Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) by Claudio
Monteverdi is an extended composition for the evening vespers on Marian
feasts, printed in 1610. The composer set the usual Latin psalms and
Magnificat, but also solo concertos in the style of the emerging opera.
The ambitious composition, which uses traditional Gregorian chant as
cantus firmus, is scored for soloists, choirs of up to ten parts, and
orchestra. Monteverdi wrote it when he was maestro di capella in Mantua,
where he served as musician and composer for the Gonzagas, the Dukes of
Mantua. He had it printed in Venice, with a dedication to Pope Paul V
dated 1 September 1610 (pages from a copy pictured). He then travelled
to Rome to deliver it to Pope Paul in person. Monteverdi became director
of music at San Marco in Venice in 1613. His Vespers represent a
milestone of music history at the transition from Renaissance to Baroque
styles.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespro_della_Beata_Vergine>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1774:
Under orders from royal governor Thomas Gage, British soldiers
removed gunpowder from a magazine in the Province of Massachusetts Bay,
causing Patriots to prepare for war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_Alarm>
1902:
The first science fiction film, titled A Trip to the Moon and
based on From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne, was released in
France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon>
1967:
At the Arab League summit, eight nations issued the Khartoum
Resolution, declaring "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel,
[and] no negotiations with it".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khartoum_Resolution>
2019:
Hurricane Dorian, the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on
record outside of the tropics, made landfall in the Bahamas at
Category 5 intensity.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Dorian>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
pandeism:
1. (religion) A belief in a god who is both pantheistic and deistic, in
particular a god who designed the universe and then became it and ceased
to exist separately and act consciously with respect to it.
2. (religion, rare) Worship which admits or tolerates favourable aspects
of all religions; omnitheism.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pandeism>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
All my life, I've always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I
should have been more specific.
--Lily Tomlin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lily_Tomlin>