NOCTEM QUIETAM 1646
Giovanni Antonio Rigatti's Psalms and Motets for the Monastic Night Service
Salmi diversi di compietaWith the Ensemble der Innsbrucker Hofmusik, direction: Marian Polin
The Venetian Giovanni Antonio Rigatti sang as a boy in the choir of San Marco under Monteverdi's direction. He received a solid education and was soon considered one of the lagoon city's most important composers. His fame quickly spread to the north. Like the "divine Claudio" Monteverdi, Rigatti dedicated an important printed work, the "Messe e Salmi" of 1640, to Emperor Ferdinand III. Giovanni Antonio Rigatti's works were known even in the remote Marienberg Monastery in the Upper Vinschgau region of South Tyrol: a musical inventory from 1666 lists his "Salmi diversi di Compieta," settings of the chants for Compline, the night service of the monastic Liturgy of the Hours. Complete musical settings of the Compline texts, characterized by confidence and trust in God, are rare—and Rigatti's psalms in the most contemporary concertante style testify to his mastery.
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BONUS: 6.15 p. m. introductory speech