Annibale Orgas was one of those Italian musicians who made a name for themselves in the history of musical culture in the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was the first maestro di cappella of Wawel Cathedral’s vocal-instrumental ensemble, established in 1619 by Bishop Marcin Szyszkowski in Cracow, and later also the praepositus of the Rorate Singers’ collegiums. He thus held the two most prestigious music posts in Cracow. His collection of Sacrarum cantionum (Rome 1619) contains 23 motets for 4-8 voices and basso continuo. Stylistically speaking, Orgas’s music represents one of the trends characteristic of the period of their composition. They stem from the late Renaissance motet tradition, but adopt to a smaller or greater extent elements of the new Baroque style.
The work is available for free download at notes editions subpage of Fontes Musicae.