This is the first modern performance of Father Francesco Antonio Urio’s Vespers dedicated to the Virgin Mary as performed on original instruments by the Orchestra Barocca di Cremona.

In seventeenth-century church music, features of the Renaissance tradition (polyphony, modality) coexisted with elements of Baroque innovation (harmony, tonality) and merged into the concertato style.

The Salmi Concertati op.2 by Father Francesco Antonio Urio included in this Vespers dedicated to the Virgin, follow this transformation with full rights. The Vespers, here in its first modern performance, shows vocal pieces for three voices of rare melodic quality where the imitative style, the counterpoint, the modal harmony, the numerous tempo changes, the various melismata and a number of diminutions reveal remarkable compositional ability.

Francesco Antonio Urio was born in Milan around 1650 and passed away after 1719 (Biographical Dictionary of Italians, edited by I. Bettin). His was a life in progress, as it was often the case for Franciscan musicians.

He was a novice in Assisi in 1666 (he is known to have corresponded with Vitaliano Borromeo, a noble and appreciated Milanese patron-scholar of the period) and master of the chapel in various Italian cities over the years, including Spello, Urbino, Spoleto, Assisi, Rome, Venice, Turin, Milan. His stays were short initially, then in Assisi he was appointed several times over the years, a tangible sign of his recognised mastery.