CENTO CONCERTI ECCLESIASTICI

(It. "100 Sacred Concertos")

   The title of Ludovico Viadana’s Op.12 (1602), the first published collection of sacred music to include a figured basso continuo. The concertos are pragmatically designed, so that with the continuo they may be sung by one, two, three, or four voices without distortion of the text. For this reason the meter is strong; these are not sacred recitatives in operatic style.

   See also Sacred Symphony.