Ludovico da Viadana: A Transitional Figure in European Music

For Sunday, October 26, 2025
Exsultate Justi by Ludovico da Viadana

By David Jolliffe

The anthem that the St. Paul’s Choir will sing at the 11 a.m. service on October 26, “Exsultate Justi,” is the work of one Ludovico Grossi, also known as Ludovico da Viadana.  The piece offers a delightful example of a transition in European church music from a Renaissance style to Baroque style.

Ludovico (1564 to 1627) dropped his family name after becoming a Franciscan monk and was known simply as “Viadana” during his career, which witnessed his holding a number of positions in churches and cathedrals throughout Italy.  He has been recognized as an important transitional figure from Renaissance music, which flourished from around 1400 to around 1600, with its emphases on rich polyphony with multiple independent melodies and balanced harmonies, to Baroque music, which flourished from around 1600 to around 1750, with its emphases on elaborate ornamentation and dramatic shifts of tempo and volume.  Viadana contributed to this transition with his development of basso continuo, a musical technique from the Baroque era that involves a continuous bass line played by a bass instrument, supported by a chord-playing instrument like a harpsichord or organ that improvises harmonies. 

            The lyrics for “Exsultate Justi” come from the first three verses of Psalm 33.  Here is a translation from the King James Bible:

Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.

“Exsultate Justi” was part of Viadana’s “Concerti Ecclesiastici,” a collection of one hundred compositions completed in 1602.  In the piece, double and triple meters alternate, and Viadana uses the voices to imitate and harp and lyre mentioned in the psalm text.  The motet concludes with a return to the homophonic first part.