Madrigals for Three Sopranos

Foolish Heart MADRIGALS FOR THREE SOPRANOS Galàn Foolish Heart Galàn is a spirited young ensemble committed to rediscovering the exciting and often Madrigals for Three Sopranos neglected sound world of three soprano voices and continuo. Specialising in European Renaissance and Baroque music, the group is accompanied by theorbo and harpsichord, and takes its name from the old English term for ‘enchantment’ and ‘to sing’. Domenico Mazzochi 1592-1665 Claudio Monteverdi The group was originally inspired by the Concerto Delle Donne, at female trio 1. Folle Cor 1’43 7. Ohime Dove il mio ben 4’57 that performed in Ferrara at the end of the sixteenth century. This ground-breaking ensemble led the way in gaining acceptance in Europe for the female voice as a worthy Antonio Draghi 1634-1700 Luzzasco Luzzaschi instrument for respectable entertainment, as for centuries the perceived seductive 2. Lo Specchio 21’32 8. Non Sa che Sia Dolore 2’32 quality of a woman’s voice had been deemed to imply a shaky moral, and therefore social, status to any female who sang in public and outside convent walls. It was not Claudio Monteverdi 1597-1643 Angelo Michele Bartolotti 1615-1681 until the early baroque era that we find female singers as central to courtly life as their 3. O viva Fiamma 3’06 9. Preludio 2’54 male counterparts. A culture of patronage was particularly nurtured in Italy, which established a fertile environment for the composition and performance of music that Giacomo Carissimi 1605-1674 Claudio Monteverdi would not only provide entertainment but also proclaim a court’s stature and wealth. 4. Siam Tre Miseri 7’38 10. Cantate Dominum 5’41 It was during the 1580s in the court of the Este family under of Duke Alfonso II in Ferrara that Livia d’Arco, Anna Guarini, Laura Peverara and, later, Tarquinia Molza Girolamo Frescobaldi 1583-1643 Luigi Rossi 1597-1653 worked. They became known as the Concerto Delle Donne. As far as he could, Duke 5. Toccata Decima/Libro 1 3’39 11. Fan Battaglia 3’10 Alfonso jealously restricted their performances to private concerts for himself and specially favoured guests, but inevitably the fame of these remarkable singers spread Luzzasco Luzzaschi 1545-1607 beyond Ferrara. They attracted the attention of a number of composers who began 6. O Dolcezze 3’44 to write for this compelling and utterly original sound-world of purely female voices. The repertoire that emerged, firstly in the form of madrigals and later in opera, helped to establish the female voice as something distinct from the treble or castrato, and the success of these “Ladies of Ferrara” helped pave the way for women to become Galàn musicians in their own right. Alison Hill · Katy Hill · Lucy Page sopranos The music composed for them is plaintive, passionate, and always dramatic. Manuel Minguillón theorbo It is music that cannot fail to capture the imagination and, thanks to the work of Christopher Bucknall harpsichord and organ music scholars and publishers through the intervening years, it has come down to this particular group of friends in the 21st century. And although little music has been composed in recent years for this rather unusual vocal combination, Galàn is In 1619 Monteverdi published his seventh book of madrigals, a startlingly delighted to continue in the Concerto’s footsteps in the way of receiving commissions expressive collection which he christened simply ‘Concerto’, owing to the from both established and up and coming contemporary artists. One of these makes a heterogeneous nature of this set of 32 numbers for four or fewer voices, of which his special appearance on this recording. chamber duets are possibly the best known. These are represented here by O viva The Ladies of Ferrara were fortunate indeed to be contemporary with so many Fiamma, a romanesca (a composition which repeats a fixed four chord sequence), and wonderful composers of the Italian Baroque. It was particularly happy timing that Ohimé, dov’è il mio ben, dov’è il mio core? which features such expressive dissonances brought them to Alfonso’s court at a time when the widely respected composer and between the two high voices as they sing Tasso’s sorrowful verse. Cantate Domino, organist Domenico Luzzaschi, was in residence. At least some of the Ladies’ ‘secret’ a two-voice motet, is the earliest published example of Monteverdi’s Venetian sacred repertoire is known to have been written by Luzzaschi, much of which can be found in music, and takes its text from Psalm 98. This duet establishes the pattern for many his most striking surviving publication, Madrigali per cantare et sonare a 1-3 soprani of Monteverdi’s later Venetian motets by contrasting a triple-time refrain (his setting - a work later published in Rome in 1601, a safe four years after the Duke’s death and of ‘Cantate Domino’) with