[Theme music begins]
Welcome to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
Claudio Monteverdi’s long career spanned a period marked by big changes to the Italian musical landscape. He witnessed a shift from Renaissance to Baroque compositional aesthetics, the rise of the violin family of instruments, and the establishment of opera as a public institution, to name a few. From ballets to mass settings and madrigals that run the gamut from chamber pastimes to staged spectacles, Monteverdi left us a wealth of music for all occasions that continues to delight audiences of today. Join Harmonia this hour as we take a sonic journey through some of the musical places and spaces Monteverdi inhabited during his extraordinary life.
[Theme music fades at :59]
Uno + One: Italia nostra
Tenet
Avie Records | AV2303 (2013)
Claudio Monteverdi
Tr. 5 Ohime ch’io cado, ohime (4:29)
[Ensemble] Tenet’s version of Claudio Monteverdi’s “Ohime, ch’io cado, ohime; Ah me, I fall, ah me.” Jolle Greenleaf, soprano, with violinist Robert Mealy and Avi Stein on harpsichord. This solo aria is among a small handful of Monteverdi’s songs that he didn’t publish in one of his own collections. “Ohime, ch’io cado” first appeared in Carlo Milanuzzi’s fourth volume of “Ariose vaghezze” (“tuneful desires”) in 1624. / Monteverdi’s only personal publication to include solo songs is the Scherzi musicali of 1632, / which has six, plus his famous Zefiro torna for two voices.
Claudio Monteverdi was born in Cremona in 1567. The city of Cremona, on the banks of the Po in Southern Lombardy, was an important site in the wood industry, from which lumber from the forests of Northern Italy was transported by river. The vibrant local wood trade attracted instrument makers, leading to Cremona’s reputation as the home of renowned luthier families including Amati, Guarneri, and Stradivarius. The Monteverdis lived in the same parish as Andrea Amati, patriarch of the city’s violin-making dynasty, and Claudio grew up alongside Andrea’s sons Antonio and Girolamo. He was educated in the choir school of Cremona Cathedral, where the maestro di capella was Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, a virtuoso string player who taught the choirboys to play violins and viols. While he also studied singing and composition, Monteverdi’s first professional appointment was as a violist to the Duke of Mantua. He never published any purely instrumental music, but the expertly crafted string parts across his compositional output remind us that he was a fiddler at heart. Our first set is inspired the atmosphere of Cathedral music in Cremona during Monteverdi’s childhood.
Con arte e maestria: Virtuoso violin ornamentation from the dawn of the Italian Baroque
Oliver Webber, Steven Devine
Resonus Classics | 5060262793114 (2021) RES10282
Oliver Webber
Tr. 6 Ricercata (1:59)
Monteverdi: Sacrae Cantiunculae
The Györ Girl’s Chorus
Hungaroton | HCD12921 (1995)
Claudio Monteverdi
Tr. 12 Quam pulchra es (How fair) (1:24)
Per il Santissimo Natale
La Fenice, Jean Tubéry
Ricercar | RIC237 (2003)
Claudio Monteverdi
Tr. 3 Angelus ad pastores ait (The angel said to the shepherds) (1:12)
L’organo della Cattedrale di Cremona
Fausto Caporali
MV Cremona | MVC005015 (2018)
Marc’Antonio Ingegneri
Tr. 1 Canzone francese (1:23)
Master & Pupil
Sestina
Inventa Records | 5060262793299 (2022)
Marc’Antonio Ingegneri
Tr. 15 Cantate et psallite (Sing and praise) (3:27)
[Music reminiscent of Cremona Cathedral (during Monteverdi’s childhood).]: We first heard a ricercata improvised by violinist Oliver Webber of the Monteverdi String Band, followed by two motets from Monteverdi’s rarely recorded first publication, the Sacrae Cantiunculae of 1582. The Györ Girls’ Chorus sang Quam pulcra es. Then, we heard an instrumental rendition of Angelus ad pastores ait by Jean Tubéry and La Fenice. After that, Fausto Caporali played a Canzone francese by Marc’Antonio Ingegneri on the Cremona Cathedral organ followed by his Cantate et psallite performed by Sestina with Mark Chambers.
Monteverdi relocated east around 1591 to the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua, by then having published his first two books of secular madrigals and one collection of spiritual madrigals. He started as a violist under maestro di capella Giaches de Wert and continued to compose. He married virtuoso soprano Claudia Cattaneo in 1599 and took over the position of maestro in 1601. Before leaving the court in 1612, Monteverdi would publish three more books of madrigals: a collection of Scherzi musicali for three voices and obbligato instruments; the score to his musical theater production Orfeo; and his famous Vespers setting. Among his musical colleagues at Mantua were Salamone Rossi, Francesco Rasi, Adriana Basile, Benedetto Pallavicino, Giovanni Gastoldi, and Lodovico Viadana.
