Music
MUSICA DEI DONUM Series
A new early music series
Sally Dunkley and Francis Steele, Series Editors
Series Description | Title information
"In Francis Steele and Sally Dunkley's OUP editions we perhaps for the tirst time have a 21st-century take on the performance edition.
This edition offers subtly phrased advice and helpful pointers while retaining a clear score that is a delight from which to sing. Both Dunkley and Steele sing with 'The Sixteen,' so they truly edit from a performer's perspective (this is where we bless the rise of the musicologist/performer). Hence the translation helpfully placed above the text (and so accurate, rather than fitting with the underlay), the suggested dynamics and performance suggestions in the reduced score and the appendix, which offers performance suggestions for individual lines.
This is a superb edition edited sensitively and with great thought. I look forward to many more additions to the series."
-Jonathan Wikeley, Editor of Early Music Today
MUSICA DEI DONUM is a new performing series that unearths the hidden gems of the Renaissance choral repertoire. Each edition will be presented in clear, clean modern notation with accompanying notes by pre-eminent performers and performance scholars in the early music field.
This new series features works that are closely associated with prominent early music ensembles. Additional materials include an introduction to each work and its composer, which ties together historical context and performance issues. Each edition includes a new parallel Latin-English text translation especially commissioned from Jeremy White.
Sally Dunkley and Francis Steele are the overall series editors and have extensive experience of practical editing and ensemble singing at the highest level.
Titles currently available
Orlandus Lassus
Musica, Dei donum optimi
ed. Francis Steele
for AATBarBarB double choir unaccompanied
The setting was originally published in the year of Lassus' death (1594) and comes from his mature voice. Although it is economical in expression, it is rich and sonorous in sound and brought alive by the six-part counterpoint. It truly brings the text 'Music is a gift from God' to life.
9780193868168
Philippe de Monte and William Byrd
Super flumina Babylonis and Quomodo Cantabimus
ed. Sally Dunkley
for SATB double choir
Phillipe de Monte wrote Super flumina Babylonis (By the streams of Babylon, there we sat and wept) and sent it to William Byrd who responded by setting the subsequent verses of the psalm text Quomodo Cantabimus (How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land). This edition allows these wonderful pieces to be sung as a unit or separately.
9780193868175
William Mundy
Beatus et Sanctus, sive vigilem
ed. Francis Steele
for SAATB unaccompanied
This edition reconstructs two breathtaking motets by the English composer William Mundy. The text by St Francis of Assisi, incorporating the phrase 'we do not know the day or the hour when the Lord will come', is appropriate for the end of the Church Year and during the Season of Advent. These elegant, straightforward settings are within the abilities of most church choirs.
9780193870055
John Sheppard
Missa Cantate
ed. Sally Dunkley
for SATTBB unaccompanied
This practical performing edition is based on the single extant manuscript preserved at the Bodleian Library. The beautiful and well-written Missa Cantate (Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) follows the well-established technique of drawing some material, usually the cantus firmus, from a pre-existing work.
9780193870048
Upcoming titles
Cipriano de Rore
Descendi in hortum meum
ed. Francis Steele
for SSAATTB unaccompanied
Descendi in hortum meum is an original setting of the Song of Solomon, unique in that it is arranged for seven voices while still capturing the lush and beautiful essence of a garden in bloom and longing for the return of the beloved Shulamite. This general text of love and yearning is suitable throughout the church year, but also serves well as a concert piece for a community choir.
7'
9780193804920
Due March 2009
Robert White
Lamentations (a5)
ed. Sally Dunkley
for SSATB unaccompanied
While perhaps Tallis and Byrd's Lamentations are better known, Robert White's Lamentations (a5) reflects a uniquely bleak and austere vision and is surely one of the composer's finest works. David Wulstan writes, 'this grief-stricken music is spellbinding.' Set for five voices, the melancholy sound moves between expressive contrapuntal writing and block chords, offering some remarkably bold harmonic shifts and revealing an exceptional depth of emotion. In keeping with the high standards of the previous MUSICA DEI DONUM editions, this edition will have a running translation atop each system to facilitate performance. White's Lamentations (a5) is well suited for any good church choir or amateur or college chorus in a concert setting.
21'
9780193804913
Due February 2009
