Although Gioseffo Zarlino composed many motets and secular works, he is perhaps more well-known as the leading music theorist of the 16th century, having brought together and updated a rich body of literature about music in view of compositional practices of his own time. However, he also held the most coveted musical position in Venice, as maestro di cappella at the basilica of San Marco.

The motets of his Modulationes sex vocum offer a glimpse of Zarlino the composer and enrich our understanding of the musical life of mid-sixteenth century Venice. 

Having recently recorded the motets by Willaert to great acclaim, Singer Pur now turn their attention to Zarlino and his skilled use of harmony-based keys, counter-point and fugue.