ABSTRACT
Kilian Reinhardt, in his Rubriche Generali per le Funzioni Ecclesiastiche Musicali of 1727, assigned masses with clarini and timpani to a separate category, as did some of the eighteenth-century catalogues of sacred music in monastic and church archives. The prominent position given the trombone is also another element that persisted for many years in masses and other sacred works composed for performance in Vienna. Francesco Bartolomeo Conti style of writing allows the instruments and voice to weave together threads of melodic material to create a work that is dramatic, yet respectful of the sacredness of the text. Languet anima mea holds many features in common with Conti’s secular cantatas that have orchestral accompaniment. Conti relies upon the tutti-solo concertante style to generate a lively setting. A catalogue of the music manuscript holdings of the Benediktiner-Abtei in Lambach indicates a Missa in G minor by Conti was once housed in the monastery’s archives.
