J. Puccini the Elder: Dixit Dominus

This is not your grandfather's Puccini . . . .this is your great, great, great grandfather's Puccini.

I was intrigued when I saw a "Dixit Dominus" (a musical setting to Psalm 110) by Giacomo Puccini. 

At first I thought that the composer was the operatic composer of the late 19th and early twentieth century.  That Puccini wrote some magnificent music, such as the opera La Boheme, and what some people consider the most beautiful of arias,  "O Mio Babbino Caro" from his comic operetta Gianni Schicchi  (I can't help but post a link here, to the soprano Sally Matthews in one of my favorite productions of Gianni Schicchi).  The opera composer, however, was not what one would consider a pious person, and I wasn't aware that he had composed any Sacred Music 

His great, great grandfather of the same name, the first in five generations of composers, was another matter altogether. Below is a link to a performance of his setting for David's Psalm, performed by Ensemble UnaVolta.  It is not only beautiful music, but is radiant with the love of God.