SACRED CONCERTO

A setting of a Christian text, usually Biblical, for voices andinstruments, dating from the late 16th to mid-17th centuries in Italy and German-speaking lands. The earliest publication, which also contains secular works, isConcerti diAndrea,et diGio.Gabrieli(Venice, 1587). Seventeenth-century collections adopted the textures and techniques of Italianopera, the sacred concertos ofHeinrich Schü tz(also calledSymphoniae Sacrae) being among the greatest exemplars. The use of sacred concertos in worship would have paralleled that ofmotets.

See alsoCento Concerti Ecclesiastici; Du Monte, Henri; Monteverdi, Claudio; Recitative; Sacred Symphony; Schein, Johann Hermann.