Gloria I w/polyphony

Discussions relating to performance, interpretation, score preparation, musica ficta etc.
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cltfakult
Posts: 2
Joined: 30 Jan 2023 20:30

Gloria I w/polyphony

Post by cltfakult »

I’m the choir director for the FSSP apostolate in Springdale, AR, and I wanted to reach out to you because I need a little help with some music that I’m trying to find for my choir. I attended the CCwatshed Symposium this summer, and I love the concept that we used for chanting the Credo VII alternating with bits of polyphony throughout. https://www.ccwatershed.org/2021/07/03/ ... polyphony/ My choir just the learned the Morales polyphony with Gloria II for Christmas, and it was such an easy way to introduce my choir to a part polyphonic Mass.

Anyways, I’m looking for something similar, part chant/part polyphony to go with Gloria I so that we can sing it at the Easter Vigil, but I couldn’t find anything so far, and I’m not sure how to search for something like that on CPDL. I don't know maybe that's something that is pieced together.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
Cdalitz
Posts: 168
Joined: 24 Apr 2007 14:42

Re: Gloria I w/polyphony

Post by Cdalitz »

Not sure what you mean with "Gloria I", but I guess you mean the first Gloria in the "Kyriale" part of the Graduale (p. 712 in the "Graduale Triplex" from 1973).

All pieces in the Graduale give a "mode" in bold letters left to the beginning of each piece. In the case of the Gloria on p. 712, it is "IV". Modes are a much fuzzier concept than major/minor tonality, so a classification as "mode IV" might only be an approximation (the first phrase in this Gloria looks more like mixolydian to me, although the piece later is closer to phrygian). This gets even more muddy when transferred to polyphony, which only has major and minor chords. For the third and fourth mode (phrygian), there is however a characteristic final polyphonic cadence: the progression from a minor to e major, often added as a "flosculus" ("little flower") after one voice has come to rest.

So you can use any polyponic Gloria that is in a phrygian mode, as identified by the characteristic final cadence. Easily browsable lists (sorted by composer) can be found, e.g., on https://www.uma.es/victoria/. The "Missa Quarti Toni" (here the name already makes clear the mode) by Victoria would be an option, for instance.
D-fished
Posts: 31
Joined: 01 Dec 2010 04:03
Location: North Vancouver BC, Canada

Re: Gloria I w/polyphony

Post by D-fished »

This doesn't help you with the particular chant you wish to use, but Thomas Stoltzer's Missa duplex per totum annum is a good example of a Mass setting composed with alternatim plainsong and polyphony. It's available from the IMSLP Petrucci Library, accessible from CPDL here:
https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Mis ... _Stoltzer).
The contratenor Altus line, however, is more in the range of a tenor than of female alto.
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