Published in 1641, Claudio Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale is a late summation of his sacred writing, composed during his final years in Venice. Neither a unified cycle nor a conventional liturgical setting, the collection assembles psalms, motets, and moral madrigals that reflect Monteverdi’s mature synthesis of stile antico and the modern concertato idiom. Drawn from this vast anthology, the selections heard here were written for flexible forces and varied devotional contexts, revealing a composer acutely responsive to text, rhetoric, and sound. Thus, the program offers a focused encounter with Monteverdi’s sacred language at its most distilled and expressive.

Performers

Andréa Walker and Elizabeth Tait soprano
Michael Skarke alto
Aaron Cates and Michaël Hudetz tenor
Peter Schoellkopff bass

Manami Mizumoto concertmaster
Will Copeland violin
Sydney ZumMallen violone

Daniel Swenberg theorbo
Bryan Anderson organ

Mario Aschauer artistic director