I'm looking for the name and composer of the baroque-sounding piece at
the following URL:

 http://www.essentially.net/what-is-this.mp3 

(It's the music in the background; the clip is from a BBC "Horizon"
documentary on archaeology called "Atlantis Reborn Again.")  The
words, so far as I can tell, begin with "Jesu domine."  Some parts
make me think it was written by Vivaldi, but overall I don't think so;
could it be Mozart?

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 08 Jun 2006 16:00 PDT

The music does sound similar to this Mozart Requiem. It may be a
modernized version of one of these; in particular "Domine Jesu".
Listen and tell me what you think.

SINGINGFISH
http://search.singingfish.com/sfw/search?last_query=jesu+domine&a_submit=1&aw=1&sfor=a&dur=a&fmp3=1&call=1&cmus=1&cmov=1&crad=1&coth=1&ctv=1&cnews=1&cspt=1&cfin=1&rpp=10&persist=1&exp=0&query=mozart+domine&adult_results=&a_eml_search=1&email_type=2

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by anon250-ga on 08 Jun 2006 16:47 PDT

Hmm.  Thanks for the leads, but I don't really see the similarity (at
least, not any more for this requiem than for any other Mozart requiem
or for, say, the fugue ending of Vivaldi's Lauda Jerusalem); am I
missing something?

After listening to a lot of clips of baroque choral music, I decided
to try another strategy. Using World Catalogue, I tracked down the
only video copy of Atlantis Reborn listed to Southern Methodist
University. (This, by the way, is virtually the same as Atlantis
Reborn Again, the latter being a very slightly revised edition of the
original that the BBC was required to do and rebroadcast in order to
rectify a judged "unfairness" to Hancock at one point in the original
program, as determined by whatever commission looks into such things
in the UK. Interesting backstory.) My hope was that the video case
and/or included notes would include an attribution or acknowledgement
re: the musical score for the program.

Going on this assumption, I emailed the library at SMU this morning,
asking if they might be willing to examine the case to see if there
was any information along that line. Since I'm not a student of that
institution and this wasn't an academic inquiry, I acknowledged in my
message that they certainly had no obligation to respond to my
question. However, much to my amazement, by early afternoon, I had an
email from a librarian in the Media Services division of SMU's
library. Not only did she check the case for documentation, but she
went through the credits on the tape itself, only to find no reference
whatsoever to a source for the music. I will reproduce her response
below, and give her credit for the effort she put into researching my
question.

Also, after all my own listening and this additional information, I'm
rather inclined to share tutuzdad-ga's opinion that this could well be
"faux-baroque," and not an actual piece in the classical vocal
literature.

Message from Southern Methodist University library:

Dear ________,

I watched the entire beginning and ending credits and there is
absolutely NO mention of anything regarding the music. I was very
surprised. It doesn?t mention composer or the piece name. I have done
an internet search and have found several people seeking the same
information but without much success. I am sorry that I couldn?t be
more help.

Sincerely, 

Lisa Wall
CMIT Media Library Manager

Wow, thanks for the thorough attempt!  I actually knew the credits
didn't list the song or composer.  This is common, I believe, if the
recording is from a commercial library of music (like, as a recent
famous example, the background tracks in Curb Your Enthusiasm, many of
which are written by well-known film composers); the original
composition could be in the public domain and might have been recorded
by an orchestra specifically for licensing in commercial productions
(typically without ongoing royalties and without credit, though the
terms of the licensing can vary).  It doesn't, however, necessarily
suggest the composition itself is modern, though the fact that both
you and I have tried to match it to several baroque choral clips does.
 :)

I wonder if the librarian's internet search found my query here!

anon250, 

Point taken. I have not given up completely (I have a couple weeks
left, right?). I sent the link to an acquaintance who is a freelance
oboist, but no luck there. I'm sending it to a friend who has sung
with a semi-professional choir for 4 or 5 years now, to see if she has
any thoughts.

One problem with listening to clips: I easily tell major/minor, and
can make a good guess at the similarity of tempo/style. But the latter
is no help with those darned movements in baroque rep that start
largo/adagio/etc., and then suddenly morph into allegro/presto--past
the end of the online clip.

Another outside possiblity: I wondered if the piece itself might be
"authentic" baroque, but the vocals be a contemporary overlay to give
the score a quasi-religious feel. Just an idea.

Thanks again for all of this; the question's indeed open for a few weeks yet.

I've also written to Horizon by email, for what it's worth, and may
send them a followup letter if I don't hear back within a few weeks. 
I don't really expect them to track it down, though; that would
certainly be above and beyond the call.

Thanks again!

One last comment which, unfortunately, I don't find very satisfactory.
My friend in the chorus did not recognize the clip, and was inclined
to feel that there was something not quite "period authentic" about
it. She also got a response from the choir's librarian, who has had
the job for years; she also did not recognize the music.

I have spent more time myself on the investigation (until my oboist
friend told me to give up!). I found pieces/composers that were
"almost it." Cherubini sounded promising--but my local library had
only one of his choral pieces in their collection and it wasn't the
mystery piece. There are even a couple movements of Schubert's four
masses that also seemed to be somewhat similar in style--but again, I
could find no full-length recording.

So the mystery remains unsolved, unless you have made a discovery or
heard from the BBC in the interim. Sorry I couldn't unearth anything
more promising for you!

Thanks again for trying!  Shockingly, about 750 people have listened
to the clip I posted online; some may have come from here or from
Usenet, but it seems that a few people became just as curious as we
are and posted it to their own message boards, etc.

With that many people having tried to answer the question, I'm
becoming more convinced that it's either a modern imitation or that
it's not particularly well known, though several people told me it
sounded familiar and one said he heard it from a source other than the
BBC documentary from which my clip came.

For their part, the BBC say they have records but can't justify the
cost of going through them merely to respond to a question from a
member of the public, and the director of the individual documentary
says his records don't go far back enough to be able to help.

Quite an effort, overall!  I hate to give up, so I'll still be
searching.  Thanks again for everything you tried!