Born in the context of the popular devotion of the peoples of the Mediterranean during the late Middle Ages, the spiritual lauda became well established in the central part of Italy, where a strong oral tradition is still preserved today. They were originally monodic compositions in the vernacular, based on the style of the Occitan troubadours (12th to 14th century), with a regular rhythm and simple melodic form, which could be sung by anyone with or without instrumental accompaniment.
Francisco Soto was born in Langa de Duero, in the present-day province of Soria, Spain, in 1534. He trained musically as a puer cantor in the Cathedral of El Burgo de Osma before leaving for Rome and being admitted in 1562 as a cantor in the Pontifical Musical Chapel, today commonly known as the Sistine Chapel Choir. He was the first castrato to join the choir. He served in Rome as a falsettist soprano for 49 years, until 1611, 5 years of which were spent as maestro uno inter pares of the Cappella Musicale Pontificia, between 1606 and 1611. This recording presents 20 Laudi, collected from the 5 books of Laudi, published in Rome between 1583 and 1598, written in daring polyphonic arrangements by Soto de Langa.
