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  • One Long River of Song
    • 2025-2026 Concerts >
      • The Rise of Polyphony
      • Music's Renaissance
      • A Three-Nation Celebration
      • Exploring the 18th Century
      • Partsong in the Romantic Era
      • Johannes Brahms and the Geometry of Hope
      • Music for Modern Times
    • Donate today!
  • Tickets
    • Tickets
    • Subscriptions
  • Who we are and What we do
    • Board of Directors and Staff
    • Mission Statement
  • Our Ensembles
    • Sonoma Bach Choir
    • Circa 1600
    • Green Mountain Consort
    • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Sponsor a Singer!
    • Escrip & Amazon Smile
  • Resources
    • Virtual Offerings - Archive >
      • The Choir Loft
      • Virtual BachTalk
      • Adventures in Sightsinging
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      • Chorale Wednesdays
      • Motet Fridays
      • Virtual Recording Projects
      • Virtual Concerts >
        • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
        • Music for these Distracted Times - Barefoot All-Stars
        • Agave Baroque American Originals
        • Bach's Long Walk to Lübeck - Anne Laver, organ
    • Concert Programs
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Qual vive salandra in fiamma by Marenzio & Sweelinck
Did you know that in ancient times (Pliny the Elder wrote about it) the salamander was thought to be able to live
and even thrive in fire?

Thus the metaphor for the text of this week's madrigal: 'Qual vive salamandra in fiamma'. The protagonist,
who's burning with love, revels in his heated state while it lasts.

The 6-voice piece is by the inimitable Luca Marenzio (c.1553-1599), from his 'Il primo libro dei madrigali a sei voci' (1581). The intricate texture is full of word-painting, and expresses its poem inimicably, somehow evoking the wonder and strangeness of the toasty salamander and vividly rendering the urgency of the lover's desires in the repeated passage
at the end of the piece. As always, score, recording and pronunciation are attached.

Several years ago, Circa 1600 did a concert called 'Musica Transalpina', which examined (in the first half) the music and style of Marenzio, the quintessential madrigals; and (in the second half) how this style stormed across the Alps to take up residence most famously in England, but also in other northern European countries (cf. last week's Schütz madrigal.)

One of our pieces demonstrating this northward movement was Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck's rewriting of 'Qual vive salamandra' as a three voice madrigal. Amazingly, the piece loses nothing of its intensity and Sweelinck somehow captures an even more archaic and mystical mood. I'm attaching score and recording for this piece as well.
Click here to download learning materials
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