MICHELANGELO’S MADRIGAL

Composer(s): Various

Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

 21,50

Listen on your favorite streaming serviceSpotify IconSpotify
Listen on your favorite streaming serviceSpotify IconSpotify

Michelangelo’s Madrigal

Today, we are perhaps more familiar with Northern European composers working in Italy in the decades before and after 1500 than we are with Italian composers from the same period. Names such as Josquin des Prez, Alexander Agricola, Loyset Compère and Jacob Obrecht were masters of liturgical polyphony, masses and motets. Their art could be heard in monasteries, cathedral chapels, papal and some princely chapels.

However, when it comes to secular music, Italian composers and musicians were in demand the most, from papal employment in Rome and the northern courts of Mantua and Ferrara to the merchant houses on the Grand Canal in Venice. Singer/lutenists such as Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Marchetto Cara and Michele Pesenti as well as lutenists Marco dall’Aquila and Francesco da Milano were household names in these centres.

The obvious question arises, how is it that the stars of the esteemed Italian song composers do not shine as brightly today as they did circa 1500? The primary reason is that their musical tradition was an unwritten one. When their music was eventually written down – both for their patrons and for publication in the burgeoning market for printed books - it was only in skeletal form. Songs were not meant to be sung or played literally – that is, as written, with a seamless legato and an evenness of expression. Singers personalized the music. This necessitated subtleties and nuances that could not be captured on paper, creating a highly articulated style of delivery. Like the great artists of the time, musicians such as Tromboncino trained in the recently founded humanist schools. They sought to recapture the legendary power of ancient Greek music to express human passions.

Humanist aesthetic values were a synthesis of poetry, music and the visual arts. Central to the development of music during the Renaissance was the rediscovery of ancient sources. For example, Gallicus, a teacher at the humanist court school La Giocosa in Mantua in the early 15th century commented that under tutorage of the founder, Vittorino da Feltre, ‘he diligently heard the music of Boethius and thereby attained the true practice of this art’. Vittorino owned important ancient treatises and the 6th century Roman philosopher and theorist’s work formed part of his collection.

Six-course lute in G by Paul Thomson, London 1984
Six-course lute in A by Paul Thomson, London 1985
The numbering of the lute works are from the following sources:
The Lute Music of Francesco Canova da Milano (1497-1543), ed. Arthur J. Ness (Cambridge, Mass., 1970).
Lute works of Marco Dall’Aquila; Ms. Mus.266, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München.Lute works of Joan Ambrosio Dalza; Intabulatura de Lauto, Libro 4, Venetia, Ottaviano Petrucci, 1508.

1. Mia ventura al venir se fa più tarda
Composer: Bartolomeo Tromboncino
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

2. Tastar de corde 4
Composer: Joan Ambrosio Dalza
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

3. Aimè, ch’io moro
Composer: Michele Pesenti
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

4. Recercar 16
Composer: Marco Dall’Aquila
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

5. Liber fui un tempo in foco
Composer: Marchetto Cara
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

6. Ben mi credea passar mio tempo homai
Composer: Bartolomeo Tromboncino
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

7. Fantasia 42 (E phrygian)
Composer: Francesco Canova da Milano
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

8. Ricercar 2
Composer: Francesco Canova da Milano
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

9. Mal un muta per effecto
Composer: Marchetto Cara
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

10. Ricercar 15 (Senza canto)
Composer: Marco Dall’Aquila
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

11. Come harò donque ardire
Composer: Bartolomeo Tromboncino/Michelangelo Buonarroti
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

12. Fantasia (App. 2) (E phrygian)
Composer: Francesco Canova da Milano
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

13. Per dolor me bagno il viso
Composer: Bartolomeo Tromboncino
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

14. O tempo, o ciel volubil, che fuggendo
Composer: Paulo Scotto
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

15. Fantasia 40
Composer: Francesco Canova da Milano
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

16. Zephiro spira e il bel tempo rimena
Composer: Bartolomeo Tromboncino
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

17. Tastar de corde 3
Composer: Joan Ambrosio Dalza
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

18. Se mai per maraveglia alzando ’l viso
Composer: Anon./Jacopo Sannazaro
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

19. Recercar 28
Composer: Marco Dall’Aquila
Artist(s): Kate Macoboy, Robert Meunier

Artists

,

Composers

, , , , , , , ,

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “MICHELANGELO’S MADRIGAL”
Shopping Cart
MICHELANGELO’S MADRIGAL
 21,50
Listen on your favorite streaming serviceSpotify IconSpotify
Listen on your favorite streaming serviceSpotify IconSpotify

Michelangelo’s Madrigal

Today, we are perhaps more familiar with Northern European composers working in Italy in the decades before and after 1500 than we are with Italian composers from the same period. Names such as Josquin des Prez, Alexander Agricola, Loyset Compère and Jacob Obrecht were masters of liturgical polyphony, masses and motets. Their art could be heard in monasteries, cathedral chapels, papal and some princely chapels.

However, when it comes to secular music, Italian composers and musicians were in demand the most, from papal employment in Rome and the northern courts of Mantua and Ferrara to the merchant houses on the Grand Canal in Venice. Singer/lutenists such as Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Marchetto Cara and Michele Pesenti as well as lutenists Marco dall’Aquila and Francesco da Milano were household names in these centres.

The obvious question arises, how is it that the stars of the esteemed Italian song composers do not shine as brightly today as they did circa 1500? The primary reason is that their musical tradition was an unwritten one. When their music was eventually written down – both for their patrons and for publication in the burgeoning market for printed books - it was only in skeletal form. Songs were not meant to be sung or played literally – that is, as written, with a seamless legato and an evenness of expression. Singers personalized the music. This necessitated subtleties and nuances that could not be captured on paper, creating a highly articulated style of delivery. Like the great artists of the time, musicians such as Tromboncino trained in the recently founded humanist schools. They sought to recapture the legendary power of ancient Greek music to express human passions.

Humanist aesthetic values were a synthesis of poetry, music and the visual arts. Central to the development of music during the Renaissance was the rediscovery of ancient sources. For example, Gallicus, a teacher at the humanist court school La Giocosa in Mantua in the early 15th century commented that under tutorage of the founder, Vittorino da Feltre, ‘he diligently heard the music of Boethius and thereby attained the true practice of this art’. Vittorino owned important ancient treatises and the 6th century Roman philosopher and theorist’s work formed part of his collection.

Six-course lute in G by Paul Thomson, London 1984
Six-course lute in A by Paul Thomson, London 1985
The numbering of the lute works are from the following sources:
The Lute Music of Francesco Canova da Milano (1497-1543), ed. Arthur J. Ness (Cambridge, Mass., 1970).
Lute works of Marco Dall’Aquila; Ms. Mus.266, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München.Lute works of Joan Ambrosio Dalza; Intabulatura de Lauto, Libro 4, Venetia, Ottaviano Petrucci, 1508.