new member--looking to edit, need help to get going.

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Hesperus
Posts: 2
Joined: 12 Jun 2007 16:24

new member--looking to edit, need help to get going.

Post by Hesperus »

Hi everyone.

I noticed this site when it first started, but put off joining until I had more time. So, I just joined. It's a great site, isn't it.

My background is in Music Theory/composition B.A, major instruments: Voice (Countertenor -- for 30 yrs), piano. Graduate studies in Musicology, specializing in Performance Practice of Early Church Music/Choral Scholar.

I sing, play piano, accompany at the prof. level. Love using my countertenor range, really shakes up the ladies, when they realize I can sing higher, lighter, more brilliant than they can (lol). Just put me next to a couple of clear, no wobble sopranos, and I'm in Countertenor heaven.

I started singing professionally at age six. That was some 50+ yrs ago.
I continue to sing, eiher as a soloist, or regularly in prof., non-profit, choir that specializes in Early Music. I've had the privilege of performing in most of the Mj. Cathedrals of Europe, as well as all over the US. All, a cappella, choral music. love it, love it.

Also, with my background in performance-practice, I use that to help out the conductor. I also edit, make performing editions of Early Music.

One of the main reasons I'm here is to try to do the latter: to create modern editions of early choral music that can be put into public domain.

Except for my singing, being retired, I now have the time to do it, just about, full-time.

What I need though, is information on how/where, et. al., to get sources--either part books or MSS. And become a contributor to CPDL.

I looked at trying to obtain access to some of the librarys: Folger, BM and so forth; but not being faculty, the cost as an individual scholar is totally out of my reach.

Does CPDL have access to sources? --part books, mss?

A large part of my graduate studies were devoted to the making of a modern edition of a collection of 16th Cent., Venetian Madrigals,. I had to wait over a year for the source library to send a microfilm of the part books.

I imagine that with today's technology, waiting that long, is no longer the case. (btw --in that work, is a cataloged, but unpublished madrigal by G. Palestrina. It doesn't appear in any of his collected editions--anyone interested?)

So, here I am.

Can someone take me through the best way to get going as a contributor, esp. with regard to editing Early choral/church music for CPDL?

I'm ready to get to work. Just need help in getting started.

Thanks, It's great to be here. Hope to make lots of good friends.

Bob
bobnotts
Site Admin
Posts: 982
Joined: 11 Mar 2006 19:05
Location: UK

Post by bobnotts »

Hello Bob!

Welcome to CPDL! I too share a passion for singing and choral music but I don't have your experience and qualifications. I'm a student in Leicester, England and I'm a moderator on these forums and an editor on the wiki. Most of my work on producing editions has been transcription only - I haven't dabbled in producing new editions from manuscripts so I'm afraid I can't help you on that point. However, I'm sure there will be many more replies from those who will be able to point you in the right direction.

If you come into any difficulties when you are posting your scores on the main site, feel free to post another message on these forums or post a message on my talk page (http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Bobnotts).

Best wishes

Rob
Rob Nottingham
CPDL Administrator
Hesperus
Posts: 2
Joined: 12 Jun 2007 16:24

Post by Hesperus »

ThankS Rob --

I love the UK. I got to study voice a bit, at Trinity College of Music in London. Had master classes with Sir Peter Pears
One time, when I was out at Snape-at-Maltings, at the "Red House," (home of Benjamin Britian & P. Pears, I was in the library. A group of facsimile part-books of W. Byrd caught my eye. Upon closer look, I saw they weren't facsimiles at all, but 1st editions. ==totally blew me away.

The choir I'm in was in the UK last Summer. Unfortunately, I couldn't make that tour. They were at the Kodaly festival, with a couple of concerts/services at the W. Abbey and at St. Paul's.
Next summer, we've been invited to Italy (do I really want to go to Italy in the summer?).
There's a pretty good chance of singing at the Vatican. That's exciting. --I was a member of the 1st non-Catholic choir to sing at Notre Dame in Paris; now, here's an opportunity to sing at the Basilica.

I used to correspond with Alfred Deller's son (Mark) as well as Sir David Wilcocks, enjoyed spending time with Andrew Parrot of the Taverner Singers. Of course, spent a few years here in the US singing in a
a Cathedral Choir. My vocal studies were with a lady who was a student of a well-know coach for the MET. Her husband was a member of the Royal College of Organists.

The lady who is the organist for my choir, won the Flemish International festival for organ, a few years ago.

