Featuring I Fagiolini (director Robert Hollingworth) and The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble
Nigel Perrin Conductor

“The end of all good music is to affect the soul” – Monteverdi

Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine of 1610 – more often known as the Monteverdi Vespers – is a piece of groundbreaking early 17th-century music in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary that lifts the soul with its emotional depth, sensuality, and joy.

Resonating down the ages, the music demonstrates the genius of a musician who was on his way to becoming maestro di capella at St Mark’s in Venice. In its time, it was unprecedented in scale, with seven solo singers, a chorus that divided into 10 parts and a colourful orchestra of strings, theorbos, cornetts and sackbuts.

Much was left to the conductor to determine who sang or played what, as the movements wove their way between intimate, even erotic solo motets and opulent, dramatic choruses.

For this vibrant midsummer concert, Bath Bach Choir is honoured to be joined by early music specialists I Fagiolini (director Robert Hollingworth) and the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble for an authentic interpretation of this masterpiece of early Baroque expression.