An unparalleled insight into the transformative power of Monteverdi’s music
A brilliant musician born in 1567, the young Monteverdi published his first collections of sacred music and madrigals in Cremona. His talents as a singer and violist allowed him to enter the service of the Gonzaga court in Mantua, where he remained for more than 20 years. With this fertile environment and multiple influences, both musical and literary, Monteverdi innovated masterfully, producing modern music that made him one of the most renowned composers of his time.
This program, devoted to madrigals for mixed voices, offers a selection of Monteverdi’s finest works. It explores the madrigal in a variety of styles, from the purest polyphonic style to pieces rich in dissonances, through more elaborate works of a dancing nature. The program culminates in a performance of the famous Il Combattimento (The Combat of Tancred and Clorinda). This iconic work reveals all of Monteverdi’s dramatic genius, whose musical language evokes multiple and contradictory feelings, a recurring characteristic in all the works in this program.