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 |
Vergine chiara
|
|
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
|
Vergine degna d'ogni laud'e honore
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
Lodi spirituali novamente composte, e... (RISM 1580/6)
Lodi spirituali novamente composte, et datte in luce ad instantia della Venerabile Congregatione dell’ Humiltà, per commune utilitâ delle scole della Dottrina Christiana
Venice: Gardano, Angelo, 1580
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#5
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Vergine pura
|
|
Anon
|
5 |
(US-NYp Drexel 4180-4185)
New York: Merro, John, 1600-1650
(Partbook, MS)
#55
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Vergine pura
|
|
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
|
Vergine quante lagrime
|
|
Anon
|
5 |
(US-NYp Drexel 4180-4185)
New York: Merro, John, 1600-1650
(Partbook, MS)
#59
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Vergine quante lagrime
|
|
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
|
Vergine sacra benedetta
|
|
Festa, Sebastian
c.1490-1495–1524
|
4 |
Canzoni Frottole & Capitoli Da Divers... (RISM 1526/6)
Canzoni Frottole & Capitoli Da Diversi Eccellentissimi Musici Composti Nuovamente Stampati & Correcti Libro Primo De La Croce
Rome: Dorico, Valerio and Pasotti, Giovanni Giacomo, 1526
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#2
|
|
Attrib: Sebastian festa |
|
Canzoni Frottole & capitoli Da divers... (RISM c.1531/3)
Canzoni Frottole & capitoli Da diversi Eccellentissimi Musici con novi Canzoni agionti & composti novamente & stampati Libro primo della Croce
Rome: Dorico, Valerio, c.1531
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#1
|
|
Attrib: Se.festa |
One page only; rest of source missing |
|
Vergine saggia
|
|
Anon
|
5 |
(US-NYp Drexel 4180-4185)
New York: Merro, John, 1600-1650
(Partbook, MS)
#54
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Vergine saggia
|
|
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
|
Vergine santa
|
|
Anon
|
5 |
(US-NYp Drexel 4180-4185)
New York: Merro, John, 1600-1650
(Partbook, MS)
#56
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Vergine sola al mondo
|
|
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
|
Vergine sol' al mondo
|
|
Anon
|
5 |
(US-NYp Drexel 4180-4185)
New York: Merro, John, 1600-1650
(Partbook, MS)
#57
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Vergine tale e terra
|
|
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
|
Veri adoratores adorabunt
|
|
Cellarius, Simon
before 1500–1544
|
4 |
|
Ver'infern'e'l mio petto
|
|
Arcadelt, Jacques
1507–1568
|
4 |
|
Veritas de terra orta est - Etenim Dominis dabit benignitatem
|
|
Heydenhamer, Leonhard
|
3 |
|
Veritas mea et misericordia mea
Francis Bevan (ATBarBarB)
Pothárn Imre
|
|
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
|
Versa est in luctum
Francis Bevan (AATBarBarB)
Francis Bevan (SSATTB)
Nancho Alvarez
Stile Antico
Bevan Family Consort
|
|
Lobo, Alonso
1555–1617
|
6 |
|
Versa est in luctum
Francis Bevan (AATTB)
Francis Bevan (SAATB)
|
|
Rota, Andrea
c.1553–1597
|
5 |
|
Versa est in luctum
|
|
Molinaro, Simone
c.1570–after 1633
|
5 |
|
Versa est in luctum
Tallis Scholars
|
|
Victoria, Tomás Luis de
1548–1611
|
6 |
Officium defunctorum sex vocibus in o... (RISM V1436)
Officium defunctorum sex vocibus in obitu et obsequiis sacrae Imperatricis, nunc primum in lucem aeditum
Madrid: Flandrus, Joannes, 1605
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#2
|
|
Attrib: Thomae Ludouici de Victoria |
|
(V-CVbav Capp.Sist. 484-9)
Rome, c.1700-c.1799
(Partbook, MS)
#2
|
|
Attrib: Vittoria |
|
|
Versa est in luctum
|
|
Zallamella, Pandolfo
1551–after 1590
|
5 |
|
Versa est in luctum
|
|
Tonsor, Michael
before 1546–after 1606
|
4 |
Cantiones ecclesiasticae quatuor et q... (RISM T966)
Cantiones ecclesiasticae quatuor et quinque vocum ex sacris litertis desumptae quibus additi sunt psalmi Davidis qui in Vesperis Catholicorum decantari solent
Munich: Berg, Adam, 1590
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#7
|
|
Attrib: Michaelem Tonsorem |
|
|
Versa est in luctum
|
|
Puliti, Gabriello
c.1575-1580–1642/1643
|
5 |
|
Versa est in luctum
|
|
Grandi, Alessandro
1586–1630
|
5 |
|