Giovanni Battista Bassani, a late-Renaissance composer of great importance, has been all but ignored by posterity and recent studies. His music’s rediscovery brings to light the work of a great contrapuntist as well as creator of catchy melodies and surprising rhythmic solutions. His “Armonici Entuisiasmi di Davide”, printed in Venice in 1690, a collection of nine psalms, a Magnificat and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, was for use during the liturgical year’s rites of Vespers. One of the leading specialists of music from this period, Giovanni Acciai, leads the Ensemble Ars Nova Cantandi.
