Compiete op. 7

Ever since sacred music was invented, clerics, theologians and zealots have been in a never-ending conflict over the true way to praise the Lord with song. For some, it could not be austere enough; for others, it could not be opulent and operatic enough - and in the end, they all made an indelible contribution to the repertoire. With his Opus 7, printed in Venice in 1662, Giovanni Legrenzi, formerly conductor of the Accademia dello Spirito Santo in Ferrara, provided compelling evidence that extremes can be transcended and merged into a higher unity. The additional monastic night prayers ('Compline') and Marian chants rise above all dark thoughts with an almost playful cheerfulness, without the music lacking in meditative contemplation. And above it all reigns a polyharmonic vitality that casts off all attempts at theological speculation.