Giovanni Croce's Buccinate in neomenia tuba - Presented by Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland

Renaissance composers’ eagerness to explore the amazing acoustics of San Marco’s Basilica in Venice yielded much polychoral music, but it thrived in other religious settings as well, whether Catholic, Lutheran, or Calvinist. Giovanni Croce (1558-1609) became a boy chorister at San Marco’s by age eight and maintained a connection there for the rest of his life, as an adult singer and eventually as music director. He took holy orders in 1585 and simultaneously served as priest at the Venetian church of Santa Maria Formosa. He is best known for his madrigals and influenced their development in England and the Netherlands. He turned out dozens of lighthearted canzonettas and “madrigal comedies,” but also composed numerous sacred works, including a grand mass for four choirs and three masses for double choirs. His “Buccinate” has two choirs calling in turn for the sound of the shofar to welcome the new moon, as called for in the Psalms. Performed April 27, 2025 Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland https://www.portlandschoir.org