Motets for Two to Six Voices, Opus 1

Book URL: https://www.areditions.com/rr/rrb/b173.html Between 1646 and 1664, Bonifazio Graziani (1604/05¿1664) held the position as maestro di cappella at the Church of the Gesù, the main church of the Jesuit order in Rome. This edition presents his first printed collection of sacred motets, written for two to six voices and basso continuo. For liturgical works from this time, his music is quite modern, with independent sections in aria and recitative style. The motets are marked by smoothly flowing melodies and by harmonic schemes often based on cadential progression patterns, resulting in an unusually regular and symmetrical organization of phrases. These components of Graziani¿s style seem to aim for a high degree of comprehensibility and accessibility, which offers, in turn, an important explanation for the popularity of his music. Graziani¿s works were widely disseminated, and his music was to become a very important model for composers of ecclesiastical music of the next generation, not the least for musicians in northern Europe.