Electa

The cello was a beneficiary of the remarkable flowering of high culture sponsored by both ecclesiastical and aristocratic patrons in early 18th-century Naples. In 1717, Rocco Greco (1650-1718) became the last appointed player of the viola da gamba in the Royal Chapel dedicated to the treasure of St Januarius, the patron saint of Naples. Both Greco and his colleague Gaetano Francone (c.1650-1717) produced new music for the cello which was suitable for performance within the liturgy of the chapel.

Following the freshness and vigour of their quincentenary portrait celebration of Robert Fayrfax, Ensemble Pro Victoria’s second Delphian album brings a similar boldness of approach to a wider-ranging collection, charting some rarely explored territory from a time of great religious, societal and musical change.

The survival the Leiden Choirbooks from the iconoclastic fury in 1566 seems to indicate that the manuscripts were carefully kept somewhere under lock and key in the church. Today, these choirbooks provide unique and extremely valuable proof of the rich musical life of 16th century Holland. Even though musical practice flourished greatly in Dutch churches in 16th century, extremely little evidence of this has survived in Dutch archives and libraries. Of the countless music manuscripts that were used by singers of the liturgical hours as well as others, only a fraction of these have survived the ravages of time.