The Opera Omnia of Giovanni Battista Riccio: results and perspectives Gli Opera Omnia di Giovanni Battista Riccio: risultati e prospettive

The critical edition of Il terzo libro delle divine lodi by Giovanni Battista Riccio (Venice, 1620) represents a significant contribution to the knowledge of the oeuvre of a prominent composer of the early 17th century and of the contemporary Venetian milieu. The first tome includes the compositions for one and two voices or instruments and basso continuo; the second tome includes the compositions for three and four voices or instruments and basso continuo, as well as the only two compositions for voices and instruments. The second tome also presents an appendix with the transcription of the organ part – actually the only surviving part – of Riccio’s Canzon in echo, published within a collection of Marian litanies by Valerio Bona (Venice, 1619), and a further appendix with the transcription of two motets that have come down to us incomplete and exclusively in manuscript form. For the latter, a proposed reconstruction of the missing part is provided, making it possible to perform the compositions and to gain an idea, however indicative, of how they might have sounded.