Tonight is rehearsal--into Bach, Monteverdi, Victoria, Schutz, Gabrielli, Byrd.
I'm trying to talk the conductor into doing the Alleghri--which would be perfect for the Vatican.
The soprano I'm next to, has a clear, pure, easy, high c. --now, if I could just get the choir to sing the written music at the proper pitch, instead of A440...it'd sure make my countertenor easier. --I have an okay e-flat, but e isn't there. That lowered pitch, makes all the difference.

Anyway, music is great. You're fortunate to be in a country with such a tremendous and respected history of choral singing. Singing in a cathedral is so much easier than on-stage.

I look forward to others helping me to get off to a start in the editing. It's the source material, I need to get my hands on: like, the Byrd at the "Red House." --I spent a year of graduate school, doing nothing but editing--from Landini to Byrd/Tallis. That was a fun class. I was the only student!

Thanks for the welcome.

Bob
DaveF
Site Admin
Posts: 146
Joined: 12 Jan 2006 21:11
Location: Abergavenny, Gwent, UK

Post by DaveF »

Bob,

Welcome - good to have you aboard. Becoming a contributor is easy in the sense that you can post your own scores, create your own pages etc. and have full control of the process from start to finish. And there are lots of people around to help if you're unsure of anything.

Access to sources of early music is another matter. MSS first - I have never found any online sources of these, and printed facsimiles tend to be hugely expensive (have a look at OMI's catalogue [http://www.omifacsimiles.com] and weep). University music departments may possibly have microfilms/fiches of some (I know Chuck Giffen, another Admin on this site, produced a beautiful edition of Tallis's Gaude Gloriosa last year from what I believe were microfiche sources), but I don't know - and possibly, as you say, only available to faculty.

Facsimile printed sources are easier to come by, but again tend to involve the green stuff changing hands. As well as the aformentioned OMI, other publishers include King's Music (http://www.kings-music.co.uk), Severinus Press (http://www.severinus.co.uk) and, for microfilmed editions, World Microfilms (http://www.microworld.uk.com), whose catalogue includes the complete contents of the Christ Church, Oxford, early printed music collection (details at http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=69). Apart from OMI, these are all UK publishers, so the currency markets are against you just now. Again, I don't know of much in the way of freely-available online sources. Early English Books Online is a wonderful resource, but (once again) use is restricted to subscribing libraries, which tend to be academic.

CPDL itself doesn't maintain a repository of sources; the only link I know of on the site is at http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Chor ... croft_Page, to some early editions of Ravenscroft.

Having said all this, as Rob Nottingham has already said, most of our contributors don't work from the original sources, but from "modern" printed editions - where, to summarise the copyright situation very briefly, the composer and all editors must have been dead for at least 70 years. However, I guess from what you say that you really want to get back to the sources (and with good reason: just to cite my own area of relative expertise, Byrd's original printed editions are quite extraordinarily accurate, while Fellowes's editions from the 1930s and 40s are riddled with errors).

Anyway, look forward to hearing more from you in the forums and seeing some of your editions.

Dave Fraser
mjolnir
Moderator
Posts: 254
Joined: 12 Sep 2005 14:39

Post by mjolnir »

Bob:

I'll add my welcome to Rob's, and I'll be happy answer some of your questions, though a bit more information would be of some utility. For example, where are you located.

I too have interest in editing early music from sources, and sources, while there may be some cost, may be more reasonbable than one might otherwise suspect. If you happen to be in the Chicago area, for example, there is no charge (though there is a suggested donation) for readers privileges at the Newberry Library. And if you find the right person at some libraries, you may find that they help you acquire copies of original sources. Persistence can help, too. Earlier this year, there was a score I wanted to acquire a copy of where the only reported copy was at University of IL. Interlibrary loan declined to send a photocopy, claiming the score was too fragile, so I contacted the special collections librarian, pointed out this was the only reported copy, and that if the copy was now too fragile to make a copy, it was urgent to copy it now, before the paper completely disintegrated. (Ironically, printed music from the 1800s is more threatened than manuscripts of the 1500's because the printed music is on high acid paper, and is disintegrating). He concurred, digitized the music, and sent me copies of the scans.

Many of the older manuscripts have been microfilmed, and films are available relatively cheap. I've acquired several, at a cost ranging from $35.00 to $100.00 each; I digitize the films using a flat bed scanner, and use a graphics imaging program to view the pages.

Feel free to contact me off forum / and off site, and I'll be happy to brainstorm with you.

Regards
Noel Stoutenburg
mjolnir@ticnet.com

To answer some of your questions, CPDL does not have "access to sources", but you have more access to sources than you think.
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