1594 in music

Events

• Thomas Ravenscroft joins the choir of St Paul's Cathedral, London.
• Alfonso Fontanelli and Carlo Gesualdo visit Venice, Florence, Naples, and Venosa.
• Sethus Calvisius becomes Thomaskantor in Leipzig.

Publications

• Ippolito Baccusi
• for four voices, books 2 & 3 (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino), also includes a Magnificat
• First book of madrigals for three voices (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino)
• Girolamo Belli – (Motets and a Magnificat) for ten voices (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino), also includes a mass for eight voices
• Valerio Bona – Masses and motets for three voices (Milan: Francesco & Simon Tini), also includes a Magnificat for six voices
• Sethus Calvisius – (Sacred hymns in Latin and German) for four voices (Erfurt: Georg Baumann)
• Giovanni Croce
• First book of motets for eight voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
• (New musical thoughts) for five voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
• Christoph Demantius – (Leipzig: Zacharias Berwald), a wedding song
• Scipione Dentice – First book of motets for five voices (Rome: Francesco Coattino)
• Giovanni Dragoni – Fourth book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
• Johannes Eccard
• ( for five voices (Königsberg: George Osterberg), a wedding song
• for five voices (Königsberg: George Osterberg), a graduation song
• Carlo Gesualdo
• First book of madrigals for five voices (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini)
• Second book of madrigals for five voices (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini)
• Adam Gumpelzhaimer – (New German Sacred Songs) for four voices (Augsburg: Valentin Schönigk)
• Johannes Herold – for six voices (Grätz: Georg Widmanstetter)
• Paolo Isnardi – for eight voices (Venice: heirs of Girolamo Scotto)
• Orlande de Lassus – Motets for six voices (Graz: Georg Widmanstetter)
• Claude Le Jeune – Airs for four and five voices (Paris: Adrian Le Roy and the widow of R. Ballard)
• Luzzasco Luzzaschi – Fourth book of madrigals for five voices (Ferrara: Vittorio Baldini)
• Luca Marenzio – Sixth book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
• Tiburtio Massaino – Fourth book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
• Rinaldo del Mel
• Fifth book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
• Third book of for three voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
• Claudio Merulo – , book one for eight, ten, twelve, and sixteen voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
• Philippe de Monte – Eighth book of madrigals for six voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
• Thomas Morley – Madrigalls To Foure Voyces ... The First Booke (London: Thomas Este)
• John Mundy – Songs and psalmes composed into 3. 4. and 5. parts (London: Thomas Este)
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Sixth book of masses for four and five voices (Rome: Francesco Coattino)
• Seventh book of masses for four and five voices (Rome: Francesco Coattino)
• Andreas Raselius – , first cycle covering the whole year to be written in the German language

Classical music

• Orlande de Lassus – Lagrime di San Pietro

Births

• February 5 – Biagio Marini, violinist and composer (d. 1663)
• September 13 – Francesco Manelli, Italian composer and theorbist (died 1667)

Deaths

• February 2 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer (born c.1525)
• June 14 – Orlande de Lassus, Flemish composer (born 1532)
• July – Girolamo Mei, humanist and inspiration of the Florentine Camerata (b. 1519)
• July 10 – Paolo Bellasio, organist and composer (b. 1554)