IN STILE MODERNO

In How Sweet the Torment: Madrigals of Monteverdi and his Contemporaries, we present music of the great Claudio Monteverdi and his lesser-known contemporaries Bellerofonte Castaldi, Francesco Corbetta, Benedetto Ferrari, Girolamo Frescobaldi and Domenico Pellegrini, for soprano, cornetto, theorbo, and baroque guitar. 

 

Taking its title from one of Monteverdi’s most popular songs, Si dolce è’l tormento, the program explores both the sweet and the deathly pains of love. We present several duets from his Seventh Book of Madrigals, usually for two sopranos but here in the unusual timbre of soprano and cornetto. The soprano-and-cornetto duets are paired with solo songs accompanied by theorbo and baroque guitar, as well as instrumental music for theorbo duet, cornetto solo and guitar solo.

 

Personnel:

Agnes Coakley Cox, soprano
Nathaniel Cox, cornetto and theorbo
Simon Martyn-Ellis, theorbo and baroque guitar

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Works drawn from:

Claudio Monteverdi: Settimo Libro de Madrigali (1619)
Bellerofonte Castaldi: Capricci a due Strumenti (1621) and Primo Mazzetto di Fiori (1623)
Benedetto Ferrari: Musiche Varie a voce sola (1633)
Girolamo Frescobaldi: Arie Musicale (1630) and Il Primo Libro delle Canzoni (1628)
Francesco Corbetta: Varii Capricii per la Ghittara Spagnuola (1643)