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The meditation on the Eucharist Gustate et videte shows yet another new direction for late-Renaissance writers with its use of basso continuo and a selection of verses for duos and a trio. It is also unusual in that it uses a refrain. The various texts are drawn from a variety of sources: Isaiah 60: 16, a variant of Genesis 49: 20, a versicle and response from the service of Benediction and the Introit from Corpus Christi. The motet concludes with a rousing coda mixing words from Proverbs (used as a Tract for Corpus Christi) with an invitation to become spiritually over-full or ‘drunk’ (‘inebriamini’) with the sacramental blood of Christ.

from notes by Andrew Carwood © 2011