The Polyphony Database
polyphonydatabase@gmail.com
About the database❯
PolyphonyDatabase.com is a detailed catalogue of early music sources designed to help musicians perform, academics study, and enthusiasts explore a vast and glorious repertoire quickly and easily. It aims to combine the practicality of CPDL with the academic rigour and ambition of the RISM census, to make use of similar projects where possible, and to directly combat the frustrations performing musicians have with all existing resources.
Its three main goals are:
- To assist performers, directors, and editors by cataloguing the contents of primary sources, source concordances, and basic information about how each piece of music can be performed.
- To provide a reliable starting point for academic research by linking to library catalogues, other existing databases, and facsimile images of early music manuscripts and prints.
- To provide a repository for properly sourced critical editions, performing scores, and recordings of as much of this music as possible, each carefully vetted for typesetting quality and accuracy, and made available for free download, so that this music might be discovered and appreciated by a wider audience.
The database was founded by Francis Bevan in 2014 as an outlet for his editing hobby and is regularly updated by him and a small team of enthusiasts. If you would like to contribute some cataloguing time, recordings or editions, submit corrections, commission an edition or just donate some cash, please get in touch with Francis via email: polyphonydatabase@gmail.com. Read more about the project's history at the 2018 Crowdfunder page.
The best way to help fund the project is to commission performing editions. New editions can be made quickly for as little as £10.
Understanding the clef images
A red clef means the voice is missing from this source. Where there are no concordances to fill in the gaps, this means the piece will require reconstruction.
A green clef means the voice is incomplete in this source. This might denote a fragment of a larger work, or a e.g. canonic voice that isn't written out in full.
A faded clef means much of the piece can be performed without this voice. For example, an extra 6th voice in the Agnus Dei of an otherwise 5vv Mass setting, or a short gimel in a big votive antiphon. Filtering by number of voices will exclude these clefs, while filtering by a specific voice combination will include them.
A blue clef denotes a voice that uses more than one clef in this source - this is particularly prevalent in earlier printed sources. We've estimated the larger clef on the left to be the most used to give an idea of voice distribution at a glance.
An X clef is used as a placeholder for voices we know are necessary, but haven't yet worked out which! This can be because there are no extant sources for a missing voice and no reconstruction has yet been attempted (it will normally become obvious which voice is missing once editing starts), or because we have catalogued a source from an incomplete facsimile that we know to be complete elsewhere.
Title |
Function(s) |
Composer |
# |
Sources |
Accepit Jesus panem
|
Corpus Christi |
Guyot de Châtelet, Jean
1512–1588
|
6 |
|
Accepit Jesus panem
Nancho Alvarez
|
Corpus Christi |
Guerrero, Francisco
1528–1599
|
4 |
(E-SE 6)
(Choirbook, MS)
#32
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
Motteta ... que partim quaternis, par... (RISM G4871)
Motteta ... que partim quaternis, partim quinis, alia senis, alia octonis concinuntur vocibus
Venice: Gardano, Antonio, 1570
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#10
|
|
Attrib: Francisci Gverreri |
|
Motecta (RISM G4877)
