonna, Et altri Madrigali a cinque voci, Con cinque Madrigali di due parte l'uno del medesmo autore bellissimi non piu veduti, Insieme quatro Madrigali nuovi a Cinque di Messer Adriano. Libro terzo
Venice: Gardano, Antonio, 1548
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#9
|
|
Attrib: Cipriano Rore |
|
Bourdenay codex (F-Pn 851)
Paris, c.1570-c.1599
(Score, MS)
#149
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Si traviato e'l folle mio desio a seguitar - Et poi che'l fren per forz'a se
|
|
Rore, Cipriano de
1515/1516–1565
|
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
#24
|
|
Attrib: Cyprianus de Rore |
|
|