MONTEVERDI: Canzonette (Concerto delle Dame di Ferrara/ Sergio Vartolo) (Naxos: 8.553316)
£6.99
- Out of stock
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Canzonette (1584) Claudio Monteverdi was born in Cremona in 1567, the son of an apothecary and physician who had come to occupy a leading position in his profession in the city. Monteverdi was probably trained as a chorister at the cathedral and was certainly a pupil of the distinguished
maestro di cappella Marcantonio Ingegneri, a composer of international reputation. Monteverdi's first published compositions, sacred music in the spirit of the reforms of the Council of Trent, appeared in 1582, followed in succeeding years by other collections of madrigals and canzonets, sacred and secular. In 1590 or 1591 he entered the service of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua as a string-player, continuing to work in the musical establishment of the Gonzaga court until Duke Vincenzo's death in 1612, from 1601 as
maestro di cappella to the court. Among Monteverdi's compositions in Mantua, which include further innovative collections of madrigals in the new style of the period, the dissonances of the modern style giving rise to controversy with more conservative musicians, is the court opera
Orfeo, first staged in 1607. With a text by Alessandro Striggio based on the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice as recounted by Ovid and by Vergil,
Orfeo was a remarkable and significantly successful achievement. It was followed in 1608 by
Arianna, a work now lost, except for the very influential lament of Ariadne, reworked by Monteverdi into a five-part madrigal and subsequently published in its original form in a collection of music by various composers. Duke Vincenzo was succeeded in 1612 by the older of his two sons, Prince Francesco, the initiator of
Orfeo, but now, as the ruling Duke, determined to institute various reforms and economies in the court. There had been no reason to suppose that Duke Francesco harboured any ill-will towards Monteverdi, but, for whatever reasons, Monteverdi and his brother Giulio Cesare were dismissed from the service of the Gonzagas during the summer of 1612. The two returned to Cremona, while seeking other employment, which Monteverdi found triumphantly in 1613 with his appointment as
maestro di cappella at the basilica of San Marco in Venice, a position that brought opportunity and security of tenure. He remained there for the rest of his life, refusing attempts to recall him to Mantua and instituting various reforms at San Marco, particularly in the employment of instrumentalists. It was in Venice in 1637 that the first public opera-house was opened and Monteverdi was able to contribute again to this repertoire. In 1640 his
Arianna was revived at the Teatro San Mois?¿, now converted from theatre to opera-house, and in the same year a new opera,
Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria was staged at the Teatro San Cassiano. For carnival in 1643 Monteverdi wrote another new opera,
La coronatione di Poppea, staged at the Teatro Grimani. Monteverdi died in Venice on 29 November 1643, after returning from an extended journey through Lombardy, his death widely mourned. He was succeeded at San Marco by one of his pupils, Giovanni Rovetta, who had served as Monteverdi's assistant, while his contemporary fame is witnessed by a series of posthumous publications. Monteverdi's first publication, in 1582, was his
Sacrae cantiunculae tribus vocibus, printed in Venice by Angelo Gardano. The following year saw the publication in Brescia of a set of
Madrigali spirituali a quattro voci. In 1584 came the canzonets,
Canzonette a tre voci, 21 three-voice compositions, settings of verses by unknown poets, eleven of which had already been used by other composers, notably Orazio Vecchi. The title-page of the
Canzonette, printed in Venice by Giacomo Vincenzi and Ricciardo Amadino, advertises the seventeen-year old composer as of Cremona and a pupil of Marc' Antonio Ingegneri and there is a dedication to Pietro Ambrosini of Cremona, described as Monteverdi's master and patron. Although the canzonets are described as
libro primo, it was followed not by a second collection but, in 1587, by a first volume of
Madrigali a cinque voci. The canzonets open with a first setting that incorporates a reference to the dedicatee in its mention of Ambrosia, a plant from heaven. This is followed by a second,
Canzonette d'amore, a conventional
envoi. The settings that come later are in no particular order, but end with
Hor care Canzonette, sicuramente andrete, which provides a general textual frame-work. The intervening canzonets include a number of places where there is a play on words, where
ma ria suggests
Maria, or
chiara luce del mondo suggests the name Chiara. These first published secular settings by Monteverdi are relatively conventional, suggesting, however, something of what will follow, as he explores new ground, at first within the existing tradition and then in the world of the
seconda prattica. Ferrara, to which Mantua was later obliged, on occasion, for musical assistance, had its own cultural distinction under the d'Este family. The most famous element in the very rich musical establishment that flourished under Duke Alfonso II and the head of his musical establishment, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, was the so-called
Concerto delle dame, who preserved a secret repertory of music for the private delectation of the court. Something of this music is reflected in the collection of three-voice madrigals later published by Luzzaschi. When Monteverdi wrote and published his
Canzonette the singing ladies of Ferrara were unrivalled as virtuose, famous throughout Italy.
Keith Anderson ---
[01]
| Disc: 1 |
|---|
| Canzonette d'amore | |
| 1 |
Introduzione |
|
|
| 2 |
Qual si puo dir |
|
|
| 3 |
Canzonette d'amore |
|
|
| 4 |
La fiera vista |
|
|
| 5 |
Raggi dov'e il mio bene |
|
|
| 6 |
Vita de l'alma mia |
|
|
| 7 |
Il mio martir |
|
|
| 8 |
Son questi i crespi crini |
|
|
| 9 |
Io mi vivea |
|
|
| 10 |
Su su su che'l giorno |
|
|
| 11 |
Quando sperai |
|
|
| 12 |
Come faro cuor mio |
|
|
| 13 |
Corse a la morte |
|
|
| 14 |
Tu ridi sempre mai |
|
|
| 15 |
Chi vuol veder |
|
|
| 16 |
Gia me credea |
|
|
| 17 |
Godi pur del bel sen |
|
|
| 18 |
Giu li aquel petto |
|
|
| 19 |
Si come crescon |
|
|
| 20 |
Io son Fenice |
|
|
| 21 |
Chi vuol veder |
|
|
| 22 |
Hor care canzonette |
|
|
Write your own review
You must log in to be able to write a review
If you like MONTEVERDI: Canzonette (Concerto delle Dame di Ferrara/ Sergio Vartolo) (Naxos: 8.553316), please tell your friends! You can easily share this page directly on Facebook, Twitter and via e-mail below.
If you have a Facebook-account and want to share this page to your friends, click the link below.
Share on Facebook
If you have a Twitter-account and want to share this page to your friends, click the link below.
Share on Twitter
You must log in to be able to tell friends via e-mail
|