[Mandryka]

The Arcadelt is a great favourite of mine.

 

[Chilham]

... I've only had the time to keep up with the higher level recommendations from this thread...

I think that's a good thing.

I've previously listened, over the past eighteen months, to most works included in Levels 1-5. As we go through I'm listening for the first time to pieces in the top half of Level 6, works that received three recommendations. I will listen to just a very selected few below that, usually based on whether I have them in my collection as they came 'coupled' with pieces more highly recommended, or based on suggestions from other posters.

Pick your level based on your time and appetite for the music of the period, dive deeper if you especially like a particular composer or want to explore further.

 

[EdwardBast]

Definitely find dissonances in Bach that are outside of Renaissance practice - you only began to hear the common dom 7 chord cadence in Baroque music, the Baroque is also where the dim 7 chord appears

Renaissance music did not really have the concept of chords, which appeared in the baroque

This apparently isn't true. Zarlino, in his Istitutione harmoniche III, The Art of Counterpoint (1558) describes (what we would call) full triads in root position and first inversion as perfect harmonies which the composer should strive to use whenever possible in writing counterpoint. He was codifying the practice of the preceding generation.

 

[SanAntone]

This apparently isn't true. Zarlino, in his Istitutione harmoniche III, The Art of Counterpoint (1558) describes (what we would call) full triads in root position and first inversion as perfect harmonies which the composer should strive to use whenever possible in writing counterpoint. He was codifying the practice of the preceding generation.

What you are missing is that there were no full scores in the Medieval and Renaissance. Composers wrote out each individual part, on sections of pages in a large choir manuscript.

Part 1 | Part 3
Part 2 | Part 4

The singers would gather around the book and sing their individual parts. It was completely linear, any harmonic coincidences were the result of the lines coming together, not conceived of as "chords" by the composer.

 

[Mandryka]

lkascjlz;svcns\zlv nmjxs\z

 

[pianozach]

lkascjlz;svcns\zlv nmjxs\z

Time to see the doctor.

You may be having a stroke.

 

[Chilham]

I enjoyed both the Lassus Psalmi Davidis Poenitentiales and Taverner Western Wynde Mass yesterday.

Time to wrap-up the period. I do wonder about the value of sharing such a long list of works like this but if a thing's worth doing .... Just a caution that the list of works at Level 7, those that received just a single recommendation from my research, is not 'curated' so may contain errors. The works towards the top of the listing in Level 7 are those that I have identified as being included within our Talk Classical Favourite and Most Highly Recommended Works. There may be others. The rest are listed by composer. If there are hidden gems here, please tell us.

Level 1
No works

Level 2
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa Papae Marcelli

Level 3
Tallis, Thomas: Spem in Alium

Level 4
No works

Level 5
Lassus, Orlande de: Lagrime di San Pietro
Tallis, Thomas: If Ye Love Me
Tallis, Thomas: Cantiones Ab Fual Argumento Sacrae Vocantu

Level 6
Tallis, Thomas: Lamentations of Jeremiah
Lassus, Orlande de: Psalmi Davidis Poenitentiales
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Canticum Canticorum
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Stabat Mater
Taverner, John: Western Wynde Mass
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa Brevis
Janequin, Clément: Le Bataille de Marignan
Taverner, John: Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas
Arcadelt, Jacques: Primo libro de madrigali
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: O Magnum Mysterium
Janequin, Clément: Le Chant des Oyseux
Taverner, John: Dum Transisset Sabbatum
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa l'Homme Armé
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa Liber Primus
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Vestiva I Colli
Gabrieli, Andrea: Canzoni alla Francese per Sonar Sopra Stromenti da Tasti
Lassus, Orlande de: Il Primo Libro Dove si Contengono Madrigali Vilanesche Canzoni Francesi e Motetti a Quattro Voce
Lassus, Orlande de: Magnum Opus Musicum
Lassus, Orlande de: Matona, Mia Cara

