Simon Ravens
Page 210 | 2023
Abstract
This paper reviews obstacles that need to be overcome by modern choirs in attempting to recreate performances of sixteenth century music. Beginning with the example of the Ave Maria by Nicolas Gombert (1495 – 1560) it considers editorial difficulties such as musica ficta and textual underlay. These would have been interpreted by individual singers using part books according to both convention and the skill of the singer. In the sixteenth century there would have been no conductor and rehearsal time would have been minimal. Any direction would have come from one of the singers themselves, who might well have been the composer. Pitch remains a conundrum and is a more complex issue than simply transposing to a key closer to the original pitch. Part ranges were smaller to accommodate possible variations in the actual pitch set on a given day and singers of all parts would have cultivated a “falsetto extension” in case the pitch set was high. The skills of improvisation that would have been taught to boys from an early age are not cultivated in modern singers who expect these matters to have been resolved in printed scores and to receive direction from a conductor.
