Talk:Musica Deo sacra (Thomas Tomkins)

Ordering?

Using Rose's EECM edition I've done a little disambiguating (stumped by reference to a SSATB "Have mercy" though) but this page is hard to edit, in spite of being easy to read in the sortable table. If the order reflects the pieces appearance in the print, maybe a numbered column should be added on the right margin. Richard Mix (talk) 22:45, 27 June 2015 (UTC)

Yes, the pieces are just ordered as they are listed in index of the original (Medius) part-book. The ordering in the index is relatively straightforward: first the services, then the "seasonal" anthems, then the "general" anthems in alphabetical order, then four-part anthems "for men", then three-part anthems. But the pieces are not all arranged this way in the part-books: it's a bit of a mess, really. (In general, the print is full of errors that make editing rather more difficult than one might hope!) Perhaps the best option would be to give numbers from Rose, or something.

As for an SSATB "Have mercy upon me", that must've been my mistake. The part-books for that anthem include parts for a mean, two countertenors, tenor, and bass (or, transposed, probably SAATB). Ross Jallo (talk) 14:54, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

It is quite logical, though if as you say the different part books disagree, it seems complicated :-|

Rose numbers each vol. afresh, so the 3-part "Have Mercy" would be EECM 27.6 or maybe MDS IV.6. I've also got vols. I/5, II/9 & III/14 out the library, but none seems to have a 5-part "Have mercy". Could it be a contrafactum/duplicate? Richard Mix (talk) 02:51, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

Just checked the library, and the 5-part "Have mercy" is in Vol. 37, pp. 51-56. Cheers! Ross Jallo (talk) 22:10, 2 July 2015 (UTC)