Byrd - Ave Verum Corpus

[SuperArturoduran]

my middle school choir class is doing this song and it sounds really great!!

[thechimp1963]

needs lots of tenor and bass...

We just did this in church and I can't get it out of my head

[oterrivelivan]

Wish Latin was stil the most spoken language. So much easier than English...

[laurita2rose]

I love this song, they sing it so well :-)

[ChikinChowMein]

the byrd is the word

[lavelle8686]

@ChikinChowMein

LOL thats funny that i saw this comment, because we just got this song today and that was the first thing I said too my friend Lucas, who's in the bass section....we laughed. I can't wait to perform this!!!!!

[phlarrdboi]

i sing the tenor line.

[remyworldpeace]

@phlarrdboi Same. Is wonderful.

[frank1eb0y]

Beautiful song.

[tkg2902]

Tried to sing this in choir last year after a pilgrimage to London soaking up our English Catholic heretage at places St. Bart's, the Oratory, and Tyburn Cross. .

After we all quite crying we did better.

[MrGipeto66]

Strabiliante! Una delle composizioni più sublimi che abbia mai ascoltato!

Byrd è un compositore di levatura universale!

[Luvsofine]

Sublime! This piece is as beautiful to sing as it is the hear. Thank you for posting.

[MrFastel]

Maybe I am wrong but they're singing one half step higher that the notes are... ?

[brinafaith]

one of my favourites i did in chamber choir SO AMAZING

[FrancesEDoyle]

I was blessed to hear the choir of St. Johns perform this in Atlanta; it was beyond beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

[ericbelify]

This peice has everything!

Particularly cool is the F against F# in mm 37; hot! A poignant text-painting on the word "miserere".

[MTGlipp]

@ericbelify

yep =)

Dissonances like that were called False Relations in this kind of counterpoint Renaissance music, and like you said, they were often used to express feelings of pain or anguish

[spairpartsdealer]

Thanks for posting this! I can't wait to sing this for Honor's Chorus in November!

[1yelsew]

Three phrygian half cadences...soooo freakin' sexy!

[mrnnhnz]

you've just gotta love those false relations! Awesome.

[HroffTheNinjaBicky]

My favourite piece of music ever masterfully done.

[bibliophilecb]

So beautiful. :) My (high school) choir has just started singing this. Our tenor section is pathetic, though -- we had two phenomenal tenors graduate last year, and we have, like, four basses to each tenor or something ridiculous like that.

[THSChoir]

The entire song is out of tune...why?

[EtEgoInArcade]

@THSChoir

Because Byrd is a really crap composer, obviously. There's no way his music's going to last.

[muenchner1000]

I think that all the sins of the world are confessed and forgiven with that "Amen".

[arunachala1]

Beautifully performed, so beautiful, thank you all round.

[Worrell057]

So nice to have the score right there to sing along with and work on my sight-reading. Thanks!

[LiberStudios]

Gorgeous! This is definitely my favorite recording of this piece, even better than Westminster Cathedral Choir's.

[Mezzamike]

@zneufeld - I dont have to emulate, I was there and on that recording. Thank you very much:)

[jthameschoir08]

Theres something at the end that fooled my ears to think that the soprano was singing a high G. Gosh I hate it when that happens.

[verso69]

@jthameschoir08 Not uncommon, this is typical pitfall most of my students are struggling with.

[phlarrdboi]

you will surely enjoy this video! its a friend of mine in her recent audition at the academie 

watch?v=CVKH_lAnv8w&feature=BF­a&list=LL5zm2XBNeLkc&index=7

[LifeforArt]

I'm so happy about the 'right' latin phonetic-pronouncement of the tallis scholars.

[funkalish23]

This is very beautiful, my high school choir sings this and I'm trying to sound like this!

[AussieSteveBoyle]

Do tears start from your eyes when you listen to this piece of music, and think of what the words actually mean? And I agree with @hebejeebee - that Amen is the most heart-wrenching plea!

[hebejeebee]

For sure one of the greatest amens ever written...

[calsak1]

Our choir has sung this beautiful piece many times.

[tkg2902]

All the more beautiful when you consider it was written during a time when the church was under a great suppression.

[mingsearn]

Tenor's o je su fi li is awesome

[TheInnerMuse]

This is a pretty good recording... I would bet this is a college choir. However... I have one main piece of criticism. There isn't quite enough alto. You can hear the soprano clearly, of course, and each of the men's parts come out easily... But the alto part is almost constantly drowned out by the rest of the choir, mainly sopranos. I also think there could have been more to the rises and falls, and more of them in general. It sounds a bit deadened.

[LouisvilleTorn8o]

@wcbroccoli I don't hear any errors in the "miserere" section. However, there's a ficta in the tenor in the "amen," and the tenors missed it. It should be a B natural, not a B flat. The missing B natural sets the mood for the end of the piece. This isn't the only time I've heard that ficta missed. When our choir does this piece in May, I'll be sure to tell the conductor and the tenor section leader about it, so we don't miss it.

[MTGlipp]

@LouisvilleTorn8o

Which note is the ficta on? Because all of the B's in the tenor line of the Amen are natural =/

[LouisvilleTorn8o]

@MTGlipp That's correct, but this tenor section, and some others I've heard, sing the first B natural as a B flat, which changes the whole mood of the "amen." In fact, I've only found one version on YouTube that is correct. Even the Tallis Scholars missed it.