Level 7
Lassus, Orlando de: Prophetiae Sibyllarum
Lassus, Orlande de: Lamentations of Jeremiah
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: The Lamentations of Jeremiah Lessons 1-3
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa "Benedictus Es"
Lassus, Orlande de: Missa Bell' Amfitrit'altera
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa Super Ut Re Mi Fa Sol La
Gombert, Nicolas: Musae Jovis
Sheppard, John: Gaude gaude gaude Maria
Milano, Francesco Canova da: Fantasias for Lute
Févin, Antoine de: Missa Super Ave Maria
Tallis, Thomas: Mass for Four Voices
Japart, Jean: J'Ay Pris Amours
Verdelot, Philippe: Quanto Sia Liet' il Giorno
Flecha, Mateo: Ensaladas
Buchner, Hans: Fundamentbuch
Jacquet of Mantua: Repleatur os meum laude tua
Luther, Martin: Ein Feste Ist Unser Gott
Janequin, Clément: Or Sus Vous Dormez Trop
Janequin, Clément: 19 chansons nouvelles a quatre parties esp. Livre 8, No. 4: Il estoit une fillette
Janequin, Clément: La Chasse
Janequin, Clément: Le Chant de l'Alouette
Mahu, Stephan: Ein Feste Ist Unser Gott
Agricola, Martin: Ein' Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott
Sennfl, Ludwig: A Un Giro Sol Setting
Sennfl, Ludwig: Ave Maria … Virgo Serena
Sennfl, Ludwig: Lust Hab Ich Ghabt Zuer Musica
Claudin de Sermisy: Tant Que Vivray
Narváez, Luis de: Los Seys Libros del Delphin
Narváez, Luis de: Music for Vihuela
Taverner, John: Benedictus
Wilaert, Adrian: Missa Queeramus cum Pastoribus
Willaert, Adrian: Benedicta es Coelorum Regina
Ganassi, Sylvestro: Regola Rubertina
Ghiselin, Johannes: La Alfonsina
Benedictus Ducis: Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld
Sachs, Hans: Silberweise
Gombert, Nicolas: In Illo Tempore Loquente Jesu ad Turbas
Greiter, Matthias: Fortuna Desperata
Francesco di Milano: Ricercars
Osiander, Andreas: Christ Lag in Todesbanden
Buus, Jacques: Ricecar No. 1
Buus, Jacques: Ricecar No. 4
Morales, Cristòbal de: Parce Mihi Domine
Morales, Cristòbal de: Missa l'Homme Armé
Morales, Cristòbal de: Requiem
Wilder, Philip van: Pater Noster, qui es in caelis
Tallis, Thomas: Laudate Dominum
Tallis, Thomas: Canon on Ravenscroft's Psalter
Tallis, Thomas: Sancte Deus
Tallis, Thomas: Videte Miraculum
Tallis, Thomas: 9 Psalm Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter esp. No. 3. Why fum'th in fight
Tallis, Thomas: Puer Natus est Nobis
Tye, Christopher: The Actes of the Apostles
Tye, Christopher: Euge Bone Mass
Arcadelt, Jacques: Margot Labourez les Vignes
Ruffo, Vincenzo: Missae Quatuor Concinate ad Ritum Concili Mediolani
Clemens non Papa, Jacobus: In Te, Domine, Speravi
Clemens non Papa, Jacobus: Musica Dei Donum
Clemens non Papa, Jacobus: Qui Consolabateur Me Recessit a Me
Clemens non Papa, Jacobus: Souterliedekens
Mudarra, Alonso: 3 Libros de Musica
Ortiz, Diego: Recercada Segunda
Cipriano de Rore: Da le belle contrade d'oriente
Sheppard, John: Libera Nos
Sheppard, John: In Manus Tuas
Arbeau, Thoinot: Orchésographie
Tabourot, Jehan: Ding, Dong, Merrily on High
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Dies Sanctificatus
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Fons Bonitatis
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa Liber Secunds
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Hodie Beata Virgo
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa Liber Tertius
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa Repleatur os Meum Laude
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Motet - Sicut Cervus
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Such Beauty, My Beloved (Orgi Belta)
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Tui Sunt Coeli
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Veni Sponsa Christi
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da: Missa Assumpta Est Maria
Guerrero, Francisco: Maria Magdelena
Gabrieli, Andrea: Aria della Battaglia
Gabrieli, Andrea: Canzona Incipit
Gabrieli, Andrea: Magnificat for 3 choirs and orchestra
Gabrieli, Andrea: Psalmi Davidici
Lassus, Orlande de: Bon Jour Mon Cœur
Lassus, Orlande de: Alma Redemptoris Mater
Lassus, Orlande de: Audite Nova
Lassus, Orlande de: Beatus Vir
Lassus, Orlande de: Elle s'en Va de Moy
Lassus, Orlande de: Je l'Ayme Bien
Lassus, Orlande de: Missa Surge Propera
Lassus, Orlande de: Motets inc. Adoremus te, Christe, Tristis est Anima Mea, In Hora Ultima
Lassus, Orlande de: O là o Che Bon Eccho

