In 1641, late in his career and life, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) published Selva Morale e Spirituale, a collection of sacred works composed while serving for decades as mastro di cappella at St. Marks Basilica in Venice. It was the largest collection of sacred music he had published since 1610, prior to his arrival in Venice.
Within the collection is a setting of the Mass written for four a cappella voices. It is one of three a cappella masses composed by Monteverdi. Our choir has sung the Sanctus/Benedictus and the Agnus Dei from this work, as well as the Agnus Dei from the Mass published posthumously in 1650.
My article “Passionate Praise” provides some perspective on the pivotal place of Monteverdi’s work in the development of music in the transition from the styles characteristic of of the Renaissance into the Baroque era, which lasts roughly 150 years.
Listen to Monteverdi’s Messa da Capella a quattro voci (1641)
performed by Ensemble Elyma directed by Gabriel Garrido