![]() The sestina concludes with a three-line postscript, called the envoi. These same words must end the lines in all succeeding verses, but in a different order, prescribed by a sort of cabalistic formula. As a quick reminder: A sestina consists of six verses of six lines each the lines of the first verse end in six different non-rhyming words. Marenzio's text is from Petrarch's 'Canzoniere', indeed from the same double-sestina, 'Mia benigna fortuna', which we encountered a few weeks back. Further familiarity has only increased my admiration for this tiny masterpiece. When I first heard it, I almost drove off the road. I discovered it a few years ago, on a recital CD of Marenzio madrigals by the wonderful quintet Rossoporpora. It's from his ninth book of madrigals, published in 1599, the year of his death. In the meantime, you must check out this incredible madrigal by Luca Marenzio: 'Crudel, acerba et inexorabil morte'. It's incredibly crisp and clear outside this morning but I hear we're about to be slammed with some sort of atmospheric river which will bring a lot of rain, winds and other dramatic meteorological manifestations. ![]() Album DescriptionBetween 1580 and his death in 1599, Luca Marenzio would publish no fewer than 18 books of madrigals, for between four and six vocalists – some 500 masterpieces have survived to the present day, which is testimony to the furious evolution of Marenzio's languages over the course of just a few years.Crudel, acerba et inexorabil morte by Luca Marenzio ![]() ![]() Your browser does not support the audio element. ![]() In fact, his art resides in the most human aspect of music and song. The album's title says it all: we really move from 'amoroso' to 'crudo' – from the amorous to the cruel – across 18 years of writing with lyrics borrowed from love poetry or pastoral verse, Marenzio steers clear of any religious temptation indeed he wrote relatively few religious works. The two final madrigals offered on this album from the Rossoporpora ensemble, taken from the Ninth and final Book of Madrigals for five voices in 1599, provide a striking example: no sooner does a sequence become clear than Marenzio destroys it with a dissonance, an ineffable disharmony, a perilous chromatism. As he went on, he would develop ever-darker atmospheres which grew increasingly tortured and chromatic, and only Gesualdo would pick up the torch of his harmonic searchings a few years later. To be elegible for this price, Add to CartBetween 1580 and his death in 1599, Luca Marenzio would publish no fewer than 18 books of madrigals, for between four and six vocalists – some 500 masterpieces have survived to the present day, which is testimony to the furious evolution of Marenzio's languages over the course of just a few years. ![]()
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