Composed by Claudio Monteverdi. Arranged by Mike Lyons. Baroque,Renaissance. Score and parts. 324 pages. Lyons Music Services #3218659. Published by Lyons Music Services (A0.767268).
As part of my continuing project to transcribe Monteverdi's madrigals onto winds, here is the 6th book. In this book we see a much greater development towards dramatic representation. In a way, this book is divisible into two Scenes with a number of single items in between. The vocal lines are all much more complex and we can also see the beginnings of monodic writing appear in the semi-recit sections of some of the songs.
Also clearly developing are delineations of the voices into soloists and chorus. Several songs in this book are almost akin to arias, with clear soloistic writing for the higher voices (Cantus/Tenor).
The first four songs form a kind of introductory 'scena', which Monteverdi calls Lamento d'Arianna. A little later, there is a set of 6 songs which he grouped together under the title Sestina. A Sestina is a complex poem made up of 6 stanzas each of 6 verses with rules regarding hoe the last line of the first verse is repeated. Obviously, we are not using the lyrics, but we need to be aware of the structure so that when the music reappears we can treat it appropriately.
As with all things madrigalian, the lyrics are rife with double entendres, despite the fact that all of the lyrics deal with loss of one kind or another. Monteverdi uses some very close dissonances to describe death and release. Often with wrenching results for the harmony.
Please note, there are two extra parts for No.13, which is for 7 voices. Part 6 is an Alto voice (Horn/Alto Sax/Clarinet) and part 7 is a tenor voice (Trombone/Baritone/Tenor Sax/Euphonium).
