CMM 108 The Gonzaga Masses in the Conservatory Library of Milan, Fondo Santa Barbara, edited by Ottavio Beretta. Vol. II Masses of Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi, Alessandro Striggio, Giacomo Castrati, and Giulio Bruschi: Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, cartea 108

Guglielmo Gonzaga (1538–87) dedicated his life to transforming the duchy of Mantua into a model Catholic state. A munificent and dedicated patron of composers and performers, author and champion of the grandiose artistic-architectonic and liturgical-musical project of the ducal church of Santa Barbara, he was also a composer of sacred and secular polyphony and a theoretician of compositional methods. Among the surviving records are liturgical books that contain the plainchants for the liturgy of the basilica, chants that were presumably arranged to his specifications. These chants formed the basis of polyphonic compositions for Santa Barbara. This next volume in this series of masses from the Gonzaga court in Mantua contains five masses in alternatim, one each by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi (1556–1622), Alessandro Striggio (1536/37–1592), and Giacomo Castrati (16th cent.), and a further two by Giulio Bruschi (active 1561–69). All are for five voices and are edited following manuscript and print sources. For the Gastoldi and Striggio masses, supplementary mass movements from significant secondary sources are also included. For more information, see http://www.corpusmusicae.com/cmm/cmm_cc108.htm