Monday 21 November 2022

Sebastián Raval (c. 1550-1604): Motectorum quinque vocum (1593)

Sebastián Raval (c. 1550-1604) was a Spanish composer, friar and soldier, active in Italy. He apparently worked as a musician at the Urbino court of Duke Francesco. He published a book of motets, another of canzonets and one of madrigals in Rome.

Raval was famous for his competitive personality: He challenged Giovanni Maria Nanino, Francesco Soriano and Achille Falcone to musical contests between 1592 and 1600.

The Motectorum quinque vocum is the only printed sacred music by Raval that remains extant nowadays. It is an exhaustive collection of 28 works that includes an extensive range of styles: homophonic, polychoral and canonic motets, from four to sixteen voices.

Some extraordinary works in the Motectorum quinque vocum are the canon for sixteen voices Vivat Alexander (a nod to the dedicatee of the collection, the Cardinal Alessandro Peretti di Montalto) or the outstanding seven-voice Credo quod Redemptor meus with its canonic cantus firmus, the six-voice Salve regina or the polychoral (with two choirs of three voices each) Panis quem ego dabo.

Perhaps the most remarkable work in the Motectorum quinque vocum is the five-voice Iste qui est contempsit. This motet, that has to be performed at a slower tempo than usual (which is suggested by its time signature and the short note values), is based on a mensural canon, producing a very similar effect to the legendary motet by Miserere nostri by Thomas Tallis

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Sebastián Raval (c. 1550-1604)

Motectorum quinque vocum (Rome, 1593)

28 motets for 4vv, 5vv, 6vv, 7vv and 16vv

Motectorum quinque vocum (Complete)

4vv-16vv

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Veni Creator Spiritus

AAAA

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Vivat Alexander

16vv

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Puer qui natus est

SSATB

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Vidi turbam magnam

SATTB

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Ascendit Deus

SSATB

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Intret in conspectu tuo

SATTB

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Iste est qui contempsit

SATTB

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Beata es Virgo Maria

SSSS

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Panis quem ego dabo

SSB+SAT

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Alma redemptoris Mater

SATB

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Credo quod Redemptor

SSAATTB

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Ave regina caelorum

SATB

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Salve regina

SSATTB

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Beatus Laurentius

SATTB

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Ille oculos tollens

SATTB

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Angelus ad pastores ait

SATTB

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Gloriosae virginis Mariae

SSATB

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Franciscus pauper

SSATB

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Crux fidelis

SSATB

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Gloriosus Deus in sanctis

SATTB

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Pueri Hebraeorum

SSSAB

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Dicebat Jesus turbis

SSATB

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Quanti mercenarii

SSATB

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O sacrum convivium

SSAAT

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Venisti tandem caeli

SSATB

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Ego sum panis vivus

SSSAT

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Regina caeli

SATTB

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Cum pervenisset

SATTB

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©2022 Jorge Martín




Thursday 27 October 2022

Sebastián de Vivanco (c. 1551-1622): Missa Crux fidelis (SSATTB)

The only six-voice Mass by the Spanish composer Sebastián de Vivanco (c. 1551-1622) in his Liber Missarum (1608) was based on the homonym motet in the manuscript source E-SAc LP 1 (also available here). As usual, Vivanco writes a tour de force in the Sanctus: the five-voice Benedictus has a Trinitas in unitate canon combined with a 2 in 1 canon (duo sunt in carne una).

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Other works by Sebastián de Vivanco (c. 1551-1622)

©2022 Jorge Martín



Monday 24 October 2022

Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538): Pater noster/Ave Maria (SAATB) [Treviso Cathedral Codice 36, no. 1] (2022 Edition)

To celebrate our tenth anniversary we are re-editing one of our very first publications, the complete edition of the Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 (I-TVd 36). 

Pater noster/Ave Maria (SAATB) could be an intended homage paid to Josquin. The tradition of combining the two texts and plainchants as parts of a motet had a great relevance on Northern Italy: Adrian Willaert.  Gioseffo Zarlino or Jacquet de Mantua followed this tradition after Maistre Jhan.

You can buy or download this score here. Remember, you can buy our scores for the price you want to support Ars Subtilior Editions!


(This is the foreword for the complete edition of the Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 we published back in 2012:)

The Treviso Cathedral Codice 36 (henceforth, I-TVd 36) is the oldest polyphonic manuscript extant in this Cathedral (c. 1530). It is one of the most valuable musical manuscripts of the 16th century in Northern Italy and also an essential source for the motets (most of them unica) of Maistre Jhan (c. 1485-1538).

Although the I-TVd 36 is now kept in the Treviso Cathedral Archive, this was not its original place, as it was probably copied and kept in Ferrara until the end of the 16th century. This certainty is due to two reasons: 1) the majority of works by Maistre Jhan (more than a half of I-TVd 36), who served the Dukedom of Ferrara until his death, and 2) the presence of the circumstance motet Hebe potens cithara by Magister Symon [Simon of Ferrara], dedicated to the death of one of Ercole I d’Este’s children, Sigismondo, who died in 1524.

The I-TVd 36 is formed by five partbooks, Cantus, Altus, Quinta pars, Tenor and Bassus. The real voice in each partbook varies from one work to another, specially the Quinta pars, which is usually a Tenor or an Altus. The manuscript was mainly copied around 1530 (perhaps around 1524, year of Sigismondo’s death) and has two later additions, the short motet Sancta Maria at the end of the manuscript (the only unnumbered work in I-TVd 36) and an anonymous Mass. A more detailed codicological description of I-TVd 36 can be found at DIAMM.

