At the time when I produced my edition of Gabrieli's Missa Pater peccavi for the International Academy of Sacred Music in Venice in May 2000, I had not been able to find a source for the motet on which it was presumably based, the composer's own setting of 1563. Later that year, while working on other material in the German Music History Archive (Deutsches Musikgeschichtliches Archiv) in Kassel, I was able to consult a microfilm copy of the second edition of Gabrieli's Sacrae Cantiones, and transcribe the motet. I have subsequently been able, through the kindness of Martin Morrell, to consult a facsimile of the original edition of 1563 which has been the ultimate basis for the present edition. The edition is offered as a further modest contribution to the reestablishment of Andrea Gabrieli, a most unjustly neglected composer. The mass is one of the finest I know of the whole period, and the motet justifies my efforts to track it down, being comparable to the well-known setting by Clemens non Papa.

The motet will often be sung in conjunction with the mass based upon it. The mass is scored for SSATBB, and in my edition is given a tone higher than the original, in which the two bass parts lie consistently low. This edition of the motet is therefore offered in the same transposition, but is of course available at the original or indeed at other pitches as required.

Original note-values have been retained, ligatures are shown in the conventional