Musica Sacra Claudio Monteverdi

Three collections of sacred music by Monteverdi have come down to us, all of them essential documentation of his activities. The best-known, comprising a mass and a set of pieces for Vespers, dates from 1610. It demonstrates the composer’s desire to leave the Mantuan court and to attract the patronage of Pope Paul V. The second, published in 1640 or 1641, is the Selva morale e spirituale, which furnished any maestro de cappella with the necessary material for a range of liturgical celebrations. It is a partial reflection of Monteverdi’s output for St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. The third anthology is posthumous: in 1650 the Venetian publisher Vincenti assembled a mass, psalm settings and litanies of the Virgin, along with a Magnificat by Cavalli.

The common feature of these three raccolte is their exaltation of the seconda prattica, the modern style that Monteverdi championed from the start of the seventeenth century. From these many gems we have made a selection of psalms and motets which alternate between Venetian exuberance (Gloria, Laetatus sum, Beatus vir), humble prayer (Litanies), and the tenderness so typical of Marian devotions (Salve Regina, Ego flos campi). All (or almost all) our special favourites!