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Con che soavità by Claudio Monteverdi
When is a madrigal not a madrigal? When it's from Monteverdi's Seventh Book of Madrigals!

The Book contains mostly solos, duets and trios with continuo; a few pieces for more voices include upper strings; and one festive piece, 'A quest' olmo', is scored for six voices, strings and recorders. This latter piece is an outlier which would seemingly be more at home in the Eighth Book.

So what makes these pieces madrigals? Well, first of all because Claudio Monteverdi, the greatest madrigalist of all time, says they are! We can certainly observe certain madrigalian traits: A preponderance of love (and its associated joys and challenges) as subject; careful attention to the expression of the text; judicious use of chromaticism;
​texts by some the great Italian poets.

But the madrigal was changing, its direction certainly guided by Monteverdi himself. Take a look at today's piece, 'Con che soavità'. (All materials are attached). It is scored for soprano solo and an ensemble of strings, with lute also indicated by Monteverdi. It's text is typically madrigalian, considering a dilemma: When I hear my beloved's voice, I can't kiss her; she I kiss her, she is unable to speak. If only both could happen at the same time!

Monteverdi makes the most of this heated situation. His solo line is supremely expressive of its text, swooping through its range in a sort of passionate monologue. But the instruments are an equal force in the expression, providing support and full harmonies and helping to build the passion which is so palpable in the piece.

Some of you may recall our 'Concerto delle Donne' concert, in the big hall at the Green, in the Spring of 2011. The seats were not yet installed; there were some jury-rigged chairs, and the fire marshal allowed only a few events with a maximum of 200 attendees. Our concert, featuring Jenni Samuelson and Carol Menke (and the Bach Choir) was a tribute to Don Green on his 80the birthday. 'Çon che soavità', sung peerlessly by Jenni, was a feature of that concert.

The recording I'm including today is by Christina Pluhar's exciting group L'Arpeggiata, and features the soprano Nuria Rial. The album--all Monteverdi all the time--is called 'Teatro d'amore'. It's one of my favorite discs. Check it out here.

You'll love 'Con che soavità'. Give it a spin!
Click here to download learning materials
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