At 2:16 PM -0700 4/16/06, Lon Price wrote:
After reading about the Classical Music Archives site, I subscribed and downloaded some MIDI files. I'm currently studying Benjamin's "The Craft of Modal Counterpoint," so I downloaded works by Palestrina--"Missa Papae Marcelli" for 6 voices and "Mass for 3 Voices" by William Byrd. I have recordings of these works, and when comparing the MIDI versions to the recordings, I found numerous discrepancies, like completely different cadences (V-i in minor instead of major V-I), accidentals in the MIDI file that don't occur in the recording, or vise-versa. I expect that the recordings are accurate-- the Palestrina is performed by the Oxford Camerata, and the Byrd is performed by the Tallis Scholars. Being unfamiliar with music of this period, my question is: Are there different editions of pieces from this period that are inconsistent, or are these MIDI files just inaccurate? Does the archive have someone checking submitted files for accuracy, or do they only care about whether or not copyrights are being violated? It would seem to me that accuracy is very important for a website like this one. Otherwise, what's the point?
Lon: What you have run into here is differences of opinion regarding the application of the rules of musica ficta, the unwritten but understood adjustments that singers were expected to make in practice, either "for reasons of beauty" or "for reasons of necessity." You have two different versions by two different modern editors. Both are "correct" according to their editors, but it isn't a matter of accuracy, it's a matter of opinion. Basically the one thing we can be sure of is that the music would seldom have been sung precisely as it is notated, because those musica ficta rules were in use. Welcome to just ONE of the wonderful worlds of renaissance music!
Given what you have, I'd go with the recordings as being probably better considered by both editors and conductors who have experience with this problem. With the MIDI file, there's no way to tell who entered them or what they were working from.
As to your question, it would be pointless to "check the submitted files for accuracy," even if someone had the hours to spare that it would take, because this is a matter for musicologists to natter over.
John -- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
