Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come now, holy Spirit)

SKU: CA.2770200

ISBN 9790007097639. Key: C major. Language: Latin. Text: Langton, Stephen. Text: Stephan Langton.

Antonio Caldara, with about 3,400 works to his credit, ranks among the most prolific composers of the Baroque era and of music history in general. From 1716 Caldara was employed as the Vice-Music Director at the Court of Vienna, where he quickly developed into the primary and favorite composer of the musically knowledgeable Emperor Karl VI. Caldara's festive setting of the sequence for Whitsun, Veni Sancte Spiritus, which may have been composed around 1725, is now made available for the first time in print. The catchy and compact piece is suited for concert performance and is also excellently suited for the liturgical context of Whitsun: during the Mass, for example, as entrance or exit music or as music for the offertory. Through similar scoring requirements Caldara's setting of the sequence can also be used with many compositions of the Ordinary without any additional effort. For most church choirs the tutti sections with Caldara's favored homophonic, yet effective vocal writing represent a grateful task.