‘Laudate Dominum’ is the shortest of all Vespers psalms (only
two verses plus the Gloria Patri), and it requires some
ingenuity on the part of the composer to produce a setting that
does not seem perfunctory. Monteverdi rises to the challenge by
using contrasts of texture, by repeating lines of the text in
different permutations of voices to build larger structures, and
by using the two violins to extend and repeat the vocal phrases.
His setting of the first half of verse 2 is particularly
striking. Here he contrasts a lively setting over a walking bass
for ‘Quoniam confirmata est super nos’ with a strikingly
harmonised descending chromatic line for ‘misericordia eius’.
The contrasting blocks of material are presented three times,
reaching a climax as all eight voices and instruments join for a
final statement of the chromatic line. The full ensemble is used
in two other places: at the end of verse 1, where they represent
‘all nations’ / ‘all people’ (omnes gentes / omnes populi) and
at the end of the Gloria