agnus.html

This particular peice of music acompanied the begining of a recent repeat of an episode of TV show¹. I would dearly like to know where it has been stolen from. Its a baudlerized Agnus Dei, written as a soprano (or more likely treble) duet over strings in g minor. It has so many suspensions I suspect that the composer would have been burned at the stake had he written it before 1750.

Anyhow on with the music: here's the original recorded from the TV as an mp3 (please ignore the person being brutally murdered in bar 19).

I transcribed it, complete with slightly if-fy harmony so you can get the score as [click here or on "gifs" to see it in your web browser]

There is a web page claiming that this music is Agnus Dei from faure's requiem Op. 48. It sadly isn't.

The music is quite interesting the phases are (4,4,2) x 2, (4,4), (4,4,2) placing it after 1825. It has a standard issue Mozart² modulation in bar 29.

If you have any ideas, vague memories, or other clues, please contact me

1) "Midsomer Murders, Death of a hollow man"
2) This might be a clue: the person whose skull suffers a blunt force trauma in bar 19 has a brother who, in a play within a play, is the Saliere in what I assume is Puskin's verse play "Mozart and Saliere".
3) As an interesting aside I asked about this music in Borders in Cambridge.

me: I'm looking for an Agnus Dei

b: How d'you spell that

me: A-G-N-U-S D-E-I

b: ah -- yes we've got lots of their stuff, agnus dei... which he pronouced like the scottish name:

me: no no it's not a group, it's part of the mass.

b: the mass?

me: yes in the sanctus after the benedictus.

b: benedictus?

me: yes in the mass.

b: eh?

me: you know, in church.

b: I don't know much about classical music.

me: Well you have this big building usually made out of stone and more than 100 years old, there all these people in there and you go and eat a cracker and drink some wine - they're catholics, and it's called a mass.

b: Ok yes I've heard of that, but I don't know much about religion either.

me: Well the church is one of the great patrons of music, becuase they realised that they needed something to draw people in.

b: yeah they need something better than the bible.

me: yes I'm not religious either, but they play music during the Mass and it's called "a mass", but anyway this music I'm looking for is a track from a mass.

b: ok, well you're going to have to help me I've no idea how to search for this.

me: Well the music will be called "messe" or "mass", the track will porbably be called "Agnus Dei" the mass I want's in B flat major or G minor.

b: ok lets see, Group "Agnus dei", Title "mass", what's this about B?

me: B flat - That's the key of the music.

b: so how do I search for that.

me: Well if it's german it'll be called B or G, because B natural in german is H, a mass in german is "messe" but it might have been translated into Latin and called "mass", then again the composer could not be german in which case it'll probably just be called a Mass, sometimes they use moll to mean minor in titles.

b: woah say that again.

me: Search for "B flat mass"

b: ok... that didn't match anything

me: Not even Schubert D.374 "Mass in B-Flat Major"

b: eh?

me: well there's a copy of it on a shelf over there.

b: eh?

me: I think I'll try somewhere else.

b: ok.

me: thanks for your help.

me:	I'm looking for an Agnus Dei
b:	How d'you spell that
me:	A-G-N-U-S D-E-I
b:	ah -- yes we've got lots of their stuff, agnus dei... which he pronouced like the scottish name:
me:	no no it's not a group, it's part of the mass.
b:	the mass?
me:	yes in the sanctus after the benedictus.
b:	benedictus?
me:	yes in the mass.
b:	eh?
me:	you know, in church.
b:	I don't know much about classical music.
me:	Well you have this big building usually made out of stone and more than 100 years old, there all these people in there and you go and eat a cracker and drink some wine - they're catholics, and it's called a mass.
b:	Ok yes I've heard of that, but I don't know much about religion either.
me:	Well the church is one of the great patrons of music, becuase they realised that they needed something to draw people in.
b:	yeah they need something better than the bible.
me:	yes I'm not religious either, but they play music during the Mass and it's called "a mass", but anyway this music I'm looking for is a track from a mass.
b:	ok, well you're going to have to help me I've no idea how to search for this.
me:	Well the music will be called "messe" or "mass", the track will porbably be called "Agnus Dei" the mass I want's in B flat major or G minor.
b:	ok lets see, Group "Agnus dei", Title "mass", what's this about B?
me:	B flat - That's the key of the music.
b:	so how do I search for that.
me:	Well if it's german it'll be called B or G, because B natural in german is H, a mass in german is "messe" but it might have been translated into Latin and called "mass", then again the composer could not be german in which case it'll probably just be called a Mass, sometimes they use moll to mean minor in titles.
b:	woah say that again.
me:	Search for "B flat mass"
b:	ok... that didn't match anything
me:	Not even Schubert D.374 "Mass in B-Flat Major"
b:	eh?
me:	well there's a copy of it on a shelf over there.
b:	eh?
me:	I think I'll try somewhere else.
b:	ok.
me:	thanks for your help.