Sheet Music

A collection of ensemble sheet music is available for downloading. Click a link in the Score and Parts column below to display a PDF for the score or for an individual part. To save a PDF to your computer, choose Save As... from the File menu in Adobe Reader. To print a PDF, choose Print... from the File menu in Adobe Reader. Or you may print from your computer after saving the PDF. If you do not have Adobe Reader, click here to download and install the latest version.

These files are provided courtesy of Pacific Northwest Viols for all lovers of viol music. They may be freely downloaded and copied for educational or personal use; for non-commercial use only. Click here to submit questions or comments about the sheet music offered in the table below.

PNV also has a physical music library for the use of our members that contains a variety of music for solo and consort use, including music that was donated to PNV by Lee Inman and Chris Briden from the estate of our beloved Margriet Tindemans, who passed in 2014.  You can find a spreadsheet reflecting the contents of our library here, and are always welcome to check-out music from the library at Play Days.

This fantasia on the famous canon, “Ah, Robin” by William Cornysh, was written for the Composers’ Round Robin class at the VdGSA 2011 conclave. Anyone unfamiliar with the original may find several sheet music versions on the CPDL website, and a performance may be heard on YouTube. The second line was intended for a treble viol, but it is also within tenor range if the player isn’t daunted by the high E-flat.

This piece was commissioned by
Pacific Northwest Viols to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of our founding. The theme was selected from among ones suggested by the members. Its first performance was conducted by the composer at the final Play Day of our 2007-2008 anniversary season.

A gentle arrangement for tr/tr/Tn/B viols of a haunting Celtic Newfoundland folk song. Performing score.

A stately march scored for a quartet consisting of two treble viols, tenor viol, and bass.

This gentle piece has been a workshop hit wherever it has been played.

Composed for a class “Beautiful Basses” at Mountain Collegium for varying levels of players. The middle line is the easiest. The second score, “Sarabande for Friends,” is a performing score for treble, tenor, and bass viol provided as an alternative to the three-bass version.

Composed for an all-bass technique class, this meditative paraphrase of the “Lachrymae” theme works well with tenors on the top and middle lines. It is also possible to play the top line with a treble viol, giving it a chance to use those expensive lower strings that rarely get bowed.

One of Campian’s most haunting lute songs in an easy arrangement for viol quartet. Performing score.

The eight two-part fantasias from East’s final set of part books, published in his lifetime, are lively dialogs in which the two instruments are treated as equals. Performing score.

Six conzonets from the first volume of “Short Songs to Three Voices” composed in 1593.

When Ray Nurse presented these rare pieces to our group at the March 8, 2008 Play Day, they were a huge hit. He has generously made the performing score available with an interesting historical note.

This little mood piece was written as a “birthday present” for the PNV fifteenth anniversary celebration. It was suggested by the sun rising over Puget Sound and the gradual dispersal of the mist as it appeared above the Cascade Mountains.

For the text of this lyrical motet for four voices, Palestrina has used John 20:29:

“Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”

The second line fits well on either a treble or tenor viol.

The text of this serene motet is a Latin translation of Psalm 42:

“As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O Lord.”

This piece is regarded by some as one of the finest examples of late Renaissance polyphony.

These French dances, reconstructed from lute pieces, were probably composed for the wedding of Queen Mary of Scotland to the Dauphin of France. Performing score.