«Musico arciero un Serafin celeste»: small-scale motets by Serafino Patta mediolanensis and their circulation in central-eastern Europe

The Milanese Benedictine monk, Serafino Patta, was an up-to-date composer inclined to experimentation, who contributed significantly to the development of the sacred concerto in the early seventeenth century. After re-examining his biography and the dedications included in his second book of motets (1613), addressed to clergymen and musicians active in central-northern Italy, the article examines the characteristics of his sacred and instrumental output, and the reception of his compositions; his works appeared in printed anthologies published in Italy (1620–1621) and in Germany (1622), were copied in the 1640s or mentioned in some inventories, including that of the musical patrimony of Gurk in Austria and that of the cathedral of Hvar (formerly Lesina) in Croatia, which was compiled by a Benedictine monk, and mentions a third book of motets, until now untraceable.