Events

• November – Paul Peuerl becomes organist at Horn, Austria.
• Claudio Monteverdi is appointed maestro di musica to Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga at Mantua.
• Giovanni Bassano succeeds Girolamo Dalla Casa as head of the instrumental ensemble at St Mark's Cathedral, Venice.

Publications

• Gregor Aichinger – Odaria lectissima ex melitiss. D. Bernardi jubilo delibata... (Augsburg: Officina Praetoriana), a collection of sacred songs for three and four voices
• Adriano Banchieri – Il Metamorfosi musicale, fourth book of canzonettas for three voices (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino)
• Valerio Bona
  • Second book of masses and motets for two choirs (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino)
  • First book of madrigals and canzonas for five voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
• Joachim Burmeister – Geistlicher Psalmen D. M. L. und anderer gottseligen Menner for four voices (Rostock: Stephan Myliander)
• Giulio Caccini – Le nuove musiche ^[1] (The New Music) (Florence: Giorgio Marescotti)
• Giovanni Croce
  • Sacrae cantiones for five voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
  • First book of canzonettas for three voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
• Christoph Demantius – 77 neue außerlesene, liebliche, zierliche, polnischer und teutscher Art, Täntze mit und ohne Texten for four and five voices (Nuremberg: Catharina Dieterich for Konrad Baur)
• Johannes Eccard – Braut Lied (Ein treu Gemahl) for six voices (Königsberg: Georg Osterberger), a wedding song
• Melchior Franck – First book of sacrae melodiae for four, five, six, seven, and eight voices (Augsburg: Schönigian)
• Andrea Gabrieli – Mascherate for three, four, five, six, and eight voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano), published posthumously, also includes pieces by Ippolito Chamaterò, Orazio Vecchi, and Geminiano Capilupi
• Bartholomäus Gesius – Geistliche Deutsche Lieder (Sacred German Songs) for four and five voices (Frankfurt an der Oder: Johann Hartmann)
• Gioseffo Guami – Partitura per sonare delle canzonette alla francese (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
• Adam Gumpelzhaimer – Sacrorum concentuum, book one, for eight voices (Augsburg: Valentin Schönigk)
• Hans Leo Hassler
  • Lustgarten neuer teutscher Gesäng for four, five, six, and eight voices (Nuremberg: Paul Kauffmann)
  • Sacri concentus, book 1 (Augsburg: Valentin Schönigk)
• Jakob Hassler – Magnificat octo tonorum for four voices (Nuremberg: Paul Kauffmann), also includes a mass and a setting of Psalm 51
• Joachim van den Hove – Florida (Utrecht: Salomon de Roy & Johannes Guilielmus de Rhenen)
• Robert Jones – The Second Booke of Songes or Ayres
• Claude Le Jeune – The 150 Psalms for four and five voices (Paris: the widow of R. Ballard and his son Pierre Ballard), published posthumously
• Luzzasco Luzzaschi – Madrigali ... per cantare, et sonare a 1, 2, e 3 soprani (Rome: Simone Verovio), featuring works written before 1597 for the Concerto delle donne
• Tiburtio Massaino – Third book of motets for six voices (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino)
• Simone Molinaro – Second book of motets for eight voices (Milan: Simon Tini & Francesco Besozzi)
• Philippe de Monte – last of thirty-four books of madrigals
• Thomas Morley (ed.) – Madrigales The Triumphs of Oriana, to 5. and 6. voices: composed by divers severall aucthors
• Asprilio Pacelli – Madrigali... libro primo, a quattro voci (Venice, Giacomo Vincenti)
• Pietro Paolo Paciotto – Motecta festorum totius anni cum Communi Sanctorum..., book 1 (Rome, Nicolo Mutii)
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Twelfth book of masses, published posthumously
• Orfeo Vecchi
  • The seven penitential psalms for six voices (Milan: the heirs of Simon Tini & Giovanni Francesco Besozzi)
  • Psalmi in totius anni solemnitatibus (Psalms for the solemnities of the whole year) (Milan: the heirs of Simon Tini & Giovanni Francesco Besozzi)

Classical music

• Ballet du Roy Henry IV

Musical theatre

• Adriano Banchieri – Il metamorfosi musicale, a madrigal comedy

Opera

• none listed

Births

• date unknown – Michelangelo Rossi, opera composer (died 1656)
• probable – Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, French harpsichordist and composer (died 1672)

Deaths

• January 4 – Laura Peverara, singer (born c 1550)
• May 19 – Costanzo Porta, composer (born c 1528)
• November 26 – Benedetto Pallavicino, organist and composer (b. c. 1551)
• date unknown – Girolamo Dalla Casa, composer

Notes