motet notes - Monteverdi

The early seventeenth century may be regarded as a revolutionary period in music history. The new genre of solo song with basso continuo accompaniment represented the musical avant-garde in its day. Originally developed to find a more direct way of expressing the meaning and emotion, or affect, of the texts in secular songs and dramatic entertainments (including the first operatic experiments), this new style was one that Monteverdi was quick to import into his sacred music. "Venite sitientes," composed in 1624, is from Monteverdi’s second book of sacred motets, Seconda raccolta de’sacri canti. Written for two tenors and continuo, the text is a trope used to commemorate the renewal of baptismal vows.

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