La Sfera Armoniosa

Born in the northern Italian coastaltown of Chioggia about 1555, organistand composer Paolo Quagliati played apart historically in having transplantedto Rome the Florentine recitative styleand developing it in the direction of aconcertato style of several voices withinstruments. Brought back to life after almost 400years, his La Sfera armoniosa (1623) iscomposed of 25 numbers with texts forthe most part by Battista Guarini. The music, composed entirely byQuagliati but for two villanellas byStefano Landi, reflects the staid Italianacademic and emerging modern stylesof the time.