After his arrival in Venice in 1557, Claudio Merulo (1533-1604) became part of a society full of humanistic excitement: his collaboration with men of culture led him to be considered a very esteemed composer.

Claudio Merulo was a most renowned and famous organist. His Organ Masses, according to Willi Apel, "[...] belong to what is most beautiful and precious produced for liturgical organ music of the sixteenth century [...]".

The Missa Apostolorum, presented here, is included in the Messe d’Intavolatura d’organo, published by Merulo himself in Venice in 1568, in which the composer enriches the Gregorian monody, probably derived from the Gradual then in use at the Basilica of San Marco and published in Venice in 1551.