Three motets for 8 voices
	Ascanio Trombetti Regna terræ	SMsAT/SATB	or	SSSA/SAAA
	Gabriele Fattorini Preparate corda vestra	SATB/SATB	or	SSAA/SSAA
	Giovanni Battista Cesena Cantabant sancti	SATB/MsTTB	or	SAAB/SAAB
Price: €13 or $13USD		listen to Preparate corda vestra [from Tactus 600001]

Gabriele Fattorini (fl. 1598-1609) served as organist and maestro di cappella at Faenza cathedral near Bologna. His Secondo libro de mottetti a otto voci was commissioned by and dedicated to a musical nun at Santa Cristina in Bologna, Donna Deodata Leoni. The motet Preparate corda vestra is composed for two equal four-voice choirs. The soprano of the first choir is not extant and has been reconstructed for this edition.

Gio. Battista Cesena’s real name was Biondi (fl. 1605-30), but he was better known during his lifetime by the name of his birthplace. Though a Minorite monk and composer of a great deal of sacred music, he does not appear to have held a church post. The dedication of his Compieta con letanie che si cantano Nella S. Casa di Loreto, et motetti a otto voci di Gio. Battista Cesena (Venice, 1606), written by the publisher Giacomo Vincenti, is full of praise for the musical nuns of Bologna, particularly at Santa Cristina. His collection contains eleven pieces for eight voices, almost all of which contrast high and low choirs, as exemplified by the setting of Cantabant sancti.

The celebrated Bolognese composer and cornettist Ascanio Trombetti (1544-1590) was closely associated with musicial nuns, for he taught music at the Bolognese convent of San Lorenzo. Moreover, his daughter Isabella was herself a nun trombonist and organist at the convent of Santi Gervasio e Protasio. His Primo libro de motetti accomodati per cantare e far concerti a 5-8, 10, 12 (Venice, 1589) makes no specific mention of nuns, yet it seems logical to assume that it was this sort of music to which Trombetti would have exposed them during his years of teaching within the convents. Like the motets by Cesena, Regna terrae is also scored two four-part choirs, the first of which is slightly higher than the second.