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 |
Missa Rex Babilonis
|
(Mass) |
Cleve, Johannes de
1528–1582
|
5 |
(A-Wn 15506)
Vienna, 1586
(Choirbook, MS)
RISM
#4
|
|
Attrib: Joan de Cleve |
Upon the motet by Vaet |
|
Missa Rex virginum
|
(Mass) |
Anon
|
4 |
|
Missa Rorate caeli desuper
|
(Mass) |
Molitor, Georgius
|
5 |
|
Missa Rose playsante
|
|
Anon
|
4 |
(I-MOe M-1-2)
Modena, c.1505
(Choirbook, MS)
#1
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
Obrecht. First page missing |
|
Missa Sabato
|
(Mass) |
Ludford, Nicholas
c.1490–1557
|
3 |
(GB-Lbl Roy. App. 45-48)
London, c.1525-1533
(Partbook, MS)
#7
|
|
Attrib: Nicholas Ludford |
[Saturday] With Alleluia and Sequence |
|
Missa Sacerdos et pontifex
Francis Bevan (S(S)ATTB)
Francis Bevan (ATBarBarB)
The Davey Consort
|
(Mass) |
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
Selectissimarum missarum flores, ex p... (RISM 1599/1)
Selectissimarum missarum flores, ex praesentissimis nostrae aetatis authoribus quatuor, quinque, sex et plurium vocum collecti
Antwerp: Phalèse the Younger, Pierre and Pottier, Mathias, 1599
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#3
|
|
Attrib: Io. Petri Aloysi Praenestini |
|
Missarum cum quatuor quinque ac sex v... (RISM P679)
Missarum cum quatuor quinque ac sex vocibus... Liber septimus
Venice: Gardano, Angelo, 1605
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#4
|
|
Attrib: Ioan. Petro Aloysio Praenestino |
|
Missarum quatuor, quinque, & sex voci... (RISM P680)
Missarum quatuor, quinque, & sex vocibus. Liber Septimus
Venice: Scotto, Girolamo, 1609
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#4
|
|
Attrib: Ioannis Petraloysii Praenestini |
|
|
Missa Sacerdotes Domini
Francis Bevan (S(S)A(A)TTBarB)
The Davey Consort
|
(Mass) |
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
6 |
Ioannis Petraloysii Praenestin Missar... (RISM P681)
Ioannis Petraloysii Praenestin Missarum cum quatuor, quinque & sex vocibus, liber octavus
Venice: Scotto, Girolamo, 1599
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#6
|
|
Attrib: Ioannis Petraloysii Praenestin |
Canon 'Trinitas in unitate' throughout Mass |
Mißarum cum quatuor, quinque, & sex v... (RISM P682)
Mißarum cum quatuor, quinque, & sex vocibus. Liber octavus
Venice: Scotto, Girolamo, 1609
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#6
|
|
Attrib: Ioannis Petraloysii Praenestin |
|
|
Missa Saeculorum
primi toni
|
(Mass) |
Garro, Francisco
d.1623
|
5 |
|
Missa Saeculorum amen
Francis Bevan (S(S)ATB)
Nancho Alvarez
|
(Mass) |
Guerrero, Francisco
1528–1599
|
4 |
(E-Sc 15)
(Choirbook, MS)
#2
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
Motecta (RISM G4877)
Venice: Vincenti, Giacomo, 1597
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#69
|
|
Attrib: Francisci Gverreri |
|
(US-Cn MS 1548/1)
Newberry, c.1600-c.1799
(Choirbook, MS)
#4
|
|
Attrib: Francisco Guerrero |
|
|
Missa Sagitta Ionathae
|
|
Massaino, Tiburtio
before 1550–after 1608
|
6 |
Selectissimarum missarum flores, ex p... (RISM 1599/1)
Selectissimarum missarum flores, ex praesentissimis nostrae aetatis authoribus quatuor, quinque, sex et plurium vocum collecti
Antwerp: Phalèse the Younger, Pierre and Pottier, Mathias, 1599
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#6
|
|
Attrib: Tiburtii Massaini |
|
|
Missa S'all'hor che piu sperai
|
(Mass) |
Cifra, Antonio
1584–1629
|
4 |
|
Missa Salus nostra
|
(Mass) |
Colin, Pierre
fl.1538–1572
|
4 |
|
Missa Salva nos
|
(Mass) |
Isaac, Heinrich
c.1450–1517
|
4 |
|
Missa Salva nos Christe
|
(Mass) |
Mielle, Claude
fl.1736
|
4 |
|
Missa Salvatorem expectamus
|
(Mass) |
Allegri, Gregorio
1582–1652
|
6 |
|
Missa Salve
Nancho Alvarez
Ensemble Plus Ultra
|
(Mass) |
Victoria, Tomás Luis de
1548–1611
|
8 |
Missae quattuor, quinque, sex et octo... (RISM V1434)
Missae quattuor, quinque, sex et octo vocibus concinendae, una cum antiphonis Asperges et Vidi aquam totius anni, liber secundus
Rome: Coattino, Francesco, 1592
(Choirbook, Print)
RISM
#8
|
|
Attrib: Thomae Ludovici de Victoria |
|
Missae Magnificat, Motecta Psalmi, & ... (RISM V1435)
Missae Magnificat, Motecta Psalmi, & ali quam plurima Quae partim Octonis, alia Nonis, alia Duodenis vocibus concinuntur
Madrid: Flandrus, Joannes, 1600
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#3
|
|
Attrib: Thomae Lvdovici de Victoria Abulensis |
|
|
Missa Salve
|
(Mass) |
Ingegneri, Marco Antonio
c.1535–1592
|
5 |
|
Missa Salve celeberrima virgo
|
(Mass) |
Canis, Cornelius
c.1500-1510–1561
|
6 |
(D-Mbs 40)
Munich: Flori, Franz, c.1550-c.1570
(Choirbook, MS)
RISM
#5
|
|
Attrib: Cornelius Canis |
|
|
Missa Salve crux
Francis Bevan (ATBarBarB)
|
(Mass), Holy Cross |
Massaino, Tiburtio
before 1550–after 1608
|
5 |
|
Missa Salve diva parens
|
(Mass) |
Obrecht, Jacob
1457/1458–1505
|
4 |
|
Missa Salve intemerata
Oxford Camerata
|
(Mass) |
Tallis, Thomas
c.1505–1585
|
5 |
|
Missa Salve regina
Pothárn Imre (chiavette)
Pothárn Imre (down a fourth)
|
(Mass) |
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
c.1525–1594
|
5 |
|
Missa Salve regina
|
(Mass) |
Anon
|
4 |
(P-Cug 12)
(Choirbook, MS)
#1
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
includes 3vv Alleluia (catalogued as separate entry) |
|
Missa Salve regina
|
(Mass) |
Zängel, Narcissus
c.1555–after 1607
|
6 |
|
Missa Salve regina
|
(Mass) |
Cristo, Pedro de
c.1545–1618
|
4 |
(P-Cug 33)
(Choirbook, MS)
#55
|
|
Attrib: D. P. Cano Regul |
|
|