In many ways, Giacomo Carissimi - was quite literally - singularly unusual among the composers of the Italian baroque. Despite his enormous artistic stature, he was a humble man who didi not seek the limelight and who lived for his art alone. This lack of ego was as rare in his day as it is in aurs but fate was to play a cruel joke on him nonetheless. A papal decree stated that his manuscripts were to be preserved in the archive of the Collegium Germanicum so that they would be handed down to his successors intact. However, the opposite happened and they were completely lost. Thus it is that Carissimi enjoys a great reputation, yet there is a glaring lack of first-hand sources of his work.