Salomone Rossi's output was influenced by more than the events of his times and such a figure as Monteverdi. What makes him different is that...

Salomone Rossi's output was influenced by more than the events of his times and such a figure as Monteverdi. What makes him different is that he was Jewish by birth and upbringing and was deeply affected by his relations within the Jewish community in Mantua and the age-old music of the chanting of the Old Testament Book of Psalms in the religious ceremonies he would have attended. Echoes of this ancient psalmody can be heard in the profoundly religious feeling of his arias, almost as though Rossi were attempting to keep his distance from a trend - already present in the late 1500s due to social, cultural and aesthetic factors – towards using sacred cantatas as an exercise in baroque vocal extravagance to showcase the skill of the performer rather than inspire religious feeling in the listener.