Choral Music of the 17th Century

We are very proud to present, in collaboration with Scherzo Editions, the first volumes of Choral Music of the 17th century as part of the series Portuguese Musical Heritage. The compositions presented in these initial volumes are housed in the Musical Archive held by the Fundação Casa de Bragança at Vila Viçosa. The original manuscripts from which these compositions are drawn were copied in the first half of the 18th century in large choir book format. The compositions presented in these first four volumes are alternatim settings of vespers psalms, magnificats and hymns (motets). The polyphonic sections use white mensural notation without barlines (for a discussion of barlines added to certain manuscripts see the preface to volumes 3 and 4). They are for four vocal parts, generally with the designations of Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Basso. Black note notation is used for the chants.

The following editorial practices have been observed: original time signatures have generally been kept but all note values have been halved; barlines and the resulting necessary ties have been added when they don’t exist in the original manuscript; clefs have been modernized where necessary; accidentals found in the original manuscript are presented in front of the note, courtesy accidentals are listed in parentheses in front of the note, and editorial accidentals are placed above the note; text missing from the original manuscript has been added in capital letters; for ease of performance, chant selections not included in the original manuscript have been added using the appropriate psalm tone.

The editors wish to acknowledge the assistance and expertise of the staff at the Fundação Casa de Bragança at Vila Viçosa, and the founder and owner of Scherzo Editions, João Vidinha, for his willingness to take on this project.

Brett Scott & Gonçalo d’Alcântara Lourenço

Music by: António Ramos da Rocha, Francisco Barbosa, Anonymous