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• Praetorius, Michael: In dulci jubilo

Praetorius, Michael: In dulci jubilo

for 8 voices or instruments in 2 choirs.

Praetorius´ engaging double-choir arrangement of In dulci jubilo is one of several reworkings of the popular Christmas hymn to figure in his mammoth collection Musx Sionix; it comes from the second volume, published in 1607, which consists of pieces in eight and twelve parts. Other settings by Praetorius of the same hymn have appeared in the present series: two simple 4-part settings in EML 248, and a more elaborate 3-part arrangement in EML 300. A 5-part setting by Johann Eccard is in EMI, 321; an anonymous 4-part setting from 1544, with the tune in the tenor, is in EML 372. A rather fine double-choir setting with optional clarino parts is in ADC99.
The original note values have been quartered in the triple sections, but retained in the duple-time passages. All accidentals are original, which is a little unusual for the period: Praetorius was especially precise about such things.
This work can be performed in many different ways: (i) purely vocally, (ii) purely instrumentally, (iii) with a vocal choir and an instrumental one, (iv) with a solo voice and three or more instruments in each choir. The ranges of all eight parts are quite restricted, bringing the work within the compass of all kinds of early wind and stringed instruments.