Continue the journey…
We suggest works to explore after Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento
Though Monteverdi may have proudly claimed the credit for reinventing the ‘agitated style’ in music, the subject – and lively depiction – of battles had been popular for some time. For instance, from the 1580s we have La battaglia by Monteverdi’s Venetian forebear Andrea Gabrieli. Scored for eight wind instruments, it’s a jaunty affair – all triumphant fanfares rather than the cut and thrust of combat.
(The King’s Consort Hyperion CDD22072)
The French liked to celebrate a good fight too, as evidenced by Clément Janequin’s 1528 La Guerre, which raises a goblet to Francis I’s victory over the assembled forces of Duke Ercole Sforza of Milan at the Battle of Marignano 13 years earlier. In this instance, five voices plus instrumental accompaniment call us to arms in the first half, before we enter into the fray in the second, with all manner of drum beats, staccato phrases and rolled Rs aping the sounds of the battlefield. (Hespèrion XXI, La Capella Reial
de Catalunya/jordi Savall Alia Vox AVSA9925)
Janequin’s work set a precedent for composers across Europe – including England’s William Byrd who, in the early 1580s lauded victory over the Irish in The Battell. Byrd conjures up the sounds of battle – including English trumpets and Irish bagpipes – on a solo keyboard, with special effects. It’s rather ingenious. (Davitt Moroney
(virginal) Hyperion CDA66558)
Heading forward a century, Heinrich Biber’s Battalia à 10 of 1673 is a riot of invention. Left-hand pizzicato, out-of-tune playing and paper placed beneath the strings to create the sound of a snare drum are all part of the mix in the German’s eight-movement work for chamber ensemble. Intriguingly, however, the exact inspiration for its composition remains obscure. (Monica Huggett
(conductor/violin); The European Community Baroque Orchestra Channel CCS4392)
Finally, for a different take on Tasso’s poem Gerusalemme Liberata, try Jeanbaptiste Lully’s 1686 opera Armide. The title character is a sorceress who swears to take ultimate revenge on the knight Rinaldo, whose Christian invaders have recently been defeated… but when she has the opportunity to do so, finds herself smitten by him. (Marie-adeline
Henry et al; Les Talens Lyriques/christophe Rousset Aparté AP135)
Janequin’s 1528 La Guerre set a precedent for composers across Europe