The manuscript contains 30 works, 29 motets and the anonymous Mass, all for five voices. The most representative composer in I-TVd 36 is Maistre Jhan (18 motets), followed by Jacquet de Mantua and Adrian Willaert (3 motets each), Jean Lhéritier (2), Magister Symon and Costanzo Festa (1 motet each) plus 3 anonymous works, two motets and a Mass.

Even though the I-TVd 36 contains manuscript versions of works found in other sources (8 motets by Jacquet de Mantua, Jean Lhéritier and Adrian Willaert), several motets are unica, mainly those by Maistre Jhan. George Nugent and James Haar in the New Grove (2001) list nine unica motets in this source. Furthermore, only one edition of Maistre Jhan’s motets in I-TVd 36, Pater noster/Ave Maria, appears listed on the New Grove article, and it was published on 1897.

As a result, this premiere world edition of I-TVd 36 sheds light on the music in the Dukedom of Ferrara on c. 1530, and especially on Maistre Jhan, a long neglected composer linked with the Dukedom for more than 20 years. His motets show an experienced skill with canons, cantus firmus ostinato, harsh armonies and even chromatism.

©2022 Jorge Martín



Thursday 6 October 2022

Sebastián de Vivanco (c. 1551-1622): 10 motets from Liber motectorum (1614)

We have added ten new motets by Sebastián de Vivanco (from Liber motectorum, Salamanca, 1614): Beatus iste Sanctus, Da nobis quaesemus, Domine Pater, Hic est vere Martyr, Lux perpetua, Sancti mei, Veni sponsa Christi (SATB), Aperi oculos tuos (SAATB), Haec est vera fraternitas and Ibant Apostoli gaudentes (SSATB).

Remember, you can buy our scores for the price you want to support Ars Subtilior Editions!


Motets from Liber motectorum (1614)

Motets for 4vv

Beatus iste Sanctus

SATB

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Da nobis quaesemus

SATB

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De profundis

SATB

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Domine Pater

SATB

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Dulcissima Maria

SATB

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Hic est vere Martyr

SATB

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Lux perpetua

SATB

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O quam suavis est

SATB

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Sancti mei

SATB

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Stabat mater

SATB

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Veni sponsa Christi

SATB

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Motets for 5vv

Aperi oculos tuos

SAATB

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Ave Maria

SSATB

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Canite tuba

SATTB

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Circumdederunt me

SSATB

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Haec est vera fraternitas

SSATB

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Ibant Apostoli gaudentes

SSATB

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O doctor optime

SATTB

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Stephanus vidit

SSATB

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Sebastián de Vivanco Music Catalogue


©2022 Jorge Martín


Friday 30 September 2022

Sebastián de Vivanco (c. 1551-1622): Missa In festo Beatae Mariae Virginis (SATB)

One of the two Marian Masses in Vivanco's Liber Missarum (1608). The only Agnus Dei is scored for six voices.

You can buy or download this score here. Remember, you can buy our scores for the price you want to support Ars Subtilior Editions!

©2022 Jorge Martín

Vivanco Music Catalogue


Tuesday 13 September 2022

Julije Skjavetić (fl. 1562-1565): Motetti a cinque et a sei voci (1564)

We are proud to announce the release of the complete edition of the Motetti a cinque et a sei voci by the Croatian Renaissance composer Julije Skjavetić (fl. 1562-1565).

Born in Šibenik, Julije Skjavetić (whose name is italianized in the printed publication as Giulio Schiavetto) probably served Girolamo Savorgnano, Bishop of Šibenik (1523–91), to whom he dedicated some of his works.  

The Motetti a cinque et a sei voci was published in Venice in 1564 by Girolamo Scotto. It contains 18 motets, 12 for five voices and 6 for six voices. Some highlights of this collection are the motets with an ostinato cantus firmus, like Cantantibus organis (dedicated to Saint Cecilia) or the outstanding six-voice Suscipe verbum Virgo Maria, where the Sexta pars (Cantus 2) sings as an ostinato the incipit of the Ave Maria plainchant. 

Furthermore, the skill of Skjavetić is shown in motets with canons such as the five-voice Asperges me or the impressive Da pacem Domine, which contains a 4 in 1 canon.

Remember, you can buy our scores for the price you want to support Ars Subtilior Editions!

 

Julije Skjavetić [Giulio Schiavetto] (fl. 1562-1565)

Motetti a cinque et a sei voci (Venice, 1564)

18 motets for 5vv and 6vv

Asperges me

SAATB

 

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Vidi aquam

SATTB

 

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O magnum mysterium

SATTB

 

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Dilexisti omnia verba

SATTB

 

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Salvum me fac

SATTB

 

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Salus populi ego sum

SATTB

 

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Quam pulchra es

SATTB

 

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Hodie Christus natus est

SAATB

 

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Cantantibus organis

SATTB

 

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Christus factus est

SATTB

 

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Ego sum qui sum

SATTB

 

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Domine nonne bonum semen

SATTB

 

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Si bona suscepimus

SATTBB

 

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Pater noster

SAATTB

 

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Ave sanctissima Maria

SSATTB

 

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Unum cole Deum

SAATTB

 

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Da pacem Domine

SSATTB

 

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Suscipe verbum Virgo Maria

SSATTB

 

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©2022 Jorge Martín