9-part pieces in this repertoire are unusual. However, sometimes when angels were involved, composers liked to keep the upper choir small, as in Bassano’s Hodie Christus natus est.
This Christmas motet comes from Hassler’s Sacri concentus, of 1610: it is a setting of a text that had been previously been set by Hassler’s teacher Andrei Gabrieli. The layout, in nine parts, is somewhat unusual, though conventional in having the high first choir that one usually finds associated with angels.
Translation:
the angel said to the shepherds in the field: “I bring to you good news, and great joy: today is truly born to us the Saviour of the world, Alleluia.”
(Bernard Thomas)
