New Collection of English Motets Adapted from Renaissance Masters

Heath Morber, Director of Music at St. John’s Catholic Chapel in Champaign, IL, has released his third collection (his previous two collections, Bread from Heaven and English Motets for the Church Year, have been reviewed here and here) in his English Motets series: Everlasting Joy in You: Two- and Three-voice motets of Orlando di Lasso adapted into English. All of the pieces, set originally in Latin, have been fitted with singable English translations for use in vernacular Masses.

Few Renaissance composers wrote extensively for smaller voice ensembles, but Lassus was a master of the duet. These bicinia have been studied in counterpoint classes for generations. His three-voice collection, however, is much lesser-known, but these trios are written skillfully and remain accessible to the average chorister.

All of the bicinia come in two transpositions, for SA-TB and for AT voicings. For the trios, Lassus mostly uses the unique voicing of STB, though there are a few settings that call for three equal voices.

The variety of texts ranges from complete psalm settings (Laetatus Sum) to New Testament excerpts (Qui Vult Venire) to the traditional post-meal blessing (Agimus Tibi Gratias).

This collection would be a wonderful addition to any music library in parishes where the vernacular is used but the beauty of polyphony is desired.

The book can be purchased here (samples can be found there, also).

Two selections from the book can be heard and seen below:

And some photos:

Looking for Accessible English Polyphony? Check Out English Motets for the Church Year

Every choir director knows the problem. You have a number of people of good will but they are not music majors or professional singers. They need to hear their part many times before they get it. And there isn't a lot of practice time available. Yet there is a great desire for beautiful music to elevate and dignify the liturgy. We love to sing chant, of course, but we also want to bring in the polyphony, in the spirit of the old masters. What do we do?

There's more than one way to solve this dilemma. For example, an organist can discreetly accompany polyphony on the organ; perhaps only the sopranos and altos will sing their parts, but the organ will play everything. Another solution is to find more easily accessible three- and four-part compositions. There are many warhorses in this regard, some of which favor homophony but break out occasionally into polyphony. Examples of this type include Tye's "Laudate Nomen Domini," Hassler's "Dixit Maria," and Tallis's "If ye love me."

But Heath Morber has added a new tool to the arsenal. He has already enriched the choral repertoire with his book Bread from Heaven (reviewed here) and now he is back with another wonderful collection of two- and three-part music, English Motets for the Church Year: Choral Works Adapted from the Renaissance Masters.

The concept is simple: Morber has carefully sifted through a vast array of Latin motets and Mass ordinaries, has chosen sections where the composers themselves thin their texture down to two or three voices, and then has carefully adapted the melodic lines to English texts. He subtly modifies the rhythms and cadences to reflect the character of the English language itself, and provides multiple versions of the motets for different voice ranges. As an experienced choir director, Morber knows what you need: since the refrains are relatively short in duration, he provides psalm verses to sing in between repetitions. The result is a balanced and beautiful whole.

I can certainly vouch that parish and chapel choirs would greatly benefit from adding pieces of this book to their repertoire, especially when trying to prepare for Masses week after week. Indeed, I can think of about ten thousand parishes in the United States that would instantly experience musical elevation and edification if only they could stretch their horizons and, acknowledging that something is missing, insert some Renaissance polyphony. And, while I know Morber would say "bring on Latin if you can," he also knows that not every place or every situation is ready for this venerable tongue. There is certainly a dire need for good English-language music, as well, and in many situations one can imagine this book scoring a tremendous success where a more uncompromising insistence on the original language would raise hackles or draw too much attention to itself.

The music is superb; the texts are from Sacred Scripture; the entire project is in perfect accord with Sacrosanctum Concilium's call for good, holy, and edifying sacred music. Thank you, Heath, for editing another winner.

A full table of contents may be viewed at this site.

Book Review: Bread from Heaven: English Eucharistic Motets

Heath Morber, the Director of Music at St. John's Catholic Chapel in Champaign, Illinois, recently published a most handy book of easy Eucharistic motets in English for 2 and 3 voices: Bread from Heaven. As anyone knows who has tried to run an amateur choir, it can be a great challenge (especially at an early morning Mass) having enough repertoire to do a respectable job with polyphony. Sometimes only the women show up; sometimes you'll have only one tenor or bass. Sometimes you have a men's schola and you'd like to teach them a TB or TBB motet -- but it has to be simple.

Unfortunately, the combination of simplicity and beauty has not been very successfully attained by most modern composers. It seems to have been an everyday gift with the likes of Palestrina, Lassus, and Josquin, who are the masters chosen by Morber. He has taken Latin motets or passages from Masses that were already written for 2 or 3 voices and carefully adapted them for English texts suitable for communion time. In all cases he provides us with multiple settings of each text, for a variety of different forces depending on the piece (e.g., SA, AT, TB, SAT, ATB, SAA, AAT, TBB). The adaptations are beautifully done and sing as well as if they had been originally designed as English mini-motets. Each motet features an English psalm-tone verse so that the motet can be repeated. At the back there is a complete text of Psalm 34(33) pointed in such a way that it will work with the psalm tones used in the motets. The result is a lovely meditation for communion that will cover any length of time.

This is the sort of resource the Ordinary Form needs, and it is a resource that most amateur choirs can readily make use of. Heath Morber has priced it at $10 so that multiple copies are not prohibitively expensive. Check it out here.

Samples: "You Gave Us Bread from Heaven" (SAB):

"Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord" (AT):

Photos from the book:

For more video samples, see here, and here, and here.