More Strings | CBW12

Honourable mention: “Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti” by Claudio Monteverdi

We start the week with a comical work, a madrigal by Claudio Monteverdi set after a poem by Ottavio Rinuccini, an Italian 16th century poet considered to be the first opera librettist. In this sonnet we hear a plea to Zephyrus, the bringer of spring in Greek mythology, to come and enliven the air, the branches, the mountains and valleys, everything around our hero who goes back and forth between singing and crying, being tormented by love .… Read more

Sacred | CBW06

Disappointing week in terms of musical choices, hence I’m going to include the only work I truly enjoyed: “Miserere”, a sacred late Renaissance polyphonic piece composed by Gregorio Allegri, a Roman Catholic priest. This is a setting of the Psalm 51, and is surrounded by mystery, the Vatican having forbidden any copies of the work to be made and distributed, under the threat of excommunication.… Read more