Choral Public Domain Library

Hi Max, precisely - as stated at length, my edition follows Chrysander's in the main, and in his score the alto part matches neither viola part - viola 1 has an arpeggiated figure, viola 2 is with the tenors. On the other hand, Rautenberg is in agreement with Watkins Shaw in having the arpeggiated a...

Dear Donna, unfortunately that e-mail address on the score is long defunct owing to spam infestation, and the current address is on my editor's page and in newer scores. It is a general rule that even in the most carefully prepared scores - either direct from a composer, or through an editor - occas...

Hi Vaarky, Correct... but as pointed out in another thread, in some other jurisdictions new typography alone is enough to derive a new copyright, and as anyone in the world can download a CPDL score from the US server to perform in their own country, this issue is still obviously pertinent. It would...

Hi Anaigeon, Choral public domain libray -> the piece is supposed to be in the public domain. No. The original work must be PD to allow it to be copied in the first place, but the new typesetting is (in some jurisdictions) treated as a new, copyrightable work. So the legal point here is that new wor...

Wanting someone to do your homework for you? PML

No, that was a happy accident. Having fixed a voicing category clean-up problem for Vaarky I was browsing weird voicing categories (2 choirs, but only 6 voices ) and found the version of Josquin's Ave Maria with the two extra parts contributed by an anonymous composer (possibly Ludwig Daser), which ...

There you go, you learn something every day :-) For an even more bizarre example of how cunning people of the day were, I point you to the following rounds: Presidiorum Erogatrix and Presulem Ephebeatum by the Master of Krakow University, Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz. Here its the first letter of eac...

Hi all, sometime in the fairly recent past several of the interwiki links (which is maintained as part of CPDL's Mediawiki database) have been rendered incorrect - in particular the ones which are flagged to use a "target=_blank" snippet of html code so that the external page loads in a ne...

"Josquin D'Ascanio" is also the same "Josquin" that Ottaviano Petrucci cited as the composer of El Grillo. But both works (frottolas) are routinely attributed to Josquin the priest, not some other "Josquin". In the case of "In te Domine" it is thought that the...

Anyway, I had the great pleasure to perform the Carmina with a conductor who studied the piece with Orff himself – one of the never-to-forget highlights of my choral life! Did I mention before that Orff wrote down every single not as he intended??? ;-) There are a number of hidden jokes between the...

I have been a professional performer for most of my life (40 years) and can honestly say that 'stage fright' has not bothered me one bit! ................ the reason? I have always ensured that I am 'totally confident' about my performance! And how do I reach this state of confidence? ..... Practic...

There is ample evidence to suggest that when singers are accompanied by an instrument that is tuned in a particular intonation, they will tend to tune to it rather than work at the purity of intervals, so a starting point is to work a cappella the entire time, with nothing more than the occasional p...

Straight off the bat, the 1966 issue of the Jacob Handl (Gallus) piece is automatically protected in the United States until 31 Dec 2061. Only in other jurisdictions (where urtext provisions might apply to ‘scientific’ editions) would there be a shorter copyright term applicable: say in the EU, wher...

Hi all, bear in mind that defining A as 440 Hertz is a comparatively modern innovation, and it is more for the convenience of singers (and ease of playing by keyboard accompanists) that modern scores are transposed. Anyway, my copy of the Tallis Scholars' recording is only a semitone below modern wr...

Hi Vaarky! I find a lot of singers (in my conducting experience of amateur choirs) might as well be singing monophony, because it often seems they are only hearing a single line, and they have no idea how it is subordinated to the whole. Classic example last week, sopranos wondering where they're ge...