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Artist: La Cetra Baroque Orch. Basel - La Cetra Vocal Ens.
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Christmas Vespers

On 29 December 1616 Claudio Monteverdi wrote to the poet Alessandro Striggio — who was also the secretary to the Duke of Mantua — to apologize for his late reply, which he attributed to “the hard work that had to be done on the Mass for Christmas Eve, for what with composing it and copying it out I had to give up the entire month of December, almost without a break”. By 1616 Monteverdi had been the maestro di cappella at St Mark’s for three years. Here the Christmas festivities placed a particularly heavy burden on his shoulders. Not only did he have to compose a new polyphonic Mass, he also had to write numerous other works for the Solemn Vespers on Christmas Eve at St. Mark’s as well as for Christmas Day itself at San Giorgio Maggiore, and for additional services associated with the Christmas liturgy. The musicians of the Doge’s cappella would then be joined by famous soloists who were in the city for the opening of the new opera season, while other singers and instrumentalists were similarly enlisted for these magnificent celebrations.