Ars canendi 4
Giovanni Felice Sances was born in Rome about 1600. Already at the early age of fourteen he appeared as a singer on stage of the Palazzo della Cancelleria. Later he worked as a musician in Bologna, Venice and Padua. Like many other known composers of the 17th century he moved to Vienna in April 1637 where he continued his musical career. Although he focused mainly on church music, his remarkable contribution to the field of sacred music has not yet been appreciated fully. The motet Dextera Domini is based on several handwritten copies found in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The eight-part work for two choirs, four voices each (SATB), is influenced by the use of the polychoral style by the Wiener Hofkapelle. The two choirs facing each other initiate a musical dialogue based on imitation and text interpretation achieved by musical means. The musical peak of this stately piece of music is reached in the finale bars and is emphasized by the words "et narrabo opera Domini".