Psalmo 117: Louvai ao Senhor | Psalm 117: Praise the Lord 3-Part - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1901953

This piece arose from my recent interest in white mensural notation and the Renaissance style in which it is employed. Over the past month, I have been studying The Notation of Polyphonic Music 900–1600 by Willi Apel, which has greatly assisted me in understanding this style, particularly its notational aspects. I have endeavoured to adhere to the rules as closely as possible, departing from them only once, in the first voice. The work follows the conventions of ligatures and mensuration, being written in tempus imperfectum cum prolatione imperfecta, as this was the mensural scheme most familiar to me. The piece begins as a simple canon at the octave between Cantus and Bassus, and at the interval of a fifth between Bassus and Tenor. Thereafter, imitative writing continues among the voices in the “Louvai-o todos” section. Once this passage concludes, the initial canon returns and continues until the final Alleluia at the end of the piece. It is a brief composition, scarcely exceeding one minute in duration, and is written using the pre-1911 orthographic reform of the Portuguese language. (In the Modern Notation version, the English Coverdale Translation of this Psalm is provided.).