We are proud to release our first edition from our series dedicated to the so-called Golden Age of Portuguese Renaissance Music.
The six-voice Missa Miserere mihi Domine by Manuel Cardoso (1566-1650), included in his first printed book of Masses (Missae quaternis, quinis, et sex vocibus. Liber primus, Lisbon, 1625), is a Mass with a Cantus firmus (a very old-fashioned style in 1625) that is usually placed on the Superius I, but also on the Altus, Tenor and even the Bassus in the Christe.
The Agnus Dei ends with an enigmatic and virtuosistic canon typical of Cardoso. The indication Tenor II in dyapason, Altus in dyatesaron bis dicens Cantum Gregorianum is given to us, placed in the Superius I, which means that while the Tenor II sings strictly the same melody of the Superius I at the octave lower, the Altus has to sing only the Breves at the fourth, which together form exactly the melody of the Cantus firmus Miserere mihi Domine.
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MIDI (Agnus Dei)
© 2021 Jorge Martín
