1585 in music

	… 1575; 1576; 1577; 1578; 1579; 1580; 1581; ; 1582; 1583; 1584; 1585; 1586; 1587; 1588; ; 1589; 1590; 1591; 1592; 1593; 1594; 1595 …;
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Events

Publications

Felice Anerio
- First book of madrigali spirituali for five voices (Rome: Alessandro Gardano)
- Second book of madrigali spirituali for five voices (Rome: Alessandro Gardano)
Giammateo Asola
- Completorium romanum duae Beatae Virginis antiphonae, scilicet Salve Regina & Regina coeli (Venice: heirs of Girolamo Scotto), also includes four other motets
- Hymni ad vespertina omnium solennitatum... (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino), in two parts
Ippolito Baccusi – Second book of masses, for five, six, and eight voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino)
Giovanni Bassano
- Fantasies for three voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino)
- Ricercate, passagi, et cadentie (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino), a collection of examples of instrumental ornamentation.
Girolamo Belli
- Psalmi ad vesperas cum hymnis et Magnificat for four voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino), a collection of music for Vespers, including psalms, hymns, and a Magnificat
- First book of Sacrae cantiones for six voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino)
- Second book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino)
Joan Brudieu – Madrigals for four voices (Barcelona: Hubert Gotard)
Joachim a Burck – Dreissig geistliche Lieder auff die Fest durchs Jahr for four voices (Mühlhausen: Georg Hantzsch), settings of hymn texts by Ludwig Helmbold
Gioseppe Caimo – Fourth book of madrigals for five voices (Milan: Pietro Tini)
Giovanni Croce – First book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
Johannes Eccard – Epithalamion in honorem nuptiarum D. Simonis Levskeri et Catharinae Joannis Pasauri filiae for six voicer (Königsberg: Georg Osterberger), a wedding song
Stefano Felis
- Second book of motets for five, six, and eight voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
- Fourth book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino)
Giovanni Ferretti – Fifth book of canzoni alla napolitana for five voices (Venice: heirs of Girolamo Scotto)
Ruggiero Giovannelli – Gli sdruccioli, his first book of madrigals for four voices (Rome: Alessandro Grandi)
Gioseffo Guami – First book of motets for five, six, seven, eight, and ten voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino)
Francisco Guerrero – Passio secundum Matthaeum et Joannem (Rome: Alessandro Gardano)
Paolo Isnardi – Omnes ad vesperas psalmi for four voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino)
Jacobus de Kerle – Selectiorum aliquot modulorum for four, five, and eight voices (Prague: Georg Nigrinus)
Orlande de Lassus
- Sacrae cantiones for four voices (Munich: Adam Berg)
- Cantica sacra for six and eight voices (Munich: Adam Berg)
- Lamentations for five voices (Munich: Adam Berg)
- Madrigals for five voices (Nuremberg: Catharina Gerlach)
Claude Le Jeune – Livre de mélanges (Antwerp: Christophe Plantin), a collection of chansons
Luca Marenzio
- Third book of madrigals for six voices (Venice: heirs of Girolamo Scotto)
- Fifth book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: heirs of Girolamo Scotto)
- First book of madrigals for four voices (Rome: Alessandro Gardano)
- Second book of canzonette alla napolitana for three voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino), his second collection of villanelle
- Third book of villanelle for three voices (Rome: Alessandro Gardano)
Rinaldo del Mel
- Third book of motets for five and six voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
- First book of madrigals for five and six voices (Venice: heirs of Girolamo Scotto)
Philippe de Monte – First book of motets for six and twelve voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
Benedetto Pallavicino – Third book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti & Ricciardo Amadino)
Costanzo Porta – Third book of motets for six voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)

Classical music

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Missa tu es pastor ovium

Musical theatre

Andrea Gabrielli – Choruses for the play Edippo Tiranno, performed in Vicenza

Births

October 8 (JC) – Heinrich Schütz, German composer (died 1672)
date unknown
- Johann Grabbe, composer (died 1655)
- Wojciech Dębołęcki, Franciscan friar, writer and composer (died 1646)
probable – Domenico Allegri, singer and composer (died 1629)
- Andrea Falconieri, composer (died 1653)

Deaths

August 30 – Andrea Gabrieli, organist and composer (born c.1532)
November 28 – Hernando Franco, composer (born 1532)
December 3 – Thomas Tallis, church musician and composer (born 1505)