Motets since 16th Century to 20th Century

This recording by the Chapelle Musicale de la Trinité des Monts is a collection of jubilee compositions by early and contemporary chapel masters of the Rome Basilicas. It includes music by chapel masters of the basilica of St. John in Lateran, such as Giovanni Giorgi (second half of the 17th cent. -1726) who lead the chapel from 1719 to 1753, Girolamo Chiti (1715-1759) chapel master from 1726 to 1753 and Giovanni Battista Casali (1715-1792) who directed the chapel until his death. There is also music by Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, (born in Rieti in 1657) who was chapel master of St. John in Lateran from 1708 to 1719 and who went on to direct the Cappella Giulia in St. Peter’s Basilica. The works by these composers, written for the Anni Santi Giubiliari, (Holy Jubilee Years) are based on typical texts for the opening of the Holy Door (“Jubilate Deo” and “Tollite Portas”) and two Marian texts: “Qual prodigio Maria” in Italian and dedicated to the Madonna of the Snows” (5th August), and “Assumpta Est” for the Feast of the Assumption (15th August).