# Striggio: Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno [c. 1566]



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Striggio's _Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno_, composed c. 1566, has just been left behind on the 78th tier of the Talk Classical community's favorite and most highly recommended works, in part because I myself was too lazy and distracted to vote for it! As part of my self-flagellation, I am creating this thread to give this fascinating work a little more attention.

(Also, as explained in the OP of the project thread, creating a reference thread for a work that doesn't already have entitles me to promote the work several tiers! Thus, Striggio, are you avenged! At least for now.)

The wikipedia article about this work is very good in some ways. Witness the opening sentences:



> The Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass, for 40 and 60 voices, by Florentine Renaissance composer Alessandro Striggio. It probably dates from 1565-6, during the reign of his employer Cosimo I de' Medici. Lost for more than 400 years, it was recently rediscovered in Paris. Most of the mass is for five separate choirs of 8 voices each, with the closing Agnus Dei being for five separate choirs of 12 voices each; all of the voice parts are fully independent. With its huge polychoral forces, climaxing on sixty fully independent parts, it is the largest known polyphonic composition from the entire era.


Now that's a hook!

Tallis heard this work prior to composing his 40-voice masterpiece _Spem in alium_, another work that deserves more attention than it is likely to receive.

In case the political context of this work's composition interests you, Davitt Moroney, who rediscovered this work in the Bibliotheèque nationale de France, wrote about it extensively.

Interestingly, the manuscript of this work appears to date from 1610, and might feature the first instance of the term "basse continuée" (which later became "basse continue") in a French musical source.

Before this work was rediscovered, Striggio (whose son wrote the libretto for Monteverdi's _Orfeo_) had been best known for the madrigal _All'acqua sagra_ and the madrigal cycle _Il cicalamento delle donne al bucato et la caccia..._ ("The gossip of the women at the laundry"), sometimes considered a forerunner of opera. He is also well known for the motet _Ecce beatam lucem_ for forty voices.

Most of the mass is for 40 voices, but the Agnus Dei is for 60 (five 12-part choruses). This is far from the only Renaissance work for huge forces.

I have struggled to find a detailed musicological analysis of the work and don't trust myself to offer even a single insight, but Moroney (in some wonderful program notes from a performance) offers an example that may be of help to some of us:



> ...the most striking characteristic here may be the richly woven nature of the musical texture, and the contrast between the different group sizes used in the various sections. Striggio carefully saves the first moment in full 40-part sonority for the seventh phrase of the Gloria: "we give you thanks for your great glory." The 40 voices and the way they intertwine with each other do not so much create loud noise as luscious, luxuriant sonorities...


The 2011 recording by I Fagiolini won a Gramophone award and a Diapason D'Or de L'Année. I personally consider that one of the classic recordings of the 2010s. It has also been recorded by Le Concert Spirituel on the Glossa label, and by Armonico Consort for Signum Classics. Related to the latter, you can read some of Christopher Monks's reflections on the experience of performing it "in the round" here.

I hope that this thread inspires a few more people to discover or to gain a greater appreciation for this fascinating, unforgettable work, and I'd love to hear what y'all think of it!


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