Monteverdi: Il Sesto Libro de Madrigali
List Price:
Our Price: $14.95
You Save: $2.04 (12%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Edition: Music CDCD Release Date: 2006-05-16
Music Label: Opus 111
Soundtracks:
- Lasciatemi Morire-Prima Parte
- O Teseo, O Teseo Mio-Seconda Parte
- Dove, Dov'e La Fede-Terza Parte
- Ahi, Che Pur Non Risponde-Quarta E Ultima Parte
- Zefiro Torna
- Una Donna Fra L'Altre
- A Dio, Florida Bella
- Incenerite Spoglie
- Ditelo
- Dara La Notte Il Sol
- Ma Te Raccoglie
- O Chiome D'Or
- Dunque, Amate Reliquie
- Ohime Il Bel Viso
- Qui Rise, O Tirsi
- Misero Alceo
- Batto, Qui Pianse Ergasto
- Presso Un Fiume Tranquillo
Music reviews of Monteverdi: Il Sesto Libro de Madrigali
Music Review: Despair is NOT a Modern Secular Invention!
Rating: 5 Stars
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was, judging by his music, a devote believer in the glory of the Christian religion and the Christian mysteries. More than any other composer, he expressed the ideals of his era, the Counter-reformation, in his paeans of spiritual joy in the Marian Vespers and in his masses and motets. People feel that religious exaltation in his music; the Vespers of 1610 ranks only behind Handel's Messiah and Bach's B-minor mass in frequency of performance worldwide.
Monteverdi's Sixth Book of madrigals, nevertheless, is an expression of unconsolable despair - ten settings of poetic laments over parting and death, with only the most wistful reference in one of them to another life. The evidence suggests that this was Monteverdi's most personal collection, representing his profound grief at the death of his wife in 1607 and of his favorite pupil in 1608, a young soprano for whom he had written the opera Arianna, plus his distress at the collapse of his career in Mantua. It's a tribute to Monteverdi's humanity - his HUMANISM - that he could share his grief with the world in possibly the most gorgeous songs of sorrow ever written, realizing the human value of sorrow without sentimentalizing or passing judgment on it.
So... These are the saddest and most beautiful of Monteverdi's madrigals. The version of Il Lamento d'Arianna in the Sixth Book is a five-voice recomposition of the aria from the lost opera. The aria also survives as a tantalizing fragment, a favorite of sopranos, but the polyphonic madrigal is incomparable. Monteverdi had set Petrarch's poem Zefiro Torna as a canzonetta of exquisite light-heartedness, but in the Sixth Book he transforms it into a poignant lament. Here's the poem in translation:
"Zephyr returns and brings back the sweet season / and grasses and flowers, his sweet companions,/ and twittering swallows and nightingales, / and Spring, white and rosy.
The meadows smile, the sky is blue once more; / Jove gazes upon his daughter with delight; / Earth, air, and water are filled with love./ Every creature renews its courtship.
But for me, alas, the heaviest sighs return, / rising from the depths of my heart, / drawn by the one who took its key with her to heaven.
And birdsong and the meadow flowers, / and the sweet actions of fair and honest women / are as a wilderness and cruel wild beasts."
Throughout the other madrigals, one can hear, in the achingly beautiful cadences and sighs, the heartfelt despair that Monteverdi found integral to the human condition... the awareness of the death of one's loves, which no religious certainty has ever assuaged.
Rinaldo Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano get it right as usual. If ever you hear a more perfect ensemble than this - in tuning, in articulation and attacks, in unity of interpretation, in vocal blend and balance - ring the fire bell, send me an e-mail, rouse me from the grave if necessary, because I won't believe it until I hear it myself. This is a knock-out glorious performance!
Description of Monteverdi: Il Sesto Libro de Madrigali
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.88
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Monteverdi: L'OrfeoRelease date: 2007-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $20.13
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi: Secondo Libro dei Madrigali (1590)Release date: 2004-10-26; Music CD
Best price: $17.09
Price in other shops:
Concerto Italiano - Monteverdi: Secondo Libro de' Madrigali (Second Book of Madrigals) / Concerto Italiano * AlessandriniRelease date: 1994-12-06; Music CD
Best price: $75.00
Monteverdi: Madrigals, Book 7Release date: 2008-09-30; Music CD
Best price: $13.74
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi: Concerto Settimo Libro dei MadrigaliRelease date: 2004-11-30; Music CD
Best price: $41.59
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi: Libri dei Madrigali, Books 1 & 9Release date: 2008-05-27; Music CD
Best price: $14.55
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi: Terzo Libro dei MadrigaliRelease date: 2008-06-24; Music CD
Best price: $14.30
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi: Madrigals / Rooley, The Consort of MusickeRelease date: 1997-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi: Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi, Libro 8 (Madigrals, Book 8)Release date: 2006-10-31; Music CD
Best price: $18.81
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi: Madrigali Guerrieri et AmorosiRelease date: 1999-06-08; Music CD
Best price: $5.69
Price in other shops: