CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Il pianto della Madonna
Composizioni spirituali

01 Pianto della Madonna - Iam moriar, mi fili
(Spiritual contrafactum of Lamento d’Arianna. Music: Sesto libro, 1614. Text: Selva Morale e Spirituale, 1640)

02 È questa vita un lampo
(Spiritual madrigal. Selva Morale e Spirituale, 1640)

03 Stabat virgo Maria
(Spiritual contrafactum of Era l’anima mia. Quinto libro, 1605)

04 Rutilante in nocte
(Spiritual contrafactum of Io mi son giovinetta. Quarto libro, 1603)

05 Toccata (Girolamo Frescobaldi)
(Fragment of Altro Recercar, Messa delli Apostolli. Fiori musicali, 1635)

06 Domine, ne in furore tuo
(Motet. Giulio Cesare Bianchi, Libro primo de’ motetti in lode d’Iddio, 1620)

07 Christe, adoramus te
(Motet. G. C. Bianchi, Libro primo de’ motetti in lode d’Iddio, 1620)

08 Cantate Domino
(Motet. G. C. Bianchi, Libro primo de’ motetti in lode d’Iddio, 1620)

09 Qui pependit in cruce
(Spiritual contrafactum of Ecco Silvio. Quinto libro, 1605)

10 Qui pietate tua
(Spiritual contrafactum of Ma se con la pietà. Quinto libro, 1605)

11 Maria, quid ploras
(Spiritual contrafactum of Dorinda ah! dirò mia. Quinto libro, 1605)

12 Te, Iesu Christe
(Spiritual contrafactum of Ecco piegando. Quinto libro, 1605)

13 Pulchrae sunt genae tuae
(Spiritual contrafactum of Ferir quel petto. Quinto libro, 1605)

14 Toccata (Girolamo Frescobaldi)
(Christe I, Messa delli Apostolli. Fiori musicali, 1635)

15 Adoramus te, Christe
(Motet. G. C. Bianchi, Libro primo de’ motetti in lode d’Iddio, 1620)

16 Letanie della Beata Vergine
(Motet. G. C. Bianchi, Libro secondo de’ motetti in lode della gloriosissima Vergine Maria, 1620)

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About this CD

With Il pianto della Madonna, a collection of spiritual compositions by Claudio Monteverdi, La Compagnia del Madrigale provide a stunning follow-up to their award-winning recording of the Fifth Book of madrigals by Luca Marenzio – both releases from Glossa. The singers of the ensemble have returned to their favoured Piedmontese recording location in Roletto to create a vivid sound picture of the desire in Monteverdi’s own time to bring the “heavenly harmony” of the composer’s secular works into the service of the religious domain (and that despite Post-Tridentine restrictions on such secular “intrusions”).

Here, for example, is presented the spiritual version of the celebrated Lamento d’Arianna from the lost opera Arianna – Il pianto della Madonna – and sung in a distinctive polyphonic reworking prepared especially for La Compagnia del Madrigale. Pastoral concerns in Monteverdi’s madrigals, such as in the Fourth and Fifth Books, make way for reflections on the Crucifixion or the Nativity through the new religious texts supplied by the likes of Angelo Grillo and Aquilino Coppini, which nonetheless fit the music more than aptly. Included also are some of Monteverdi’s own religious compositions, as published by Giulio Cesare Bianchi, and including the extensive Litaniae lauretanae.

In the booklet essay Marco Bizzarini brings his deep understanding of the interplay of words and music in Italy in Monteverdi’s time, underscoring the skill, experience and sheer musicality of La Compagnia del Madrigale.