Salamone Rossi and Claudio Monteverdi most certainly worked side by side in the court of Mantua in the service of the Gonzaga family. Both composers stood as leaders of the new emerging styles in the 17th century. The lecture and concert will focus on side-by-side comparisons in the ways in which Rossi and Monteverdi respectively set the texts of the Psalms. The musical examples will be taken from Rossi 1623 publication of Ha-Shirim asher li-Shlomo (The Songs of Solomon) and Monteverdi's Selva Morale e Spitiruale of 1640-41. Although certain aspects of the traditional Venetian polychoral tradition and coro spezzato are to be found in the settings of Monteverdi and Rossi, both break new ground in applying the techniques and Affekts of the Seconda Practica. Further consideration will be given to the way in which the Psalms are interpreted differently in Judaism and Christianity. Pre-concert talk by Matthew Glansdorf.