Dangerous Graces: Music by Cipriano de Rore and his pupils
Musica Secreta
Linn Records | CKD169 (2002)
Giaches de Wert
Tr. 8 Vezzosi augelli (Charming birds) (2:33)
Il Mantovano Hebreo
Profeti della Quinta
Linn Records | CKD429 (2013)
Salamone Rossi
Tr. 18 Gagliarda disperata (1:19)
Quarto Libro dei Madrigali: Claudio Monteverdi 1603
La Venexiana
Glossa | GCD920924 (2004)
Claudio Monteverdi
Tr. 13 Io mi son giovinetta (I am a young girl) (2:25)
Monteverdi: Scherzi Musicali
María Cristina Kiehr, Stephan MacLeod, Concerto Soave, Jean-Marc Aymes
Harmonia Mundi | HMA1951855DI (2005)
Claudio Monteverdi
Tr. 4 Damigella, tutta bella (Beautiful damsel) (2:34)
Chamber music of the type enjoyed at Mantua during Monteverdi’s time there. First was Musica Secreta with Giaches de Wert’s madrigal “Vezzosi augelli,” [its top three parts catered to the virtuosic women singers that were all the rage at Northern Italian courts (in the wake of the “three ladies of Ferrara”)]. After that was Salamone Rossi’s “Gagliarda disperata” performed by Profeti della Quinta; and we heard from Monteverdi’s Fourth Book of Madrigals, “Io mi son giovinetta” by La Venexiana. Last, we heard María Cristina Kiehr, Stephan MacLeod, and Concerto Soave led by Jean-Marc Aymes on “Damigella, tutta bella” from the Scherzi Musicali of 1607, a collection of Monteverdi’s lighter musical entertainments featuring many new song texts by Gabriello Chiabrera.
Despite the success of his Orfeo during carnival 1607 and impressive contributions to the wedding of the duke’s son in 1608, including the lost opera Arianna, Monteverdi spent his last years in Mantua feeling underappreciated by his Gonzaga patrons. He compiled music he had composed for festive observances at the ducal chapel into the collection we now know as the Vespers of 1610, which also included a mass setting for the feast of Santa Barbara and several motets. Monteverdi dedicated this publication to Pope Paul the Fifth and made a trip to Rome in the hopes of attracting a better employment offer. After Vincenzo Gonzaga died in 1612, Monteverdi’s contract was terminated by the new Duke Francesco, and he returned to Cremona to save money. Only in the summer of 1613 did Monteverdi’s fortunes change: he won the audition for maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.
Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610)
Tragicomedia, Concerto Palatino, Stephen Stubbs
ATMA Classique | 00722056615426 (2003)
Claudio Monteverdi
Disc 2 Tr. 1 Magnificat anima mea Dominum (My soul magnifies the Lord) (:42)
Disc 2 Tr. 2 Et exultavit (And rejoices) (1:17)
Ghirlanda Sacra
Ensemble Arte Musica, Francesco Cera
Tactus | TC620001 (2006)
Andrea Gabrieli
Tr. 1 Intonazione settimo tono (1:16)
Un Cornetto a Roma
Bernard Fouccrolle, InAlto, Lambert Colson
Passacaille | 5425004170330 (2018)
Francesco Soriano
Tr. 16 Omega à 6 (1:59)
We just heard [the ensemble] InAlto with an Omega à 6 by Francesco Soriano, maestro of the Cappella Giulia during Monteverdi’s visit to Rome; before that Francesco Cera playing an intonation on the seventh tone by one of the most famous organists of St. Marks, Andrea Gabrieli. We began with Stephen Stubbs leading Tragicomedia and Concerto Palatino on the first two verses of the Magnificat from Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers setting.
[Theme music begins]
Early music can mean a lot of things. What does it mean to you? Let us know your thoughts and ideas. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org, where you’ll also find playlists and an archive of past shows.
You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
[Theme music fades]
MUSIC TRACK (Naxos) Amazon in prod folder
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3MDZDD8/ref=sr_1_8
Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610)
Tragicomedia, Concerto Palatino, Stephen Stubbs
ATMA Classique | 00722056615426 (2003)
Claudio Monteverdi
Disc 1 Tr. 11 Sonata sopra Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis (no vocals before :59) (excerpt of 6:29) (fades out at :59)
Welcome back…we’re exploring the extraordinary life of Monteverdi this hour.
During the glory days of the Republic of Venice, the maestro di capella position at St. Mark’s Basilica was among the most prestigious musical appointments in Europe, rivaling the resources and splendor of the Papal Court in Rome in a less conservative atmosphere. Over the course of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, maestros and staff musicians at St. Marks experimented with new styles of ceremonial sacred music, taking advantage of the Basilica’s unique architecture and roster of fabulous performers. Top musicians also gravitated towards Venice’s vibrant printing industry, and the result was a music scene unlike anywhere else. We’ll sample some of what Monteverdi created for St. Marks, as well as the secular music he continued to publish.
