# Great compositions before 1600



## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

What are some great compositions before 1600? Some of my favorites so far include:

Perotin - Sederunt principes; Viderunt Omnes
Machaut - Messe de Nostre Dame
Josquin - Missa Pange lingua
Tallis - Lamentations of Jeremiah; Spem in Alium
Palestrina - Missa Papae Marcelli

I'm craving more to listen to. Also, are there any large-scale works before 1600 that _aren't_ masses?


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

This is not a period I know much about, but early music is typically divided into 2 periods:

Medieval (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_music); and
Renaissance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_music)

The troubadours were among 'composers' of the Medieval. Also, Gregorian Chant.

I have a slight bit more familiarity with the Renaissance. John Dowland stands out as a major figure of the period.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

*The Play of Daniel*

_The Play of Daniel_

This is historically considered one of the earliest larger-scale works, the authorship anonymous, and likely the work was, "written by students at the school of Beauvais Cathedral, located in northern France. Both plays were completed about 1227 to 1234"

Those were composed by advanced students working under the aegis of _Le Maître Capello._

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_of_Daniel

There are at least a few fine recorded performances. IMO, a lovely work worth the time for at least one listen


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Brumel's earthquake mass. 

Dufay's Nuper rosarum flores.

Allegri's Miserere. 

Josquin's Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, Missa L'homme armé, Missa Pange lingua 

Victoria's Missa pro defunctis

Hildegard's Ordo Virtutum 

Lassus's Lagrime di San Pietro 

Byrd's Masses for 4 & 5 voices

Machaut's Messe de Notre Dame

Ockeghem's Requiem 


There's so much! Explore around a bit. You're bound to like a lot of this stuff. A couple that are a bit odder are Sequentia's "Edda" and "Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper" disks. The Hilliard Ensemble's "Perotin" disk is enormously popular. Some other favorites of mine are Anonymous 4's "The Second Circle - Love Songs of Francesco Landini" and pretty much everything Gothic Voices has ever done.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

The OP asked for large scale works that aren't masses. That does seem to be very limiting.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

GreenMamba said:


> The OP asked for large scale works that aren't masses. That does seem to be very limiting.


Foolishly limiting. However, Dufay provides some meat within that restriction, although he may not consider it 'large scale'. Nothing that survives from Josquin should be avoided anyway.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Two classic anthologies by David Munrow & the Early Music Consort of London, a good sampling of composers, genres, and styles. Mostly shorter works.

















The idea of writing large-scale works is largely a later development (besides Masses, which, in fact, are made up of 6 short movements). In the high Renaissance, motets begin to assume a grand scale. Check out the magnificent motets of Josquin Desprez. This is the finest performance that I know of:

*Manfred Cordes / Weser Renaissance Bremen, Josquin Desprez: De profundis & Other Motets (CPO, 2012)*










I'll post a few others later.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

A few others, two of which are just a little past your 1600 cut off date:

Monteverdi, _Vespro della Beata Vergine_ (or _Vespers_ of 1610). 
The performance by John Eliot Gardiner & the English Baroque Soloists is a classic, but there are a number of fine ones.










Dufay: _Motets, Hymns, Chansons_
Performance: Blue Heron Renaissance Choir










Praetorius: _Terpsichore_. From 1612.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Almost forgot:

Giovanni Gabrieli, _Sacrae Symphoniae_ (1597) -- just under your cut-off date:










Carlo Gesualdo, _Books of Madrigals_, which straddle your cut off: Book Four from 1596, Five and Six from 1611.










Science recommended Hildegard von Bingen's morality play, _Ordo Virtutem_. Hildegard (canonized in 2012, also named as a "Doctor of the Church" by Pope Benedict) is one of the earliest known composers in the history of Western music (and the earliest woman composer). She has a large collection entitled _Symphony of the Harmony of the Celestial Revelations_ (_Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum_). One classic performance is by Sequentia:


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## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I'm really enjoying Byrd's masses right now.



GreenMamba said:


> The OP asked for large scale works that aren't masses. That does seem to be very limiting.


I'm not looking _exclusively_ for such works, it was just something I was wondering because I hadn't come across any.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

MJongo said:


> What are some great compositions before 1600? Some of my favorites so far include:
> 
> Perotin - Sederunt principes; Viderunt Omnes
> Machaut - Messe de Nostre Dame
> ...


Well Machaut is probably better known as a poet than a musician and one of his longest poems, Le Voir dit, is partly set to music. It includes a very long lay -- le lay de bonne esperance. I've only heard it on the Oxford Camerata recording on spotify, and I just don't find the singer very interesting. Has anyone heard other recordings -- there's one on Hyperion I think.

And staying with Machaut, there's a performance of his poem "Loyeute que point ne delay" by Marc Mauillon which lasts for over half an hour. It's a really evocative recording and I recommend it without reservation.

There's a recording called Planctus made by Studio der Fruhen Musik, with some long things on it - a gorgeous piece by Guirot Riquier which lasts over 10 minutes and a sequence of for plaints which last for nearly 20 minutes. Again it's fabulous and I recommend it without reservation.

No less impressive is Frühen Musik's recording of the glorious Martim Codex, which includes a fantastic long piece called Ab joi mou mo vers e'l momens, nearly 20 min.

There are other things I'm sure , maybe by Jordi Savall. No doubt someone else will comment.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

GreenMamba said:


> The OP asked for large scale works that aren't masses. That does seem to be very limiting.


No, that's incorrect. The OP asked for "great compositions before 1600." As an afterthought, MJongo asked, perhaps rhetorically, if there were any large scale works before 1600 that were not masses.

BTW, isn't Gabrieli a 'new stile' baroque composer? I assumed that the 1600 cut-off date was intended to allow only independent polyphonic voice writing, stopping at the Baroque. The Madrigal was, however, Gabrieli's way of being a 'conservative' while he messed with the form in a big way, introducing dissonance. In trhat sense, he had a foot in both eras.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm not sure what is considered large-scale works, but Josquin's Liber Generationis Jesu Christi clocks in at 11 minutes. Also, the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Palestrina and also by Victoria are pretty large-scale. Palestrina's Canticum Canticorum is pretty large also. 

As for great compositions, there are tons of them, but Obrecht's Missa Maria Zart is remarkable for its great length, filling up a whole CD, without losing its inspiration.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Something a little bit lighter that the aforementioned: how about Susato's _Danserye _? This is a collection of dances which includes the wonderfully rousing Battle Pavane.

John Dowland has already been mentioned. The Frog Galliard is my favourite of his tunes but the lute music in general is worth listening to. And of course he has too many great songs to mention, e.g. Clear or Cloudy.

And another pinnacle of early music is the _Cantigas de Santa Maria_, a collection of songs attributed to Alfonso X El Sabio. This repertoire is very exciting because interpretations vary enormously from one performer to the next. This is quite a tasteful version of the crowd-pleasing Santa Maria Strela Do Dia

EDIT: ok, none of the above are "large scale compositions" but collections of miniatures can of course be equally great


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Another large-scale piece is the anonymous St. Luke Passion from the 15th Century, recorded on Naxos by Tonus Peregrinus. It has a lot of chanting, but the choruses have a Machaut-like sound with "characteristic English sweetness in its harmony, as well as unexpectedly dramatic responses to the events . . ." (from the CD cover). In other words, it's not for everyone.


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