Just a few mostly short pieces planned for my listening today:

Palestrina: Missa Assumpta est Maria

Peter Phillips, Tallis Scholars

Morales: Parce Midi Domine

Jan Garbaraek, Hilliard Ensemble

Arcadelt: Margot Labourez les Vignes
Lassus: Bon Jour Mon Cour

The King's Singers

Janequin: 19 chansons nouvelles a quatre parties, Livre 8, No. 4: Il estoit une fillette

Capella de la Torre, Katharina Bauml

Composers born 1533-1567 starts tomorrow; Monteverdi, Dowland, Byrd, Victoria, Gabreli, Gesualdo, Caccini, Morley, Sweelink .... Too much goodness for one week in my opinion as some of my favourite composers included there, but what can you do? So much great music everywhere!

 

[EdwardBast]

What you are missing is that there were no full scores in the Medieval and Renaissance. Composers wrote out each individual part, on sections of pages in a large choir manuscript.

Part 1 | Part 3
Part 2 | Part 4

The singers would gather around the book and sing their individual parts. It was completely linear, any harmonic coincidences were the result of the lines coming together, not conceived of as "chords" by the composer.

I'm a musicologist who has studied this music and the theory treatises about it, and I've written motets in this style. What you're missing - well, a part of what you're missing - is that the way parts were written for performance has nothing to do with how they were composed. Your conclusions are wholly incorrect. Composers could compose at a keyboard or on erasable slates before copying parts. And in theory treatises they wrote examples in score format. In the Renaissance composers definitely were aware of the chords resulting from all the parts they were writing, as is clear from the writing of theorist/composers like Gioseffo Zarlino, a student of Adrian Willaert, who wrote:

"A composition may be called truly perfect when, in every change of chord, ascending or descending, there are heard all of those consonances whose components give a variety of sound. Where such consonances are heard, the harmony is truly perfect. Now these consonances that offer diversity to the ear are the fifth and third or their compounds. … Since harmony is a unity of diverse elements, we must strive with all our might, in order to achieve perfect harmony, to have those two consonances or their compounds sound in our compositions as much as possible. True, musicians often write the sixth in place of the fifth, and this is fine."

For those who don't know theory, what Zarlino has described here as perfect harmonies are what we call triads in root position and first inversion - that is, most of the same basic harmonic vocabulary as was used by early Baroque composers. He goes on to explain that one cannot always write perfect harmonies in three-part counterpoint, where sometimes an octave must be used in place of the third or fifth "to preserve a beautiful, elegant, and simple voice line … but to deprive compositions in four parts of one of these consonances is shameful …"*

*The Art of Counterpoint, Part Three of Le Istitutioni harmoniche, 1558, trans. Guy Marco and Claude Palisca (New York: Norton, 1968), 187-88. Emphases above are mine.

 

[hammeredklavier]

In the Renaissance composers definitely were aware of the chords resulting from all the parts they were writing, as is clear from the writing of theorist/composers like Gioseffo Zarlino, a student of Adrian Willaert, who wrote:
"A composition may be called truly perfect when, in every change of chord, ascending or descending, there are heard all of those consonances whose components give a variety of sound. Where such consonances are heard, the harmony is truly perfect. .......

I wish MR was here to see this.

 

[Chilham]

Composers born 1533-1567. What's our 'Work of the Week'?

Level 1
No works

Level 2
No works

Level 3
Monteverdi, Claudio: l'Orfeo

I was surprised. I thought another Monteverdi work would take the accolade. I was wrong.

