Musica Transalpina

[1] Musica transalpina contains 57 separate pieces by 18 composers, with Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder having the most, and Luca Marenzio second most.

[2] Ferrabosco had lived in England in the 1560s and 1570s, which could explain the large number of his compositions in the book; he was relatively unknown in Italy.

Musica transalpina was printed by Thomas Este and appeared with a dedication to Gilbert Talbot.

Several similar anthologies followed immediately after the success of the first, beginning with Thomas Watson's The First Set of Italian Madrigals, published in 1590, also by Este.

[1] Yonge himself published a second Musica transalpina in 1597, hoping to duplicate the success of the first collection.