Figure 2. Responsorio

Responsories in a Matins service were usually choral, although some composers such as Mateo Tollis de la Rocca and Ignacio de Jerusalem occasionally dedicate a Responsory or two to a vocal soloist instead: the sonorities are thus varied through the course of the evening, sometimes presenting rousing polychoral settings, and at others featuring lyrical solo numbers. Their formal structure is often complex, faithfully replicating the structure traced out in the original Medieval chant, such as the forms: Rab-V-Rb or Rab-V-Rb-Dx-Rb where the letter R represents the Respond and its two subdivisions, V represents the Psalm verse, and D represents the Doxology). Responsories are accompanied by chamber orchestra (violins, woodwinds, etc.) whereas villancicos are vocal with a basso continuo accompaniment, probably played by baroque harp and baroque guitar. (Consult fig. 12 concerning the structure of the Marian Responsory “Signum magnum” and Jerusalem’s setting of it.)