Sacred Music Concert – Reate Festival 2026

On 18 October 2026, a concert of sacred music by composers from the early 17th century will be held at the Church of Saints Luke and Martina in Rome, organised by the Reate Festival.
The collaboration with the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca extends to one of the most evocative sites in the historic centre: the Church of Saints Luke and Martina, which is owned by the Accademia and situated in the heart of the Roman Forum, adorned with a dome designed by Pietro da Cortona.
The concert, scheduled to coincide with St Luke’s Day, will provide an opportunity to admire this architectural masterpiece – which is rarely open to the public – whilst enjoying a performance of music by composers who were contemporaries of the famous painter.

Programme

Paolo Quagliati (c. 1555 – 1628), Toccata dell’ottavo tuono e canzona ottava
organ · from Ricercate, et canzone… libro primo a quattro voci (Rome, 1601)

Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1641 ca.), Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius
Maddalena De Biasi · from Il primo libro delle musiche (Florence, 1618)

Virgilio Mazzocchi (1597 – 1646), Fin dal Monte Sion
Emma Alessi Innocenti · from Musiche sacre e morali a una, due e tre voci (Rome, Grignani, 1640)

Giacomo Carissimi (1605 – 1674), O dulcissimum Mariae nomen
motet for two voices · from Scelta di mottetti a due, tre, quattro e cinque voci, collected by G. Poggioli (Rome, Grignani, 1647)

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 – 1643), Bergamasca
organ · from Fiori musicali (Venice, 1635)

Luigi Rossi (1597 – 1653), O amantissime Jesu
Emma Alessi Innocenti · from Composizioni vocali da camera (Rome, copy, 1641-1660)

Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1641 ca.), Maria dolce Maria
Maddalena De Biasi · from Il primo libro delle musiche (Florence, 1618)

Giacomo Carissimi (1605 – 1674), Exulta, gaude filia Sion
motet for two voices · from Sacri Concerti musicali (Rome, 1625)

Bernardo Pasquini (1637 – 1710), Partite diverse di Follia
organ · from the mnuscript Sonate per gravicembalo (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms. Landsberg 215)

Gregorio Allegri (1582 – 1652), Praesta quaesumus
motet for two voices · from Concertini a due, tre, quattro e cinque voci con il basso continuo. Libro secondo (Rome, 1619)

Giacomo Carissimi (1605 – 1674), Nigra sum sed formosa
motet for two voices · from Scelta di motetti a due, tre, quattro, e cinque voci, de’ più insigni compositori di Roma (Rome, Grignani, 1650)

Branco Giovanni Giacomo (? — 1665), Veni electa mea
motet for two voices · from the manuscript held at the Vatican Apostolican Library (1665)

Maddalena De Biasi, soprano
Emma Alessi Innocenti, mezzo-soprano
Alessandro Alonzi, organ

Programme notes

The concert recreates the musical atmosphere of Baroque Rome, where voices and the organ engaged in daily dialogue in churches and the cardinals’ chapels. The motets on the programme — by Francesca Caccini, Mazzocchi, Rossi, Carissimi, Allegri and Branco — belong to the sacred repertoire that enlivened liturgical services in the early and mid-17th century, in both Florence and Rome. The three organ pieces, on the other hand, trace a chronological arc of the great Roman school of organ playing: from Paolo Quagliati, one of the first organists active in Rome at the start of the century, through the high point represented by Girolamo Frescobaldi, organist of the Cappella Giulia in St Peter’s, to Bernardo Pasquini, the direct heir to that tradition and the last great figure of the Roman organ in the second half of the 17th century.