O Primavera by Claudio Monteverdi
We begin with one of our favorites by one of my favorites: 'O primavera', by Claudio Monteverdi (1567--1643). It's based upon a text by Giovanni Battista Guarini, peculiarly appropriate for this exact moment. The protagonist sings of being outside on a beautiful spring day (look outside your window), extolling the beauties of new plants, of new flowers and of new loves. But then the music changes utterly, and we learn that all these external pleasures and glories are as naught, rendered null and void by internal suffering and loss.
We begin with one of our favorites by one of my favorites: 'O primavera', by Claudio Monteverdi (1567--1643). It's based upon a text by Giovanni Battista Guarini, peculiarly appropriate for this exact moment. The protagonist sings of being outside on a beautiful spring day (look outside your window), extolling the beauties of new plants, of new flowers and of new loves. But then the music changes utterly, and we learn that all these external pleasures and glories are as naught, rendered null and void by internal suffering and loss.