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Basciami mille volte by Luca Marenzio
As I mentioned in a previous Madrigal Message, 1585 was a big year for Luca Marenzio. He published one book each of four-, five- and six-voice madrigals, plus a book of canzonette and two books of villanelle! We've looked at pieces from the four-voice volume; today we'll get to know one of the five-voice madrigals: 'Basciami mille volte'.

It's a pretty sexy poem. I don't think it's over the top or inappropriate, exactly--we assume that this scene is playing out between consenting, nay, enthusiastic adults--but the temperature in the room seems to have become pretty darned elevated. The protagonist invites kisses from his beloved, and then prescribes for himself a course of embraces to bring him back to consciousness should he faint; and if (God forbid) he should die from the ecstasy of these kisses, well, it would be a good way to go.

As we would expect, Marenzio has a field day with all this. The various moods and actions--urgency, kissing, embraces, temporary loss of consciousness, death, sweetness--are all perfectly represented in his setting, and perfectly rendered in the recording (attached) by the redoubtable Italian ensemble Venexiana.

Speaking of Venice: Did you hear that last weekend they tried out the long-awaited, many-times delayed (often in scandalous circumstances) MOSE system for defending against the notorious acqua alta--and it worked! 
​Check it out here.

I hope you enjoy 'Basciami'. I am very fond of Marenzio's madrigals. He developed such a personal style (maniera,  in the parlance of the day), and his pieces are always so sensitive to the text and so very singable. Not for nothing was he referred to by contemporaries and successors as 'il divino' and as 'the sweetest swan.'
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