[MTGlipp]

@LouisvilleTorn8o

Really?

Hmm well in this case I'm afraid I have to disagree with William Byrd =P I prefer the cadence when both the B's are natural, but like you said, it could be used to change the entire mood of the ending if desired

[zamyrabyrd]

@LouisvilleTorn8o They end in major but it is not G major, rather A major the key they are singing in.

[LouisvilleTorn8o]

@zamyrabyrd Yes, they are singing in A flat in this recording, but most recordings I've heard of this are sung in G. As you probably know, since this is a Renaissance piece, either key is valid, since the original tuning is unknown.

I wasn't talking about the last chord, but I was talking about the A flat minor they sang a couple of measures back. That should be major since there's a ficta in the tenor.

[zamyrabyrd]

@zamyrabyrd I'm trying to find the chord you are talking about but am not sure. Do you mean one of the miserere chords? Sometimes the alto has the defining major or minor 3rd.

[waret1234]

wonderful :D umm are these all men??? or?? 

[mozartsmusicblog]

@waret1234 No, it's sung by men and women. :)

[MichellesMusic92]

Better than the original Ave Verum Corpus, by FAR. this stirs so much emotion in me. I could listen forever.

[mozartsmusicblog]

Hear this song performed by Franciscan University of Steubenville's schola cantorum: youtube.com/watch?v=0MldIGthoA­A

Hair-raising!!

[gmanbaby2007]

I want to sing this in my choir. 

[zmannx25]

is this the serial technique?

[AnimaMiaPerdona]

@zmannx25 Haha no, about as far from it as you can get. Firmly Renaissance counterpoint

[parquar]

This is way better than Mozart's

[LouisvilleTorn8o]

It don't get any Byrdier than that! Those major chords followed immediately by minor chords are typical of Byrd.

[1banders]

@LouisvilleTorn8o Common in music throughout the period. Modal vs tonal. The effect of voice leading. Just leading tone raised when ascending, natural when descending. You are thinking in terms of chords. They didn't do that.

[MrRobh12]

@LouisvilleTorn8o just to let you know its called a tierce de picardie, where the composer prepares the end of a passage in the minor key and they suddenly goes to major :)

[musicamaxima]

@wcbroccoli What errors?

[MrJamest3333]

Beautiful, I have loved this piece of music for many years, and this for me is the best version I have heard.

[AliPali94]

This is so beauiful, the balance is just right. We did this in my college chamber choir, unfortunately we did not have enough boys to the tenor and bass sections were not as strong as prehaps we would have liked, but hearing it done so beautiful just makes me want to sing in the choir again. The acoustics are also amazing and really compliment this piece of music.

[IMQuazimodo]

@AliPali94 shame, its such a nice bass part. One of my favs. Byrd and Tallie both knew how to write killer base lines , unlike some composers who just seem to chuck all the left overs down that way.

[jasperwes]

I think there are never enough viewers for this video.

[KayaKinneret]

This is going to be my funeral song...

[Mezzamike]

This is not the Tallis Scholars. It's Westminster Choir from Westminster Choir College, directed by Joe Flummerfelt. I know because I was singing in this recording:) love seeing the score again:)

[LouisvilleTorn8o]

And the Tallis Scholars butchered this piece too. This choir, however, got most of it right, except for the tenor note I've been harping about near the end. The Tallis Scholars sing this like they're in a hurry, and with all the emotion stripped out of it, way too mechanical for my tastes.

[zneufeld]

@Mezzamike

This is definitely The Tallis Scholars. Unless you figured out a way to exactly emulate their recording (Gimell CDGIM 345)

[endwarloveforever234]

I was in chamber choir and we sang this last year (bass)... I'd get goosebumps all the time. This is truely amazing work =)

[elmalyuyu]

the best version , beautifull, thanks

[Accan2]

Sounds incredible :D i'm happy my high school choir is doing this one

[69ringette69]

this sounds great!! perfect tempo...everyone blends together <3

[MusicOfJOS]

Long live Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars!!

[69ringette69]

this was beautiful! im singing this in a class im taking at university and its just stunning..so emotional!

[MissLovesmusicxx]

that was absolutly sublime!

[VocalsAblaze]

amazing; i'm completely speechless.... 

[Cardien18]

This is one of those songs that will always touch my heart.

[billyguns2]

It boggles my mind that such drivel as religion could inspire such magnificence; let us be thankful for these great compositions of the distant past, as great as anything ever composed. Gorgeous performance.

[tomski3]

@billyguns2 Hahah! That was hilarious! Looks like I've found another atheist/antitheist who likes sacred music then..

[NihilTico]

@tomski3 HEY ME TOO!

awesomeness!

[atomicsnowflake]

@billyguns2 before you dismiss religion as "drivel", perhaps you might like to read Finding Sanctuary by Abbot Christopher Jamison. It is written for everyone, not merely the 'religious'.

[Aves114]

@billyguns2 I agree

[chorister88]

one of the best compositions forever..

[stpetric]

I loving having the score in front of me!

[magpie4321]

The best rendition I have ever heard!!!