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We suggest works to explore a er Monteverdi’s Vespers
While Monteverdi was plying his trade in Mantua and Venice, his contemporary Girolamo Frescobaldi held the post of organist at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Though best known for his keyboard mastery, Frescobaldi was also required to turn his hand to choral music, resulting in works such as the sparkling Missa sopra l’aria della monica. (Il Teatro Armonico Christophorus CHE01932)
You can’t miss Monteverdi’s impact on the music of his pupil Francesco Cavalli, who came to St Mark’s as a treble in 1616 and, 52 years later, became maestro di cappella himself. His 1656 Magnificat follows the concertato style of the Vespers, its double choir, basso continuo and independent string parts giving the work a rich texture reminiscent of the polychoral tradition in which he was raised. (The Sixteen; Coro COR16142)
Barbara Strozzi, a pupil of Cavalli, was a prolific composer of vocal music in Venice in the mid-17th century. Although she wrote almost entirely for secular occasions, her songs are firmly rooted in the Seconda practica method that Monteverdi pioneered – Lagrime mie for soprano and basso continuo abounds with the ornamentation and word-painting that are typical of the style, not least in the opening passage whose descending melody deftly depicts the flow of tears. (Fons Musicae Querstand VKJK1303)
Heinrich Schütz – who, like Monteverdi, studied under Giovanni Gabrieli – is often credited with bringing the progressive northern Italian style to Germany. His Psalmen Davids reflects the influence of his Venetian counterparts in its lengthy solo passages and detailed instructions for the use of instruments. He also sculpted his music around the meaning of the words, allowing for irregularities in phrasing, in contrast to the more traditional German approach that encouraged metric regularity. (Oxford Camerata Naxos 8.553044)
The powerful chromaticisms associated with Carlo Gesualdo are particularly in evidence in his Tenebrae Responsoria, published a year after the Vespers in 1611. In this set of sacred madrigals, Gesualdo highlights the passages concerning Christ’s suffering with starkly unprepared dissonances – a technique also used by Monteverdi. (Hilliard Ensemble ECM 843 8672)
Barbara Strozzi’s descending melody de ly depicts the flow of tears