Claudio Monteverdi: Selva morale e spirituale
La Venexiana
Glossa | GCD920914 (2008)
Claudio Monteverdi
Disc 3 Tr. 3 Gloria (fade at 1:20)
Concerto: Settimo Libro de Madrigali
La Venexiana
Glossa | GCD920927 (2004)
Claudio Monteverdi
Disc 2 Tr. 1 Con che soavità, labbra odorate (With such sweetness, perfumed lips) (5:12)
La Venexiana performing the opening of the Gloria from the Missa Solemnis published in Monteverdi’s Selva Morale e Spirituale in 1641, and then “Con che soavità, labbra odorate” from his Seventh Book of Madrigals, published in 1619.
When he wasn’t taking care of business at St. Mark’s, Monteverdi supplemented his income with outside commissions. One such project was the “Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda,” a semi-dramatic chamber entertainment first performed at the palace of Venetian nobleman Girolamo Mocenigo in 1624. It depicts a combat scene between the Christian knight Tancredi and Saracen warrior Clorinda in Torquato Tasso’s epic Gerusalemme liberata. The music was published 14 years later in Monteverdi’s Eighth book of Madrigals. Most of the story is sung by a tenor narrator, but another tenor Tancredi and soprano Clorinda sing their first-person dialogue. They are accompanied by a violin band and harpsichord. In his preface to the 1638 edition, Monteverdi discusses the agitated feel or “stile concitato” he achieved with special effects in the strings, using the first instances of what we now know as “tremolo” and “pizzicato” in music notation. We’ll hear these effects in the rising tensions and exchange of blows as Tancredi and Clorinda begin their battle, and a dramatic shift in tone for Clorinda’s heart-wrenching realization that she’s been mortally wounded.
Monteverdi: Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Ballo delle Ingrate
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
Opus 111 | OP30196 (1998)
Claudio Monteverdi
Tr. 4 Non schivar, non parlar (Neither flinching, nor parrying) (2:00)
Tr. 9 Amico, hai vinto (You’ve won, my friend) (1:55)
Excerpts from Monteverdi’s “Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda,” performed by Concerto Italiano with Rinaldo Alessandrini.
Our featured release this hour is the result of Monteverdi’s late-in-life involvement with commercial opera. L’Incoronazione di Poppea, the latest of Monteverdi’s three surviving operas, premiered at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1642–43 Carnival season, less than a year before his death. William Christie and Les Arts Florissants released a live recording of their Salzburg Festival production of Poppea with Harmonia Mundi in 2019.
Lawyer and poet Giovanni Francesco Busenello provided the libretto, an innovative reduction of Roman history skillfully catered to Venetian audiences, which together with Monteverdi’s musical treatment intimated the hypocrisy of contemporary Rome in its condemnation of Venice as a capital of sin. Four other librettos by Busenello were set by Monteverdi’s student and St. Mark’s employee Francesco Cavalli, the most prolific composer of public opera in mid-seventeenth-century Venice.
L’Incoronazione di Poppea
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
Harmonia Mundi | HAF890262224DI (2019)
Claudio Monteverdi
Disc 1 Tr. 10 Act I Scene 7: Le porpore regali, ed Imperiatrici (Seneca) (1:16)
Baritone Renato Dolcini as Seneca with the portentious number “Le porpore regali, ed Imperiatrici,” “Royal and imperial purple” from Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea, Act I, Scene 7. From this hour’s featured recording, a 2019 Harmonia Mundi release by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants.
We’ll close with the final love duet between Poppea and Nerone, which may not be attributable to Monteverdi himself. The only surviving copies of the score date to 1650s revivals of the production, and scholars have identified likely contributions by Cavalli as well as Francesco Sacrati and Benedetto Ferrari; there is evidence that “Pur ti miro” was penned by the latter.
L’Incoronazione di Poppea
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
Harmonia Mundi | HAF890262224DI (2019)
Attr. Claudio Monteverdi/Benedetto Ferrari
Disc 3 Tr. 15 Act III Scene 8: Pur ti miro (Poppea, Nerone) (5:43)
“Pur ti miro,” “I look at you” from Act III, Scene 8 of Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Poppea and Kate Lindsey as Nerone, directed by William Christie on this live recording celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Les Arts Florissants.
[Fade in theme music]
Harmonia is a production of WFIU and part of the educational mission of Indiana University.
Support comes from Early Music America: a national organization that advocates and supports the historical performance of music of the past, the community of artists who create it, and the listeners whose lives are enriched by it. On the web at EarlyMusicAmerica-dot-org.
Additional resources come from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
We welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about early music in general. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org. You can follow us on Facebook by searching for Harmonia Early Music.
The writer for this edition of Harmonia was Chelsey Belt.
Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, Aaron Cain, and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.
[Theme music concludes]
