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
 * Psalmi omnes qui in vesperis a Romana Ecclesia decantantur 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 – Sacrae cantiones cum B. V. cantico (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 – Hymni sacri latini et germanici (Sacred hymns in Latin and German) for four voices (Erfurt: Georg Baumann)
 * Giovanni Croce
 * First book of motets for eight voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
 * Novi pensieri musicali (New musical thoughts) for five voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
 * Christoph Demantius – Epithalamium honori nuptiarum Dn. Andreae Goldbeckii cum foemina Anna Christophori Reichij relicta vidua (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
 * Epithalamion (Was Gott für hat) for five voices (Königsberg: George Osterberg), a wedding song
 * Dilexi sapientiam 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 – Neue Teutsche Geistliche Lieder (New German Sacred Songs) for four voices (Augsburg: Valentin Schönigk)
 * Johannes Herold – Historia, deß Leidens unnd Sterbens unsers Herrn und Haylandts Jesu Christu auß dem H. Euangelisten Mattheo for six voices (Grätz: Georg Widmanstetter)
 * Paolo Isnardi – Missa cum motteto 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 madrigaletti for three voices (Venice: Angelo Gardano)
 * Claudio Merulo – Sacrorum concentuum, 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 – Teutscher Sprüche auss den sontäglichen Evangeliis durchs gantze Jar, first Evangelienmotetten 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)