Today in 1631, the Great Plague of Milan came to a ceremonial end. This particular outbreak of the centuries-old Bubonic Plague, an epidemic that began with the so-called Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century, claimed the lives of approximately 25% of northern Italy’s population. On today's "A Classical Day in the Life" we explore the Thanksgiving Mass Claudio Monteverdi composed for the occasion of the construction of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute.