The range of the practical and esthetic reform of sacred music in the second half of the sixteenth century can no longer be equated solely with the achievement of Palestrina. Musical scholarship, in quest of a truer picture of the musical aspects of the Counter-Reformation, has revealed other factors and other figures, intrinsically as well as historically interesting. Among these is the Italian composer Vincenzo Ruffo (ca. 1520-87).

Ruffo's most important post, after leaving his native Verona, was as chapelmaster at the Duomo in Milan (1563-72), where he worked under the direct supervision of one of the most powerful leaders of the Counter-Reformation, Cardinal Carlo Borromco. The Cardinal had played an important role in the final sessions of the Council of Trent and in the Commission of Cardinals for the study of sacred music (1564) before assuming active control of liturgical affairs at Milan in 1565.