Nisi Dominus a 3 voci (ACM, MUS. MS. 137) [by Anon. (XVIIth century)] : editing and critical commentary of an anonymous composition

Abstract

Being a soprano myself and having sung quite a number of edited Maltese vocal works, I felt I would like to experience editing a music score myself. Indeed, it is such an interesting onus, which apart from the challenge to be as faithful as possible to the original manuscript, the editor takes off from the point where the composer had laid down his pen, and hence brings the work to life. It is a great satisfaction to write this music which, in Malta, has been left unpublished for some time. It is a great satisfaction to perform edited compositions. Yet I feel it is even a greater task and achievement to edit, and hence bring to life a work which would have been perhaps buried and long forgotten in an archive or theatre library. Hence my reason for having attempted this task. This essay deals with a general background of the seventeenth century, with particular reference to the basso continuo and vocal music, the edited transcription of Nisi Dominus and a critical commentary on this composition.