Motetti a una, due, tre, e quattro voci (1638)

Abstract

This edition makes available an important collection of sacred music by Giovanni Felice Sances (ca. 1600–1679), a composer who has long been known primarily through his early secular works. The compositions of his Motetti a una, due, tre e quattro voci (Venice, 1638) provide fascinating examples of the seventeenth-century motet from the imperial court in Vienna. Relatively few pieces are through-composed in the manner of the Renaissance motet; most employ some structural device such as a refrain, instrumental ritornello, walking bass, ostinato, or quasi-ostinato. The collection is equally interesting as a cultural document, for it mirrors the liturgical, devotional, and representational needs of Sances's patrons, the Austrian Habsburgs. One motet, for example, provides a calculated homage to Emperor Ferdinand III, and others reflect the private devotional practices of members of the imperial family. Indeed, Sances's collection actively shaped seventeenth-century Viennese culture by helping to impose Catholic cultural hegemony, and publicly by articulating Habsburg notions of Catholic piety, monarchal duty, and the divine right of kings.