Ceremonies, both festive and solemn, lie at the heart of all the works in this programme devoted to German music of the 17th century, beginning with music by Heinrich Schütz and ending with Johann Sebastian Bach. These occasional works make frequent use of brass instruments, whose sound is both the foundation and the identity of the InAlto ensemble. This 17th century tradition is reflected in Beethoven’s Aequales for trombone quartet; these are presented here together with their sung texts.

Luigi Zenobi, a virtuoso cornetist known as Luigi del cornetto, was born in Ancona in the mid-sixteenth century. He later moved to Vienna, where he entered the service of the Emperor Maximilian II. His reputation grew and he subsequently worked for the Este family in Ferrara, where he was the most respected and best-paid musician at court up to that time, so sought-after were his talents. Luigi was also a painter, poet, miniaturist and music scholar. An eyewitness recalled the delicacy of his playing: softer than the harpsichord when its lid is closed. Giovanni Sansoni, a composer and cornetist probably originally from Venice, was born around 1593. He was engaged by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Graz in 1613 and followed him to Vienna when he became Emperor in 1619.

This recording transports us to Rome’s Chiesa Nuova, the Oratory Church where in 1600 the premiere took place of the first spiritual opera, La Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo by Cavalieri. That pioneering spirit has inspired this programme devised by InAlto. Among the manuscripts in the church’s library is an anonymous source, probably dating from the very beginning of the 17th century, containing a complete cycle of settings of those seven psalms that ever since the time of Saint Augustine have been called the ‘Penitenial Psalms’. This Roman score is absolutely unique of its kind, being monodic, and composed in the early operatic melodic narrative style of recitar cantando.