My listening today. I've been looking forward to this all week:

Monteverdi: l'Orfeo

Jordi Savall, Montserrat Figueras, Furio Zanasi, Arianna Savall, Sara Mingardo, Carlos Mena, Gerd Türk, Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya

 

[SanAntone]

I'm a musicologist who has studied this music and the theory treatises about it, and I've written motets in this style. What you're missing - well, a part of what you're missing - is that the way parts were written for performance has nothing to do with how they were composed. Your conclusions are wholly incorrect. Composers could compose at a keyboard or on erasable slates before copying parts. And in theory treatises they wrote examples in score format. In the Renaissance composers definitely were aware of the chords resulting from all the parts they were writing, as is clear from the writing of theorist/composers like Gioseffo Zarlino, a student of Adrian Willaert, who wrote:

"A composition may be called truly perfect when, in every change of chord, ascending or descending, there are heard all of those consonances whose components give a variety of sound. Where such consonances are heard, the harmony is truly perfect. Now these consonances that offer diversity to the ear are the fifth and third or their compounds. … Since harmony is a unity of diverse elements, we must strive with all our might, in order to achieve perfect harmony, to have those two consonances or their compounds sound in our compositions as much as possible. True, musicians often write the sixth in place of the fifth, and this is fine."

For those who don't know theory, what Zarlino has described here as perfect harmonies are what we call triads in root position and first inversion - that is, most of the same basic harmonic vocabulary as was used by early Baroque composers. He goes on to explain that one cannot always write perfect harmonies in three-part counterpoint, where sometimes an octave must be used in place of the third or fifth "to preserve a beautiful, elegant, and simple voice line … but to deprive compositions in four parts of one of these consonances is shameful …"*

*The Art of Counterpoint, Part Three of Le Istitutioni harmoniche, 1558, trans. Guy Marco and Claude Palisca (New York: Norton, 1968), 187-88. Emphases above are mine.

Those texts were written a century at least after the music was composed. They reflect the thinking of a much later period, not the thinking of a Medieval composer. I will say that during the late Renaissance things began to move more to a vertical thinking - but I was speaking of Medieval and early-middle Renaissance.

Early polyphony was a performance practice, not even notated until later - and conventions about adding parts to monophonic chant involved the production of consonant intervals. To add a third voice the same principle applied, making that the lines compared to each other, not necessarily looking at all three together, did not produce dissonant intervals. There was no conception of "triads" or "chords" (i.e. with names) just intervals. This remained to be the case for 300 hundred years, roughly from the 12th through the 15th century.

One thing that bothers me is an attempt to read-into early music music concepts and especially "tonal" aspects which only developed later.

 

[Mandryka]

Composers born 1533-1567. What's our 'Work of the Week'?

Level 1
No works

Level 2
No works

Level 3
Monteverdi, Claudio: l'Orfeo

I was surprised. I thought another Monteverdi work would take the accolade. I was wrong.

My listening today. I've been looking forward to this all week:

Monteverdi: l'Orfeo

Jordi Savall, Montserrat Figueras, Furio Zanasi, Arianna Savall, Sara Mingardo, Carlos Mena, Gerd Türk, Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya

You may find that you have a different take on the opera if you see it -- Savall made a video recording. On the other hand this is one I remember enjoying

 

[Mandryka]

Willaert, Adrian: Benedicta es Coelorum Regina
!

Lovely thing before the caesura, and normally I don't enjoy Willaert's church music much.

 

[EdwardBast]

Those texts were written a century at least after the music was composed. They reflect the thinking of a much later period, not the thinking of a Medieval composer. I will say that during the late Renaissance things began to move more to a vertical thinking - but I was speaking of Medieval and early-middle Renaissance.

Early polyphony was a performance practice, not even notated until later - and conventions about adding parts to monophonic chant involved the production of consonant intervals. To add a third voice the same principle applied, making that the lines compared to each other, not necessarily looking at all three together, did not produce dissonant intervals. There was no conception of "triads" or "chords" (i.e. with names) just intervals. This remained to be the case for 300 hundred years, roughly from the 12th through the 15th century.

One thing that bothers me is an attempt to read-into early music music concepts and especially "tonal" aspects which only developed later.

We weren't. The conversation you entered was about Renaissance music, not medieval. The treatise I cited is codifying music of the early 16thc, right in the middle of the Renaissance and it certainly applies to Josquin, a quintessential middle Renaissance composer. But even in the early Renaissance what Zarlino said holds pretty well. What do you think the new English sound was all about? Essentially, triadic consonance.

