Manchicourt’s setting of Peccantem me quotidie, for four voices, is distinguished by its expressive use of homophony, a somewhat infrequent technique in the 1530s. The piece begins with a chordal statement of the opening line, ‘Sinning every day’, before reverting to Manchicourt’s more usual imitative writing. Extensive rising lines at ‘nulla est redemptio’ (‘there is no redemption’) build towards the climactic phrase ‘Miserere mei, Domine’ (‘Have mercy on me, Lord’), which is again homophonic, and set apart from the preceding line by a general pause.
from notes by Stephen Rice © 2007
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