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 |
Victimae paschali laudes
|
Easter |
Kerle, Jacobus de
1531/1532–1591
|
5 |
(D-As Tonk.Sch. 22)
Dreer, Johannes, 1614
(Choirbook, MS)
#33
|
|
Attrib: Jacobo de Kerle |
sequence; easter monday |
|
Victimae paschali laudes
|
Easter |
Ratti, Lorenzo
1589/1590–1630
|
5 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes
Pothárn Imre
|
Easter |
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
8 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes
|
Easter |
Anon
|
4 |
(I-TVd 7)
Treviso, 1558-1571
(Choirbook, MS)
#3
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Angelicos testes sudarium et vestes
|
Easter |
Maillard, Jean
fl.c.1538–1570
|
5 |
Moduli undecim festorum solemnium tot... (RISM 1554/7)
Moduli undecim festorum solemnium totius anni, cum quatuor & quinque vocibus, a celeberrimis authoribus conditi, nunc recens editi
Paris: Du Chemin, Nicolas, 1554
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#1
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
Moteta quatuor, quinque, & sex vocum ... (RISM M179)
Moteta quatuor, quinque, & sex vocum Liber Primus
Paris: Le Roy, Adrian and Ballard, Robert, 1555
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#10
|
|
Attrib: Ioannis Maillard |
|
(D-AN VI g 12)
Ansbach, 1564
(Choirbook, MS)
RISM
#20
|
|
Attrib: Maillard |
|
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Credendum est magis
Francis Bevan (SSAATB)
Francis Bevan (AATTBarB)
Ensemble Plus Ultra
|
Easter |
Infantas, Fernando de las
1534–c.1610
|
6 |
Sacrarum varii styli cantionum tituli... (RISM I39)
Sacrarum varii styli cantionum tituli spiritus sancti liber III. cum sex vocibus
Venice: Scotto, Girolamo, 1579
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#8
|
|
Attrib: Don Ferdinandi de las Infantas |
|
Harmoniae miscellae cantionum sacraru... (RISM 1583/2)
Harmoniae miscellae cantionum sacrarum, ab exquisitissimis aetatis nostrae musicis cum quinque & sex vocibus concinnatae, pleraeque omnes novae, necdum in Germania typis scriptae: nunc autem editae studio Leonardi Lechneri Athesini
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Katharina, 1583
(Partbook, Print)
#27
|
|
Attrib: Don Ferdinandus de las Infantas |
|
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Dic nobis Maria
|
Easter, BVM |
Zarlino, Gioseffo
1517–1590
|
6 |
Il primo libro de motetti a sei voce,... (RISM 1549/3)
Il primo libro de motetti a sei voce, da diversi accellentissimi musici composti, & non piu stampati novamente posti in luce, & con somma diligentia coretti
Venice: Scotto, Girolamo, 1549
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#18
|
|
Attrib: Ioseph Zarlini |
|
Modulationes Sex vocum, per Philippum... (RISM Z100)
Modulationes Sex vocum, per Philippum Iusbertum musicum Venetum Collectae, ac per eundem nunc primum in publicum datae
Venice: Rampazetto, Francesco, 1566
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#9
|
|
Attrib: Iosephi Zarlini |
|
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Dic nobis Maria
|
Easter, BVM |
Contino, Giovanni
c.1513–1574
|
5 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Dic nobis Maria
|
Easter, BVM |
Willaert, Adrian
c.1490–1562
|
4 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Dic nobis Maria
|
Easter, BVM |
Josquin Desprez
c.1450–1521
|
4 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Dic nobis Maria quid vidisti in via
Pothárn Imre (SSATTB)
|
|
Willaert, Adrian
c.1490–1562
|
6 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Dic nobis Maria - Sepulchrum Christi viventis - Angelicos testes - Surrexist Christus spes me - Credendum est magis - Scimus Christum surrexisse
|
Easter, BVM |
Sales, Franz
c.1540–1599
|
6 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Sepulchrum Christi viventis
|
Easter |
Verdelot, Philippe
c.1480-1485–?1530/1532
|
4 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Sepulchrum Christi viventis
|
Easter |
Brunet, Johannes
fl.c.1510–1530
|
6 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Sepulchrum Christi viventis
|
Easter |
Anon
|
6 |
|
Victimae paschali laudes - Surrexit Christus spes mea
|
|
Willaert, Adrian
c.1490–1562
|
4 |
|
Victorio salve - Quis curare neget
|
|
Willaert, Adrian
c.1490–1562
|
5 |
|
Victumnus, Flora, you that bless the fields
|
|
Anon
|
1 |
(GB-Lbl Add. 22597)
London, c.1565-c.1585
(Partbook, MS)
#46
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
Raphael Courteville II; copied upside down, working from other end of book |
|
Viddi fra l'herbe verde
|
|
Arcadelt, Jacques
1507–1568
|
4 |
|
Viddi le bionde chiom'al vento
|
|
Ferrabosco, Domenico Maria
1513–1574
|
4 |
|
Vide Domine
|
|
Felis, Stefano
c.1550–1603
|
5 |
|
Vide Domine
|
|
Bedingham, John
d.1459-1460
|
2 |
|
Vide Domine
|
|
Leoni, Leone
c.1560–1627
|
8 |
|
Vide Domine afflictionem meam
|
|
Stivori, Francesco
c.1550–1605
|
5 |
|
Vide Domine afflictionem nostram
|
|
Fage, Jean de la
fl.c.1518–1530
|
4 |
|