Edition Michael Procter

Renaissance choral music

Editions of sacred renaissance vocal music by the late Michael Procter

Editions of sacred
renaissance music by the late Michael Procter.
Revised by Robin Rigby and available from
The Peacock Press
The Peacock Press at
For copies (not digital copies), please contact
Jacks, Pipes and Hammers
telephone +44 1422 882751
EMP1315 Infelix ego
SMATBaB Penitential £6.00
Infelix ego is a Latin meditation on the Miserere, Psalm 51, composed in prison by Girolamo Savonarola by 8 May 1498, after he had been tortured on the rack, and two weeks before he was burned at the stake in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence on 23 May 1498. The prison authorities had spared only his right arm during the preliminary torture, so that Savonarola would be able to sign his confession: after doing so, and in a state of despair at not being strong enough to resist the pain of his prolonged torture, he wrote Infelix ego and a portion of a companion meditation, Tristitia obsedit me, on Psalm 30. He was executed before he was able to complete Tristitia obsedit me. Byrd's powerful setting, like that of Lassus, conveys all the intensity of the text. In this version the Baritone part is printed in the Bass clef: the alternative version, no 1316, prints this voice in the same octave-Treble clef as the Tenor.
EMP1316 Infelix ego
SMATBaB Penitential £6.00
Infelix ego is a Latin meditation on the Miserere, Psalm 51, composed in prison by Girolamo Savonarola by 8 May 1498, after he had been tortured on the rack, and two weeks before he was burned at the stake in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence on 23 May 1498. The prison authorities had spared only his right arm during the preliminary torture, so that Savonarola would be able to sign his confession: after doing so, and in a state of despair at not being strong enough to resist the pain of his prolonged torture, he wrote Infelix ego and a portion of a companion meditation, Tristitia obsedit me, on Psalm 30. He was executed before he was able to complete Tristitia obsedit me. Byrd's powerful setting, like that of Lassus, conveys all the intensity of the text. In this version the Baritone part is printed in the same octave-Treble clef as the Tenor: the alternative version, no 1316, prints this voice in the Bass clef.
EMP0709 Mass Propers for the Feast of Christmas and Office Music for Christmastide
SATB Mass Propers, Christmas £6.00
It is with this splendid collection of Christmastide music that Byrd's second book of Gradualia opens. It includes the complete Propers for the principal (third) mass of Christmas Day, which are used throughout the Octave, together with settings of Hodie Christus natus est (Magnificat Antiphon), O magnum misterium/Beata Virgo (Matins Respond) and O admirabile commercium (Magnificat Antiphon for the Circumcision (Jan. 1)).
EMP0287 Mass propers for the Feast of Mary, Mother of God (January 1st)
SSATB Mass Propers, Mary, Mother of God (January 1) £5.00
The Feast of Mary, Mother of God, is celebrated on January 1st, replacing the Circumcision. The Feast was of course unknown in Byrd's Day but the Proper is all in the Gradualia and has been assembled here by Michael Procter, just as Byrd intended should be done for other Marian feasts.
EMP0661 Mass propers for the Feast of SS Peter and Paul
SSATTB Mass Propers, SS Peter and Paul (June 29) £5.00
For the two feasts of St Peter, this and St Peter's Chains, Byrd provided the only 6-voice Propers in his great Gradualia - an obvious homage to the Roman Catholic Church, to which he remained loyal despite the very real dangers for Catholics in England at the time. The music is grand, as befits its intention.
EMP0021 Mass propers for the Feast of the Nativity BVM
SATBaB Mass Propers, Nativity BVM (September 8) £6.00
The archetypal Mary Mass, providing most of the familiar segments re-used in many of the other Propers. Its atypical ad aequales scoring (TrMATBa) means it can be transposed to suit: I offer it at two standard ranges, either a tone or a fourth lower than the original (equivalent to SATBaB for mixed or male voices).
EMP0764 Mass propers for the Feast of the Nativity BVM
SATBaB Mass Propers, Nativity BVM (September 8) £6.00
The archetypal Mary Mass, providing most of the familiar segments re-used in many of the other Propers. Its atypical ad aequales scoring (TrMATBa) means it can be transposed to suit: I offer it at two standard ranges, either a tone or a fourth lower than the original (equivalent to SATBaB for mixed or male voices).
EMP1000 Missa 3 vocum
ATB Mass Ordinary, General Use £5.00
The well-known 'Mass for three voices' is an ad aequales piece (with 'close-together' clefs, in this case MAT) and is available at various pitches. This version is at the original pitch, suitable for male voices.
EMP1001 Missa 3 vocum
SAT Mass Ordinary, General Use £5.00
The well-known 'Mass for three voices' is an ad aequales piece (with 'close-together' clefs, in this case MAT) and is available at various pitches. This version is a third higher than the original pitch.
EMP1002 Missa 3 vocum
SSA Mass Ordinary, General Use £5.00
The well-known 'Mass for three voices' is an ad aequales piece (with 'close-together' clefs, in this case MAT) and is available at various pitches. This version is a fifth higher than the original pitch, suitable for female or boys' voices.
EMP1003 Missa 3 vocum
TBaB Mass Ordinary, General Use £5.00
The well-known 'Mass for three voices' is an ad aequales piece (with 'close-together' clefs, in this case MAT) and is available at various pitches. This version is a fifth lower than the original pitch, suitable for male voices.
