Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi

Music:
- Altri canti of Amor
- Gira il nemico insidioso Amore
- Horche to the sky, e la terra, e ’l vento tace
- Armato il cor d´adamantina fede - A doi tenori
- Volgendo in heaven per immortal trailo - Ballo à cinque voci con doi violini
- Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda
- Se vittorie sì belle - A doi tenori
- Ogni lover è warrior - A doi tenori
- Ardo, avvampo, mi struggo, ardo: accorrete - A otto voci con doi violini

Monteverdi’s Eighth Book of Madrigals, issued with the eye-catching title of Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi (“Madrigals of Love and War”), was published in 1638, some 20 years after the appearance of the Seventh Book and four years before the composer’s death. Divided, as its title implies, into two roughly equal sections, the Eighth Book contains a wide range of pieces, from recent work in praise of Emperor Ferdinando III (the recently crowned dedicatee of the volume) to the ballo dell’ingrate, originally written for the Gonzaga-Savoy marriage of 1608 (when Monteverdi’s L’Arianna also received its premiere) and previously unpublished. Taking their cue from the prominent position allocated to his cherished genere concitato in both the preface and contents of the collection, Rinaldo Alessandrini has made an unusual selection of pieces in which this kind of writing, which in practice involves much rapid chordal repetition, triadic formulas and scale passages to imitate the sounds of war, is prominent.

Director: Paul AGNEW (Music Director)
Cast: Les Arts Florissants, Miriam Allan: Soprano (Amore), Hannah Morrison: Soprano (Clorinda, Venere), Lucile Richardot: Contralto (Un delle Ingrate), Stéphanie Leclercq: Contralto, Lisandro Abadie: Bass, Sean CLayton: Tenor (Tancredi), Cyril Costanzo: Bass