Constanzo Porta wrote two settings; one is a five-part requiem.

This ‘Ne abscondas me’ is an old Responsorium, Respond. There are about 138 Responsoria de Officium Defunctorum, Responds from Office of the Dead known and used during centuries in the Office of the Dead. They are all well ordered, this is number 51. The second part from bar 23 of this motet is “Corripe me” the Versicle following and belonging to this Respond. The Versicle “Corripe me” number 36 is used in the Office of the Dead. It is known the use of Responds and Versicles of The Office of the Dead vary per region all over Europe. In general the text of this Responsorium is coming out of the Book Job. The Versicle out of the book Jeremiah. The present text is in according to the four sources of Saint Maur les Fosses, this Respond is sung in the third nocturne and found in the Abbey of St. Jean de Châlons-sur-Marne. This motet is written by Porta for four parts (CTTB). The motet contains in total 52 bars. The motet has modest imitative polyphonic style. The Tenor and Cantus start with some interval with the same theme so do the Bassus and Altus. Porta uses some flats and fine dissonant to express his mourning feelings. This motet was published In Venice in 1559 in Liber primus motectorum quatuor vocum Constanti Portae cremonensis. - Venezia, A. Gardane, 1559. 4 vol., 29 p. I Bc

This Si bona suscepimus is an old Responsorium. There are about 138 Responsoria de Officium Defunctorum, Responds from Office of the Dead known and used during centuries in the Office of the Dead. They are all well ordered, this is number 87. One of the two corresponding Versicle from the Office of the Dead “ Nudus egressus” number 156 is even used by Jacobus Clement (1515-1556), Gombert (c.1495-c.1557), Phillip Verdelot ( 1480/85 – 1530/32), Lassus (1532-1594), Lechner (1553-1606) and Thomas Selle (1599-1663) did. But on the other hand Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) and Claudin de Sermisy (1490-1562) used only the Respond version without the Versicle-part so did Constanzo Porta as we will see. It is known the use of Responds and Versicles of The Office of the Dead vary per region all over Europe.
This particularly Respond ‘Si bona suscepimus’ is used and found in the series of Deventer Holland and preserved in the University of Amsterdam. Next to it the more general type (Respond-Type 25) to which this Respond ‘Si bona suscepimus’ belongs is spread in the area under the Ottonian and Salian emperors the counties of Lower Lorraine, of Flanders, Champgane and the northern part of Holland. The principal source is found before 1318 in Aachen, executed in Aix-la-Chapelle as we see in Knud Ottosen’s excellent book. In general the text is coming out of the Book Job. The choice of texts and the order in which they occur in the sources all around Europe vary according to local uses. This text setting is found in Deventer in a source out of 1516 and this Respond is sung at the end of the third nocturne.
This short setting of the Respond - consisting out of 52 bars - is written by Porta for TTBB also in a low some austere texture. The Cantus starts followed by Altus, Bassus and Tenor in an imitative polyphonic style, from the beginning up to the end. There are no specific homophonic phrases in it and there is due to the short length not any broad elaboration. Nevertheless an atmospheric piece of music. This Respond ‘Si bona suscepimus’ setting is published Mottetta di Cipriano de Rore et aliorum auctorum quatuor vocum parium, cum tribus lectionibus, pro Mortuis Iosepho Zerlino, Venezia MDLXIII.

Requiem a cinque voci contains:
01. Intoritus (8')
02. Kyrie (5'14)
03. Sequentia (14'06)
04. Offertorium (6'16)
05. Sanctus (4'02)
06. Agnus Dei (3'23)
07. Communio (2'50)

♫ 01. Intoritus
© Bongiovanni GB 5615-2


♫ 02. Kyrie
© Bongiovanni GB 5615-2


♫ 03. Sequentia
© Bongiovanni GB 5615-2


♫ 04. Offertorium
© Bongiovanni GB 5615-2


♫ 05. Sanctus
© Bongiovanni GB 5615-2


♫ 06. Agnus Dei
© Bongiovanni GB 5615-2


♫ 07. Communio
© Bongiovanni GB 5615-2

It is a five-part requiem, found in Missarum Liber primus, printed by Angelo Gardano in Venice in 1578.