EMP1250 Missa 3 vocum
TTB Mass Ordinary, General Use £5.00
The well-known 'Mass for three voices' is an ad aequales piece (with 'close-together' clefs, in this case MAT) and is available at various pitches. This version is a fourth lower than the original pitch, suitable for male voices.
EMP0273 Missa 4 vocum
SATB Mass Ordinary, General Use £6.30
The well-known 'Mass for four voices' is a high-clef piece and is available at various pitches (here a semitone lower than the original). The Editor considers the piece should be sung down a fourth or a fifth by ATTB/ATBaB.
EMP0615 Missa 4 vocum
SATB Mass Ordinary, General Use £6.30
The mass is here transposed down a third, to a pitch suitable for mixed voices.
EMP0616 Missa 4 vocum
ATTB Mass Ordinary, General Use £6.30
The mass is here transposed down a fourth
EMP0691 Missa 4 vocum
ATBB Mass Ordinary, General Use £6.30
The mass is here transposed down a fifth, the pitch at which our editor considers it rightly belongs. This version has the top voice in Treble (Violin) cleff, two octave-Treble ('Tenor') clefs and Bass clef.
EMP0750 Missa 4 vocum
SATB Mass Ordinary, General Use £6.30
The well-known 'Mass for four voices' is a high-clef piece and is available at various pitches. The Editor considers the piece should be sung down a fourth or a fifth by ATTB/ATBaB. This version is at the original high pitch.
EMP1297 Missa 4 vocum
ATBB Mass Ordinary, General Use £6.30
The mass is here transposed down a fifth, the pitch at which our editor considers it rightly belongs. This version has three voices in octave-Treble ('Tenor') clef and one in Bass clef.
EMP0043 Ne irascaris Domine
SATBaB Motet general, Penitential £4.75
A beautiful and powerful piece, its text derived from the penitential Advent Prose 'Rorate coeli desuper'. Its unremitting sombre mood and passionate intensity make it a starkly challenging piece for those who think Christmas carols and 'Jingle bells' appropriate for Advent...
EMP0061 O God that guides
S solo,SATTB instr. and SSATTB chorus Non-liturgical £4.00
A splendid verse anthem for New Year's Day, ideally for viols and voices but suitable for other instruments (please contact me for parts in suitable clefs.) It has two verses, the second closing with a short Amen.
EMP0508 O admirabile commercium
SSAB Magnificat Antiphon, Circumcision of Our Lord (Jan. 1) and Christmastide £3.00
Less well-known Christmas piece with demanding ranges for SSA (or T with top Bflat)
EMP0507 O magnum misterium
SAABa Respond, Christmas £3.00
Well-known Christmas piece
EMP1035 O magnum misterium
SAABa Respond, Christmas £3.00
Well-known Christmas piece, here a tone higher than the original.
EMP1036 O magnum misterium
SAABa Respond, Christmas £3.00
Well-known Christmas piece, here a third higher than the original.
EMP0049 Salve Regina (1605)
SATB Marian Antiphon, Holy Trinity to the Saturday before Advent £3.00
The simple setting from the Gradualia.
EMP0527 Solve iubente Deo
SSATTB Magnificat Antiphon, St. Peter in Chains (S. Petri ad Vincula)(August 1) £3.00
A magnificent piece, one of the few for 6 voices in the Gradualia associated with the feasts of St Peter. The text is both Magnificat Antiphon at Vespers and Alleluia verse in the Mass. Byrd's print omits almost all the text for obvious political reasons; it has been reconstructed here.
EMP0415 Though Amaryllis dance in green
SATBaB Secular £3.00
One of Byrd's most popular, but by no means easier madrigals. Offered a fourth lower than the original.
EMP0417 Tribulationes civitatum
SATTB Penitential £4.75
Another of Byrd's 'Jerusalem' motets.
EMP1260 Unam petii
SATTB Penitential £4.00
A further 'Jerusalem' motet, this one printed in the Gradualia, and incorporating a daring diatribe against the King. This revised version restores original note values.
EMP0578 Vide Domine
SATTB £4.00
One of the most extreme of Byrd's 'Jerusalem' motets.Vide Domine is a non-liturgical text also set by other composers - including Clemens, and Jean Lafage (also published in Edition Michael Procter).
EMP0053 Why do I use my paper, ink and pen
SATTB St Edmund Campion (December 6) £4.00
Text by St. Henry Walpole on the death of Campion. Byrd's setting circulated widely in manuscript as a Consort Song (e.g. in the Dow partbooks) but was printed in Psalms, Sonets and Songs (1588) in a vocal version.
EMP1075 In convertendo
SSTTB, bc Vesper Psalm, Feasts of Apostles £4.75
A delightful piece, a setting of one of the psalms sung at Tuesday Vespers and on Feasts of Apostles. In line with its unusual scoring it falls into sections mainly for SS, TT, ST duos, the B sometimes singing alone, sometimes with one or more of the other voices, with occasional tuttis.
EMP1107 Salve Regina
SATB,bc Marian Antiphon, Holy Trinity to the Saturday before Advent £4.00
A further piece from Cavalli's Musiche Sacre; the setting is through-composed and uses several different tempi to match the text.
EMP1118 Ego flos campi
SSATTBB General Use £4.00
A ravishingly beautiful piece, in the rare 7-voice scoring, here revised in original note-values.
EMP1129 Ego flos campi
SSATTBB General Use £4.00
A ravishingly beautiful piece, in the rare 7-voice scoring, now revised in original note-values. This versions is a third higher than the original.
EMP1128 Sanctus
5 equal voices £2.50
Known only from an 18th century manuscript in the British Library, this piece was originally a textless canon for 5 voices, in the bass clef. It has been adapted here to the single word 'Sanctus'.