Francesco Cavalli was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading opera composer of the mid 17th-century. A central figure of Venetian musical life, Cavalli wrote more than forty operas, almost all of which premiered in the city's theaters. His best known works include Ormindo (1644), Giasone (1649) and La Calisto (1651).
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Biber worked in Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his employer, Prince-Bishop Karl Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, and settled in Salzburg. He remained there for the rest of his life, publishing much of his music but apparently seldom, if ever, giving concert tours.
Vespro della Beata Vergine, SV 206, is a musical setting by Claudio Monteverdi of the evening vespers on Marian feasts, scored for soloists, choirs, and orchestra. It is an ambitious work in scope and in its variety of style and scoring, and has a duration of around 90 minutes. Published in Venice as Sanctissimae Virgini Missa senis vocibus ac Vesperae pluribus decantandae, cum nonnullis sacris concentibus, ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accommodata, it is sometimes called Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610.
Tomás Luis de Victoria was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Renaissance, and was "admired above all for the intensity of some of his motets and of his Offices for the Dead and for Holy Week". His surviving oeuvre, unlike that of his colleagues, is almost exclusively sacred and polyphonic vocal music, set to Latin texts. As a Catholic priest, as well as an accomplished organist and singer, his career spanned both Spain and Italy. However, he preferred the life of a composer to that of a performer.
Marcin Mielczewski was, together with his tutor Franciszek Lilius and Bartłomiej Pękiel, among the most notable Polish composers in the 17th century.
Francesco Foggia was an Italian Baroque composer.
Vesperae solennes de Dominica, K. 321, is a sacred choral composition, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1779. It is scored for SATB choir and soloists, violin I and II, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones colla parte, 2 timpani, and basso continuo.
The Magnificat, WAB 24 is a setting of the Magnificat for SATB choir and soloists, orchestra and organ composed by Anton Bruckner in 1852.
Psalm 110 is the 110th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The LORD said unto my Lord". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 109. In Latin, it is known as Dixit Dominus. It is considered both a royal psalm and a messianic psalm. C. S. Rodd associates it with the king's coronation.
Psalm 112 is the 112th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 111. In Latin, it is known as Beatus vir qui timet Dominum. It is a psalm "in praise of the virtuous". This psalm, along with Psalm 111, is acrostic by phrase, that is, each 7-9 syllable phrase begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order.
Psalm 113 is the 113th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Praise ye the Lord, O ye servants of the Lord". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In Latin, it is known as 'Laudate pueri Dominum.
Psalm 117 is the 117th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people." In Latin, it is known as Laudate Dominum. Consisting of only two verses, Psalm 117 is the shortest psalm and also the shortest chapter in the whole Bible. It is joined with Psalm 118 in the manuscripts of the Hebraist scholars Benjamin Kennicott and Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi.
Beatus vir are the first words in the Latin Vulgate Bible of both Psalm 1 and Psalm 112. In each case, the words are used to refer to frequent and significant uses of these psalms in art, although the two psalms are prominent in different fields, art in the case of Psalm 1 and music in the case of Psalm 112. In psalter manuscripts, the initial letter B of Beatus is often rendered prominently as a Beatus initial.
The Credo Mass in C major, K. 257, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1776. It is scored for SATB soloists, SATB choir, violin I and II, 2 oboes, 2 clarini, 3 trombones colla parte and basso continuo.
The Magnificat in C major, D 486, is a musical setting of the Magnificat hymn composed by Franz Schubert in 1816. It is scored for SATB soloists, mixed choir, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, violin I and II, viola, timpani and basso continuo.
Selva morale e spirituale is the short title of a collection of sacred music by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, published in Venice in 1640 and 1641. The title translates to "Moral and Spiritual Forest". The full title is: "Selva / Morale e Spirituale / di Clavdio Monteverde / Maestro di Capella della Serenissima / Republica Di Venetia / Dedicata / alla Sacra Cesarea Maesta dell' Imperatrice / Eleonora / Gonzaga / Con Licenza de Superiori & Priuilegio. / In Venetia M DC X X X X / Appresso Bartolomeo Magni".
Figuralchor der Gedächtniskirche Stuttgart is a mixed church- and concert choir based in Stuttgart, Germany. It was established in 1957 by Helmuth Rilling. Rilling conducted the choir in several recordings of his project to record the complete choral works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Rilling led the group until the 1970s, when several students took over, first the Americans Henry Gibbons and Gordon Plaine. In 1990 the choir went on a concert tour of the United States, conducted by Johannes Moesus. Peter Bachofer was musical director from 1990, Alexander Burda from 2009.
Antonio Vivaldi composed three settings of the Dixit Dominus, the Latin version of Psalm 110. They include a setting in ten movements for five soloists, double choir and orchestra, RV 594, another setting in eleven movements for five voices, five-part choir and orchestra, RV 595, and a recently discovered setting in eleven movements for five soloists, choir and orchestra, RV 807, which had been attributed to Baldassare Galuppi. It is said to be one of his "most significant sacred works."
Drei Motetten, Op. 39, is a collection of three sacred motets for women's voices and organ by Felix Mendelssohn. Composed in 1830 for different liturgical occasions and in different scoring, they were published together in 1838.
