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Philippe Rogier : Missa Ego sum qui sum & Motets

All the editions for the pieces on this recording were prepared from the original sources by David Trendell, who also wrote the liner notes. The MIssa Ego sum qui sum was edited from Philippe Rogier’s Missae Sex (Madrid, 1598) and all but two of the motets from his Sacrarum modulationum, quas vulgo Motecta appellant…(Naples, 1595). The 12-part Videntes stellam was edited from a manuscript in the archive at Segovia Cathedral. Another 12-part motet Verbum caro was edited from two manuscripts, one at Segovia Cathedral and one in the library at El Escorial.

In the works that are found in the printed collections, performing decisions were relatively simple and amounted to the application of editorial accidentals according to the conventions of musica ficta. Some of these result in simultaneous cross relations, but these seem to be very much part of Rogier’s musical style (there are some that are clearly notated in the source). The El Escorial manuscript of Verbum caro includes clear indications for continuo of Harp (‘harfa’) and Organ. Untexted bass lines in the 2nd and 3rd choirs would seem to suggest that they were instrumental and, given the prevalence of instrumental ‘bands’ in Spanish ecclesiastical institutions of this period, the voices of choirs 2 & 3 were doubled by cornets and sackbuts. The similarity of scoring between these two motets suggested that the same instrumental forces should be used for both.