The second bold passage isn't correct or else you've misstated it. If indeed "the lines compared to each other … did not produce dissonant intervals," you would by definition be talking about triadic language because the octave, fifth, third, sixth, and their compounds, the components of Zarlino's perfect harmonies, comprise all of the available consonances. Medieval dissonance treatment tended to favor perfect consonances on strong beats but all kinds of dissonance was possible in between because while each line was made consonant with the tenor, the additional voices weren't necessarily made consonant with each other.

 

[SanAntone]

We weren't. The conversation you entered was about Renaissance music, not medieval. The treatise I cited is codifying music of the early 16thc, right in the middle of the Renaissance and it certainly applies to Josquin. But even in the early Renaissance what Zarlino said holds pretty well. What do you think the new English sound was all about? Essentially, triadic consonance.

I wasn't aware that the conversation was limited to the Renaissance. In any event, Zarlino is writing long after the fact and if he is attributing to Josquin concepts which were not in common use until much later, the same problem exists. Zarlino is describing the music in terminology current with his time not the time of when it was composed. I am not even convinced that a composer such as Palestrina thought in terms of diatonic triads.

The second bold passage isn't correct or else you've misstated it. If indeed "the lines compared to each other … did not produce dissonant intervals," you would by definition be talking about triadic language because the octave, fifth, third, sixth, and their compounds, the components of Zarlino's perfect harmonies, comprise all of the available consonances. Medieval dissonance treatment tended to favor perfect consonances on strong beats but all kinds of dissonance was possible in between because while each line was made consonant with the tenor, the additional voices weren't necessarily made consonant with each other.

Agreed. I was speaking of note against note polyphony, which when it grew into contrary motion and more florid singing there were seconds and other non perfect intervals produced such as thirds and even sixths. But again, these composers had no knowledge of fuctiocnal harmony, nor even diatonic triads, and instead even late Renaissance composers thought of triads as anything more than vertical coincidences.

If you are trying to claim that functional harmony existed in the Renaissance I think you would be incorrect.

 

[EdwardBast]

I wasn't aware that the conversation was limited to the Renaissance. In any event, Zarlino is writing long after the fact and if he is attributing to Josquin concepts which were not in common use until much later, the same problem exists. Zarlino is describing the music in terminology current with his time not the time of when it was composed. I am not even convinced that a composer such as Palestrina thought in terms of diatonic triads.

Long after what fact? BWV1080 cited Renaissance music. I responded about Renaissance music citing a theorist writing about music of the first half of the 16thc. Then you complained that what I said wasn't true of Medieval music. A total non sequitur. When your error was pointed out you should have just bowed out and said you misunderstood what was under discussion.

Obviously, none of the people you mentioned used the term diatonic triad. (You are the only person who used that term.) But what we call the triad was the basis of the vertical sonorities all of them used and which were the inevitable result of their methods of dissonance treatment. The dissonance treatment Zarlino describes is perfectly applicable to the music of Josquin. All one has to do is use one ears to hear this.

greed. I was speaking of note against note polyphony, which when it grew into contrary motion and more florid singing there were seconds and other non perfect intervals produced such as thirds and even sixths. But again, these composers had no knowledge of fuctiocnal harmony, nor even diatonic triads, and instead even late Renaissance composers thought of triads as anything more than vertical coincidences.

What do you mean "But again these composers had no knowledge of functional harmony." No one in this discussion mentioned or implied anything about functional harmony until you just tried to shoehorn it in, implying I was arguing for an anachronistic concept. Nice try.

If you are trying to claim that functional harmony existed in the Renaissance I think you would be incorrect.

Oh Jeezus. Nowhere in anything I wrote is there anything remotely like a claim for functional harmony.

 

[SanAntone]

Long after what fact? BWV1080 cited Renaissance music. I responded about Renaissance music citing a theorist writing about music of the first half of the 16thc. Then you complained that what I said wasn't true of Medieval music. A total non sequitur. When your error was pointed out you should have just bowed out and said you misunderstood what was under discussion.

Obviously, none of the people you mentioned used the term diatonic triad. (You are the only person who used that term.) But what we call the triad was the basis of the vertical sonorities all of them used and which were the inevitable result of their methods of dissonance treatment. The dissonance treatment Zarlino describes is perfectly applicable to the music of Josquin. All one has to do is use one ears to hear this.

