Missa cuiusvis toni

Diplomatic transcription and commentary by Gérard Geay.

The Missa cuiusvis toni ou ad omnem tonum (mass "in any tone" or "in all tones") was conceived by Johannes Ockeghem (ca.1420-1497) to be sung in the four ecclesiastical tones, using the same notation. Our critical edition, in four booklets grouped in two volumes, includes an introduction and a diplomatic transcription in score for each of these four tones. The clefs and sharps required to read each voice are added, as are the alterations placed above the note figures and accompanied by comments. 

Singers can choose to perform this mass either by reading it from one of these four scores, or by transferring the necessary clefs and alterations from the online manuscript MS Chigi C VIII 234 from the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Indeed, going back to the source is always the most desirable approach. In our musical history, the Missa cuiusvis toni occupies as eminent a place as, say, Johann Sebastian Bach's Musical Offering or Art of Fugue. The technical virtuosity displayed here by Johannes Ockeghem never detracts from the high quality of the music.

Published with the support of the Fondation Mica & Francis Salabert (Musica Gallica).