Lasciatemi morire - Claudio Monteverdi
To those of you who eagerly await these weekly messages (anyone out there?) I offer my apologies for my tardiness. Divers events and various commitments (plus the NBA playoffs) sort of overtook me last week.
So here is my makeup piece, Monteverdi's Most Famous Madrigal:
'Lasciatemi morire', sometimes called 'Arianna's Lament'.
Actually the piece started life as an extended operatic aria, a featured moment in Monteverdi's 1608 opera, 'L'Arianna' (libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini). The opera is tragic, but so were the circumstances: Monteverdi's young friend, protegé and resident in his household, the soprano Caterina Martinelli, who was to play the title role, died suddenly well into the rehearsal process.
The opera itself is lost; but in 1614, in his 'Sixth Book of Madrigals', Monteverdi published an arrangement of the lament as a four-section madrigal for five voices. It is in this form that the piece is known to the world. =
Actually, what is known to the world is the first of the four sections. I sang it in college, along with many other high-school and college singers around the world. You may have sung it yourself. It is super-expressive, with languishing motifs, impetuous leaps, slinky chromaticism, and an ending filled with pathos.
Following is a text/translation of this famous first part; a score is attached hereto.
Lasciatemi morire; (Let me die;)
E che volete voi che mi conforte (And whom would you want to comfort me)
In così dura sorte, (in such a cruel fate,)
In così gran martire? (in such great martyrdom?)
Lasciatemi morire. (Let me die.)
Our featured recording for today is truly remarkable. It is a super-expressive live performance by Les Arts Florissants, including not only the opening section but all four madrigals of the Lament.
If you'd like to explore (and possibly sing) the latter three madrigals as well, here's a link to a complete score, and here's the full text-translation.
Even if you're busy today, take a few minutes to listen to and watch the first madrigal in the recording linked above. You won't regret it.
In the words of the immortal Joseph Charles, 'Have a Good Day!'
To those of you who eagerly await these weekly messages (anyone out there?) I offer my apologies for my tardiness. Divers events and various commitments (plus the NBA playoffs) sort of overtook me last week.
So here is my makeup piece, Monteverdi's Most Famous Madrigal:
'Lasciatemi morire', sometimes called 'Arianna's Lament'.
Actually the piece started life as an extended operatic aria, a featured moment in Monteverdi's 1608 opera, 'L'Arianna' (libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini). The opera is tragic, but so were the circumstances: Monteverdi's young friend, protegé and resident in his household, the soprano Caterina Martinelli, who was to play the title role, died suddenly well into the rehearsal process.
The opera itself is lost; but in 1614, in his 'Sixth Book of Madrigals', Monteverdi published an arrangement of the lament as a four-section madrigal for five voices. It is in this form that the piece is known to the world. =
Actually, what is known to the world is the first of the four sections. I sang it in college, along with many other high-school and college singers around the world. You may have sung it yourself. It is super-expressive, with languishing motifs, impetuous leaps, slinky chromaticism, and an ending filled with pathos.
Following is a text/translation of this famous first part; a score is attached hereto.
Lasciatemi morire; (Let me die;)
E che volete voi che mi conforte (And whom would you want to comfort me)
In così dura sorte, (in such a cruel fate,)
In così gran martire? (in such great martyrdom?)
Lasciatemi morire. (Let me die.)
Our featured recording for today is truly remarkable. It is a super-expressive live performance by Les Arts Florissants, including not only the opening section but all four madrigals of the Lament.
If you'd like to explore (and possibly sing) the latter three madrigals as well, here's a link to a complete score, and here's the full text-translation.
Even if you're busy today, take a few minutes to listen to and watch the first madrigal in the recording linked above. You won't regret it.
In the words of the immortal Joseph Charles, 'Have a Good Day!'