Venice: Vincenti, Giacomo, 1597
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#31
|
|
Attrib: Francisci Gverreri |
|
|
Accepit Jesus panem
|
Corpus Christi |
Anon
|
4 |
(E-SI 21)
Santo Domingo de Silos
(Choirbook, MS)
#13
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Acceptabis sacrificium iustitiae
|
Ordinary Time 16 (post Pentecost IX) |
Senfl, Ludwig
c.1486–1542/1543
|
4 |
|
Acceptabis sacrificium iustitiae
|
Ordinary Time 16 (post Pentecost IX) |
Isaac, Heinrich
c.1450–1517
|
4 |
Primus Tomus Coralis Constantini ut v... (RISM I89)
Primus Tomus Coralis Constantini ut vulgo vocant, opus insigne & præclarum, vereque coelestis harmoniæ
Nuremberg: Formschneider, Hieronymus, 1550
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#35
|
|
Attrib: Henrico Isaac |
Communion for tenth Sunday after Pentecost |
|
Acceptable is nothing more
|
|
Whythorne, Thomas
1528–1596
|
2 |
|
Accesserunt ad Jesum - Non legistis quia - Propter hoc dimit
|
|
Clemens non Papa, Jacobus
c.1510–1555/1556
|
5 |
(D-Dl Mus.1-D-3)
Dresden, 1550-1560
(Partbook, MS)
RISM
#30
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
Liber octavus cantionum sacrarum vulg... (RISM 1555/5)
Liber octavus cantionum sacrarum vulgo moteta vocant, quinque sex septem & octo vocum ex optimis quibusque Musicis selectarum
Leuven: Phalèse the Elder, Pierre, 1555
(Partbook, Print)
#1
|
|
Attrib: Clemens non papa |
|
Secunda pars magni operis musici cont... (RISM 1559/1)
Secunda pars magni operis musici continens clarissimorum symphonistarum tam veterum quam recentiorum, praecipe vero Clementis non Papae, Carmina elegantissima quinque vocum
Nuremberg: Berg, Johann and Neuber, Ulrich, 1559
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#60
|
|
Attrib: Ia. Clemens non Papa |
|
Choirbook B (NL-Lml 1439)
Leiden: Blauwe, Anthonius de, 1559
(Choirbook, MS)
#11
|
|
Attrib: Clemens non papa |
|
|
Accessit ad eum mater filiorum - Nescitis quid petatis
|
|
Reiner, Jacob
before 1560–1606
|
8 |
Selectae piaeque cantiones, sex, sept... (RISM R1084)
Selectae piaeque cantiones, sex, septem, octo, adiunctaque in fine una decem vocum quae cum vivae voci, tum, omnis generis, instrumentorum musicis, applicari commodissime possent
Munich: Berg, Adam, 1591
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#17
|
|
Attrib: Iacobo Reinero |
|
|
Accessit ad Jesum centurio
|
|
Dulichius, Philipp
1562–1631
|
5 |
Novum opus musicum duarum partium, co... (RISM D3686)
Novum opus musicum duarum partium, continens dicta insigniora ex evangeliis dierum cum dominicorum, tum festorum praecipuorum totius anni
Stettin: Myliander, Stephan, 1599
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#12
|
|
Attrib: Philippo Dulichio |
Dominica 3 post Epiphaniae |
|
Accessit ad pedes Jesu
|
Mary Magdalene |
Resinarius, Balthasar
c.1485–1544
|
4 |
Responsoriorum numero octoginta de te... (RISM R1196)
Responsoriorum numero octoginta de tempore et festis iuxta seriem totius anni, Libri duo, Primus de Christo, & reno eius, Doctrina, Vita, Passione, Resurretione & Ascensione. Alter, de sanctis, & illorum in Christum fide & Cruce
Wittenberg: Rhau, Georg, 1543
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#61
|
|
Attrib: Baltasare Resinario |
|
|
Accessit ad pedes Jesu
|
Mary Magdalene |
Paminger, Leonhard
1495–1567
|
4 |
Tertius tomus ecclesiasticarum cantio... (RISM P830)
Tertius tomus ecclesiasticarum cantionum, quatuor, quinque, sex, et plurium vocum, a prima dominica post festum S. Trrinitatis, usque ad primam Dominicam Adventus Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi. His commune de Sanctis Ecclesiae Dei, et quaedam Fragmenta ex canticis Canticorum salomonis, accesserunt.