passages in duple time, which are in this case lavishly after the house of Este had lost Ferrara to the papacy. At this time, musical trends were ornamented in a manner reminiscent of pieces in the 1610 Vespers collection. turning towards a more florid style of composition in which dramatically expressive Domenico Mazzochi, a priest in Rome, was one of Monteverdi’s contemporaries. adherence to the text was considered paramount. One of the many examples of this Despite a lack of any formal musical training he enjoyed some success as a composer, can be found in O Dolcezze Amarissime d’Amore, where his slow and seductive and his Folle Cor is more than worthy of inclusion on this disc. Luigi Rossi was handling of the word ‘lusinge’ (to charm) contrasts starkly with his vivid rhythmic another near contemporary. In contrast to Monteverdi, who remained in Italy setting of ‘ride’ (to laugh). This emphasis on text driven style was followed by other throughout his career, Rossi led a cosmopolitan life, travelling frequently to Paris, progressive composers of the day, among them the great Claudio Monteverdi. Naples and Rome, writing operas for both the French Royal Court and the papal Monteverdi, now regarded as one of the Giants of his age, was hugely influential family. He was greatly admired throughout his prolific career, during which he amongst his contemporaries. His eight books of madrigals display both his mastery of composed over three hundred secular works, of which many were canzonettas and the techniques refined by past masters of the Renaissance, and his ability to innovate cantatas. It is the versatility in his writing and the variety of influences, particularly of in a way that led music very much into the Baroque. He started life a precocious the dramatic and operatic operatic styles, that are evident in Fan Battaglia. The exact young man in Cremona, publishing his first collection at the tender age of 15 in 1583. date and place of Rossi’s birth is not known with any certainty, though is thought to Here he learnt from Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, the maestro di capella at the cathedral have been in 1597 or 1598 in Puglia. He reached the height of his success just before of Cremona, before earning his first position as viol/violin player to Duke Vincenzo his death as a very wealthy man in 1653. Angelo Bartolotti was also active in both Gonzaga in Mantua in the early 1590s. He remained for over twenty eventful years Italy and France as a composer, guitarist and theorbo player, moving from Bologna to in Cremona where his first five books of madrigals were published before moving to Paris shortly after Rossi’s death. Saint Mark’s in Venice as their new maestro di cappella in 1613. Giacomo Carissimi was born around 1604 near Rome. At the age of 20 he became maestro di capella at Assisi and in 1628 he obtained the same position at the church before he finally settled in Rome. Keyboard music occupies the most important of Sant’Apollinare at the Collegiun Germanicum in Rome. He held this position position in Frescobaldi’s extant oeuvre. Among his most important keyboard until his death, in spite of receiving several offers of posts in some very prominent compositions were two books of toccatas (from Book 1 of which the toccata played establishments, including that of succeeding Monteverdi at St Marks in Venice. on this disc is taken) and partitas (1615 and 1627). His toccatas could be used in In 1637 he was ordained as a priest, and died in Rome in 1674. Carissimi’s work masses and liturgical occasions, as preludes to larger works, or as stand-alone pieces. was paramount to the development of recitative, introduced by Monteverdi, as a His contemporaries acknowledged Frescobaldi as the single greatest trendsetter of vital ingredient in dramatic music. He was a pioneer in the field of how to set text keyboard music of their time and all agreed that he was a genius both playing and and use speech rhythms, writing treatises on the subject which are crucial to our composing for the keyboard. His influence on the development of keyboard music modern understanding of historical performance practice. He also contributed to the extended beyond Italy and to later composers including Henry Purcell and JS Bach. prevalence of the chamber cantata, which had gradually evolved from the madrigals © Galàn of the late Renaissance. In addition, he was the first significant composer of oratorio, with Jepthe as his best known work. Another giant in his time. Just as Rossi’s fame was beginning to spread throughout France, Antonio Draghi was born in Rimini, probably in 1634. His career started as a singer in Padua, after which he moved to Ferrara, singing with the Accademia della Morte where Luzzaschi had been organist half a century before.

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