Giovanni Croce was a major composer of motets in Renaissance Venice, unjustly neglected today and largely eclipsed by the fame of Monteverdi. This volume was supposed to be the fifth in a projected series of 14 volumes of his complete works. The series was terminated due to the untimely death of one of the co-editors, Michael Procter, but Richard Charteris, the other co-editor, is planning to at least issue one more volume. This particular volume, containing the complete transcriptions of Croce's First Book of Motets, opens with a historical and musicological essay, followed by a complete list of sources, cross-referenced, and finally, the main body of the text: transcriptions themselves. While originally scored for eight voices and organ, the motets can be performed a capella. English translations of the texts are provided throughout, enabling the making of specific performance cues. A book to be read while listening to one of the few recordings of Croce's music, or while organizing one's own Renaissance performance, or as a general study of this interesting composer's style and influences. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)