User:Joseph Walker

General information

Country of origin: United States

Contributor since: 2024-05-08

Works with editions by this editor: 41 (see list)

Editions

My work on this site originally began with publishing editions of obscure hymns and other pieces which cannot otherwise be found online, but are nevertheless sung to this day by my local church choir in Cincinnati, albeit in the humble form of photocopies of photocopies of 100+ year old hymnals. Since then, the scope of my efforts here has expanded to include transcribing and editing some of my favorite works of Renaissance polyphony. While I don't currently have a systematic process by which I choose works to transcribe, I generally prioritize those whose freely available editions I am unsatisfied with.

Editorial practice

My editorial practice borrows much from that of David Fraser, whose work on this site I am greatly inspired by. My editions are intended to conform to common conventions of Early Music editing.

Voices are denoted by Roman numerals from highest to lowest, while measures and notes within measures are denoted by Arabic numerals, all delimited by periods. Notes tied over from previous measures are not numbered separately. Rests are likewise not numbered separately.

Notes

Editions of pieces written in chiavi naturali are all at the original pitch. Those written in chiavette are transposed down a fourth or fifth depending on context; generally, those with a B-flat signature are transposed down a fourth, while those with no flat in the signature are transposed down a fifth. Some editions may have other transpositions available (or none at all), depending on common performance practice.

All notes retain their original values except notes written under a 3/2 mensuration, in which case the values are halved.

Ligatures are indicated by solid square brackets, and coloration by broken brackets. These may be placed either above or below the affected notes depending on available space and legibility.

Accidentals

Accidentals notated in the source are indicated by normal-sized symbols before the note; these are not repeated within the same measure. Accidentals in the source are assumed to apply to every consecutive repetition of the same note.

Superfluous and clearly erroneous accidentals are omitted. Signature accidentals are assumed not to apply to notes in other octaves; this will be indicated by cautionary accidentals. Accidentals that "extend" the key signature to other octaves are considered to be superfluous in a modern score and are therefore omitted (see V.41.4 in the Kyrie of Victoria's 1605 Requiem, for example).

Editorial accidentals (i.e. musica ficta) are indicated by small symbols above the note and are repeated for every affected note.

Cautionary accidentals are indicated by normal-sized symbols enclosed in parentheses. These are used:

To cancel a previous accidental within a measure, on notes where the previous accidental does not apply.

To indicate on notes outside the signature that the signature accidental(s) do(es) not apply.

Sparingly as courtesy accidentals, on notes that follow immediately or shortly after previous accidentals that do not apply.

Text

All editions are intended to be suitable for liturgical use. Latin text, including spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, is generally taken from either the Liber Usualis, the Breviarum Romanum (1906), or the Vulgate. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, or punctuation in the sources are ignored. In the context of sacred music, all voices are considered to form a single group praying in unison, thus each voice does not have independent grammar or capitalization, even when entering mid-sentence. Repetitions of words within a single voice are always separated by commas.