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Dietrich and Gerlach, Katharina, 1576
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#152
|
|
Attrib: Leonarto Pamingero |
|
|
Accessit ad pedes Jesu - Dimissa sunt ei peccata multa
|
Mary Magdalene |
Wanning, Johannes
1537–1603
|
6 |
|
Accessit ad pedes Jesu - Dimissa sunt ei peccata multa
|
Mary Magdalene |
Tonsor, Michael
before 1546–after 1606
|
4 |
|
Accessit ad pedes Jesu - Dimissa sunt ei peccata multa
|
Mary Magdalene |
Deiss, Michael
fl.1564–1568
|
5 |
|
Accessit ad pedes Jesu - Dimissa sunt ei peccata multa
|
Mary Magdalene |
Anon
|
5 |
|
Accessit ad pedes Jesu - Dimissa sunt ei peccata multa
|
Mary Magdalene |
Anon
|
4 |
Preces speciales pro salubri generali... (RISM K445)
Preces speciales pro salubri generalis concilii successu, ac conclusione, populique christiani salute, & unione: atque contra Ecclesiae hostium furorem, ex sacra scriptura, & Ecclesiae usu a Reverendo Patri Petre de Soto Ordinis Praedicatorum collectae
Venice: Gardano, Antonio, 1562
(Partbook, Print/MS)
RISM
#23
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
Handwritten at end of D-As copy |
|
Accessit ad pedes Jesu - Et osculata est - Dimissa sunt ei peccata multa
|
Mary Magdalene |
Isaac, Heinrich
c.1450–1517
|
4 |
|
Accessit Jesus ad loculum
|
Ordinary Time 23 (post Pentecost XVII) |
Paminger, Leonhard
1495–1567
|
4 |
Tertius tomus ecclesiasticarum cantio... (RISM P830)
Tertius tomus ecclesiasticarum cantionum, quatuor, quinque, sex, et plurium vocum, a prima dominica post festum S. Trrinitatis, usque ad primam Dominicam Adventus Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi. His commune de Sanctis Ecclesiae Dei, et quaedam Fragmenta ex canticis Canticorum salomonis, accesserunt.
Nuremberg: Gerlach, Dietrich and Gerlach, Katharina, 1576
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#40
|
|
Attrib: Leonarto Pamingero |
|
|
Accingimini et estote
|
|
Zacchino, Giulio
fl.1572–1584
|
4 |
|
Accipe quae - Dum mihi natus erat
|
|
Maistre Jhan
c.1485–1538
|
5 |
(I-TVd 36)
Treviso, c.1530
(Partbook, MS)
#13
|
|
Attrib: M Jan |
|
|
Accipe qua recrees - Quo fers cumque
Pothárn Imre
|
|
Lassus, Orlande de
c.1532–1594
|
6 |
Magnum opus musicum ... Complectens o... (RISM L1019)
Magnum opus musicum ... Complectens omnes cantiones quas motetas vulgo vocant, tam antea editas quam hactenus nondum publicatas II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. IIX. IX. X. XII. vocum a Ferdinando serenissimi bavariae ducis maximiliani musicorum praefecto, & Rudolpho, eidem Principi ab Organis; Authoris filiis summo studio collectum, & impensis eorundem Typis mandatum
Munich: Heinrich, Nikolaus, 1604
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#316
|
|
Attrib: Orlandi de Lasso |
|
|
Accipiens Simeon
|
Candlemas |
Catalani, Ottavio
d.1644
|
3 |
Sacrarum cantionum quae binis, ternis... (RISM C1520)
Sacrarum cantionum quae binis, ternis, quaternis, quinis, senis, septenis, octonis vocibus concinuntur cum Basso ad organum
Rome: Zannetti, Bartolomeo, 1616
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#13
|
|
Attrib: Octavio Catalano |
|
|
Accipiens Simeon
|
Candlemas |
Anon
|
4 |
(I-TVd 14)
Treviso, c.1560-1626
(Choirbook, MS)
#23
|
|
Attrib: Anon |
|
|
Accipient iusti regnum decoris
|
|
Handl, Jacob (Gallus)
1550–1591
|
4 |
Quartus tomus musici operis harmoniar... (RISM H1985)
Quartus tomus musici operis harmoniarum quatuor, quinque, sex, octo et plurium vicum, quae ex sancto catholicae ecclesiae usu ita sunt dispositae, ut omni tempore inservire queant
Prague: Nigrinus, Georg, 1590
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#129
|
|
Attrib: Iacobo Hándl |
|
|
Accipite ergo animis - Quod cadit in spinas
|
|
Kessler, Wendelin
fl.1572–1580
|
5 |
Selectae aliquot et omnibus fere musi... (RISM K492)
Selectae aliquot et omnibus fere musicalium instrumentorum generibus accommodatissimae cantiones super evangelia, quae diebus dominicis et praecipuis sanctorum festis, ab adventu resurrectionem usque Christi, solent tractari
Wittenberg: Lehmann, Zacharias, 1582
(Partbook, Print)
RISM
#21
|
|
Attrib: Wwendelino Kesslero Cantharo |
|
|