Edited by Jerome Roche
Purchase all three volumes for $50.00.
The recent rise of interest in what is called “early music” has perhaps over-emphasized the instrumental and consequently more lightweight side of the Renaissance repertory at the expense of the mainstream vocal genres of the time—the equivalents of the symphonies and quartets of the Classic era—while, in the English-speaking world at least, the continuing popularity of the English madrigal still tends to eclipse its illustrious Italian progenitor. If this is partly the result of language difficulties, it is also to a large extent due to lack of familiarity with the rich literature of the Italian madrigal. The present introductory collection of four part Italian madrigals, and its two companion volumes of The Flower of the Italian Madrigal for five or six parts, are intended to provide a corrective to this state of affairs. While the five or six part vocal scoring of the Flower volumes allows one to range widely across the mature madrigal repertory from the 1540s onwards, the early madrigal, whose scoring is mainly for four voices, is particularly well represented here. —from the Preface
GM3200 – $18.00
The Flower of the Italian Madrigal
In Two Volumes
The Flower of the Italian Madrigal
for Five and Six Voices
Arranged alphabetically by Composer
All the madrigals in these three volumes have been freshly scored directly from partbooks, and many of them are receiving their first modern reprint in a handy performing edition. It was not, however the intention to exclude such classics as Marenzio’s Scendi dal Paradiso, Monteverdi’s O Primavera, or Vecchi’s Il bianco d e dolce cigno. Those familiar with Volume III of Einstein’s classic, The Italian Madrigal, will recognize in this anthology some of the rare gems (newly edited here) which his researches have made known. These include such pieces as Marco da Gagliano’s remarkable O sonno (in Volume I), and (in Volume II) Wert’s Giunto alla tomba, which ranks along with Valle che de’lamenti miei among the Mantuan composer’s masterpieces.
The present anthology includes a balanced selection of works for both serious and lighter tastes. It does not, however, attempt to represent in any significant measure the more “difficult” madrigals from the 1580s onward aimed mainly at professional court singers. The works by Wert, Gesualdo, and Monteverdi and other late madrigalists included here are not ones that will present insuperable technical difficulties for proficient amateur groups today. —from the Preface
GM3201 – $20.00
GM3202 – $20.00