The Music of Mark Emerson Donnelly

This is Part 2b (of 3) on the Regina Caeli. In this episode, I discuss 1. Different ways of singing the Mora Vocis 2. Elaboration on the Mora Vocis & the Epizema 3. A Choral Unity Experiment Please support these podcasts and other projects. Go to https://LifeFunder.com/mdonnellymusic

A short documentary on Mark Emerson Donnelly's journey from singer to composer https://markemersondonnelly.com/ Help support Mark's composing: https://https://markemersondonnelly.com/get-involved/ Revenue Canada tax receipts available through Una voce Canada https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/25383 from "Fund" choose "MED Composer" Outside of Canada https://www.wonderwe.com/mdonnellymusic For information on compositions, workshops (including Gregorian Chant), etc by Mark Emerson Donnelly email: mark@markdonnelly.ca ===== Original music performed by OFFERTORIUM Soprano: Veronica Roenitz, Colleen Bittman (Donnelly) Alto: Theresa Donnelly, Mary-Katherine Donnelly Tenor: Ed De Vita, Francis Donnelly Bass: Christopher Suen, Gabriel Uy Filmed & recorded February 1, 2020 St. Augustine's Catholic Church (Vancouver, BC) Film directed by Nathan Douglas Produced by Motet Films https://motetfilms.ca Recording engineer: Malcolm Paterson original compositions © 2012, 2016, 2017 by Mark E. Donnelly video © 2020 by Mark E. Donnelly God bless! Mark

Sign up for my Newsletter at https://MarkEmersonDonnelly.com/get-involved/ to receive a .PDF for your personal use. (Please consider making a donation to my work. Details on the website.) Sung by OFFERTORIUM Soprano: Veronica Roenitz, Gregory Donnelly Alto: Mary-Kate Donnelly Tenor: Ed De Vita, Mark Donnelly Bass: Christopher Suen Recorded at rehearsal Nov 19, 2020 Holy Family Parish, Vancouver, BC Canada We were intending to sing these at Mass for the offertory & communion motets for the Last Sunday after Pentecost, November 22 (also the Feast of St. Cecilia, patroness of music!). Alas, just before rehearsal, the provincial government announced that public religious services were to be suppressed beginning the next day. We decided to record these arrangements of Byrd's masterpieces and release them as a video. Notes on the performance: OFFERTORIUM performs at A=432Hz, not A=440Hz (we're with Verdi on this one). We also perform this arrangement a semi-tone lower than written pitch (G rather than A flat). Most scores of the original five voice edition are in G. A note on the arrangements: Many church choirs have one strong singer per section. This fact eliminates from their repertoire the great number of beautiful five voice motets. That being the case, and with the ubiquity of "a cappella" vocal quartets, I have arranged some of these for SATB. My goal in these arrangements is, firstly, to not make them sound like something is missing, and, secondly, to stay true to the style and intent of the composer (as far as I can tell). In 2017, we had some critical absences for the Last Sunday after Pentecost. That occasioned my SATB arrangement of Byrd's original SATTB of "Civitas sancti". In 2020, in order to complete the double motet, I decided to subject the Prima pars, "Ne irascaris" to the same treatment. If you know the original, you'll notice that I do not simply move notes around; sometimes I'll add something that is similar to a line in another motet by the same composer. Anyway, I hope you like it. God bless! Mark (© 2017, 2020 MED)