The biography of Ippolito Baccusi remains to be clearly established. He was born in Mantua about 1550 and died in Verona in 1609. He is thought to have been employed for a time at San Marco, but the evidence for this is slight. However, on November 14 1574 one "frate Hypolito" was appointed maestro di cappella at Santo Stefano in Venice with a mansionaria of 24 ducats. That this Frate is probably Baccusi is evident from a later entry, dated 2 September 1592, which records his re-appointment: "Fu eletto per maestro de capella della nostra chiesa … il padre fra Ippolito Baccusio …" Apparently it is not clear in either case how long he remained in the post, although Zacconi mentions that he arrived in Venice in 1577 and studied with Baccusi there. The Missa Quel Rossignuol is the first sacred piece of Baccusi to be published in modern times. It is a parody on a madrigal yet to be identified - though there is a distinct similarity to the opening of the setting by Donato . The mass is in high clefs and is here transposed down a fourth according to the clef codes of the time. It can of course be performed at any convenient pitch, and copes are available in other transpositions.