Stephane cum totum volitet tua fama per orbem - de Villiers, Pierre

"Published by Moderne, Lyon, 1542. There are seven voice parts throughout, but in the first section this includes two tenor parts whereas in the second it is the sopranos who are divided instead. Despite the words of the cantus firmus – ‘St Stephen, pray for us’ – the text sung by the other six voices makes it clear that this is an occasional motet in praise of an unidentified ‘Stephen’ associated with Augsburg (although the composer himself was associated primarily with Lyon, the place of publication). The author of the poem is anonymous, but was presumably not the composer. In Moderne’s edition, the punctuation is unreliable, which in itself was not uncommon in 16th-century partbooks, in this case however with the text of nearly every musical phrase concluding with a full stop, although this is contrary to the sentence structure. The cpdl edition, and particularly the punctuation used in it, is based on advice received by the editor. The composer seems not to have understood the text in detail, especially because he finishes the motet with repetitions of the final two words, which as a compositional procedure may be thought unexceptional, but for the fact that, with the application of corrected punctuation, those words apparently do not even belong to the same sentence."

⌛ Period → Renaissance

◈ Genre / Form Motets

♯ Key G minor

⁄ Time Signature 2/1

♬ Voicing → SSAATTB

◆ Difficulty

Elementary

↕ Range F2 – G5

¶ Language → Latin

Measures 166

Texture mixed texture

Parts 7

Instruments SSAATTB

Pages 17

CPDL # 83305

Editor Mick Swithinbank

Posted 2025-01-07

License CPDL License

♫Pitch Ranges

Superius (G2)

D4 – G5

Altus (C2)/ Sec. Superius (G2)

G3 – F5

Secundus Altus (C3)/ Altus

F2 – A4

Tenor (C4)/ Sec. Altus

D3 – A4

Secundus Tenor (C4)/ Tenor

D3 – F4

Secundus Bassus (F4)

F2 – B-3

Bassus (F4)

F2 – B-3

¶Lyrics / Text

Stephane, cum totum volitet tua fama per orbem, virtute, officio, religione, fide, cum tua sit cunctis pietas spes ampla beatis civibus Augustae gloria Vindelice, nescimus quales tibi decernamus honores, omnia sunt meritis inferiora tuis. At, cum nulla tuas industria dicere laudes, Stephane, te digna conditione queat, unus erit nobis, qui te super ethera tollet: Villierus studiis carminibusque suis. Hic te immortalem reddet mortalis et omni maiorem laudis posteritate. Vale!

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