What do you mean "But again these composers had no knowledge of functional harmony." No one in this discussion mentioned or implied anything about functional harmony until you just tried to shoehorn it in, implying I was arguing for an anachronistic concept. Nice try.

Oh Jeezus. Nowhere in anything I wrote is there anything remotely like a claim for functional harmony.

I don't know who translated Zarlino, but I doubt that he actually wrote the words "chord" or "triad" since those terms originate from within a context of diatonic harmony. At the very least, the terms chord and triad imply vertical thinking, which I think is inappropriate for Josquin and all the Medieval/Renaissance composers, who thought linearly, not vertically. If that was what you wished to claim, that Renaissance composers thought vertically, then I disagree. They were aware of the vertical coincidences, but saw them as just that - coincidences. And their only concern was related to the intervalic behavior.

You're right I did not follow the thread of the conversation with its apparent anchor in the Renaissance. And since you seem to be uninterested in exploring a more nuanced discussion than the previous series of posts prior to my entry, I will bow out.

 

[EdwardBast]

I don't know who translated Zarlino, but I doubt that he actually wrote the words "chord" or "triad" since those terms originate from within a context of diatonic harmony. At the very least, the terms chord and triad imply vertical thinking, which I think is inappropriate for Josquin and all the Medieval/Renaissance composers, who thought linearly, not vertically. If that was what you wished to claim, that Renaissance composers thought vertically, then I disagree. They were aware of the vertical coincidences, but saw them as just that - coincidences. And their only concern was related to the intervalic behavior.

You're right I did not follow the thread of the conversation with its apparent anchor in the Renaissance. And since you seem to be uninterested in exploring a more nuanced discussion than the previous series of posts prior to my entry, I will bow out.

Where did you get this weird idea? It's perfectly obvious just by listening that Renaissance composers thought both linearly and vertically. And Zarlino, a Renaissance composer trained by a more famous Renaissance composer, proves it by describing the terms in which this vertical thought is framed! The Italian terms accordo and armonia are close cognates of the ones we use, so there is no confusion or translation issue. His statements refute all of your claims. More to the point, simultaneous sounding tones - intervals - are vertical. Thinking about their acceptable and desired configurations is vertical thinking!

Zarlino didn't use the word triad, as I made quite clear. He used the term perfect harmony. And I noted that everything to which his term perfect harmony applies is a thing we now call a triad. The term was never attributed to anyone in the Renaissance. I used it only in the limited context of explaining to modern readers familiar with the term triad what combinations of tones Zarlino is describing.

 

[new but obsessed]

Composers born 1533-1567. What's our 'Work of the Week'?

Level 1
No works

Level 2
No works

Level 3
Monteverdi, Claudio: l'Orfeo

I was surprised. I thought another Monteverdi work would take the accolade. I was wrong.

My listening today. I've been looking forward to this all week:

Monteverdi: l'Orfeo

Jordi Savall, Montserrat Figueras, Furio Zanasi, Arianna Savall, Sara Mingardo, Carlos Mena, Gerd Türk, Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya

I've been excited to get to Monteverdi and opera! I've not had the chance to catch any operas prior to Mozart and this will be the first time I've dug into any Baroque opera recordings. Four tracks into this disc, and I'm really loving it! Such a different energy from all other operas I've seen.

 

[Chilham]

More Monteverdi coming at you.

Level 1
No works

Level 2
No works

Level 3
Monteverdi, Claudio: l'Orfeo
Monteverdi, Claudio: l'Incoronazione di Poppea, SV308 (Opera) esp. Act 3: "Pur ti miro"
Monteverdi, Claudio: Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers of 1610)
Monteverdi, Claudio: Madrigals Book VIII "Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi" inc. Il Ballo delle Ingrate, Lamento della Ninfa, Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda

Seven hours of listening for me today. Good job I got much of the way through Poppea last night.

Monteverdi: l'Incoronazione di Poppea

René Jacobs & Concerto Vocale

Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine

Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent

Monteverdi: Madrigals Book VIII "Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi"

Anthony Rooley, Consort Of Musicke, Paul Agnew, Richard Edgar-Wilson, Alan Ewing, Andrew King, Dame Emma Kirkby, Mary Nichols, Allan Parkes, Kristine Szulik, Evelyn Tubb

If you don't have time for all of that, at least take a few minutes to listen to Pur Ti Miro from l'Incoronazione di Poppea: