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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ 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