motet notes - Grandi

In his day, Alessandro Grandi (1586 - 1530) was probably as well known as Claudio Monteverdi. His affecting harmonies and expressive vocal lines are perfectly matched to the sensuous texts in the Song of Songs, from which today’s text "O quam tu pulchra es" is extracted. Grandi was a strong proponent of the monodic style, in which a single ornamented vocal line plays against an independent bass. A reaction against the complexities of renaissance polyphony and its textual abstractions, monody is primary concerned with the specific expression of text. The marriage of Abraham and Sarah could be seen as lovingly personified in this beautiful piece.

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