Juan Bautista - or Joan Baptista in Catalan - Comes was born around 1582 in Valencia and is considered among the greatest Catalan composers. His talents were recognized beyound his province borders also and in 1618 he was appointed a vicemaestro of the royal chapel in Madrid. However, unlike many an ambitious musuician he didn't appreciate the life in the capital and hankered to return to his home town - which he eventually did. Valencia repaid for his loyalty with money and honours.
The Lamentations of Jeremiah presented here sound very much in vein of the early baroque - that transitional Monteverdi-style which seemed to linger longer in Spain than it did in Italy - and France which leapt from Renaissance polyphony almost straight to its beloved grand motet. Personally I'm very partial to it - it retains all the spirituality and therapeutic harmony of the Renaissance polyphony while being easier to understand for our major-minor trained ear.
Below the cut is the Grove dictionary article on the composer.
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