Study Guide Sampler with Audio Clips

Claudio Monteverdi (Italy, 1567-1643)
"Altri canti d'Amor, tenero Arciero"
from Madrigati Guerrieyi ed Amorosi (1638)

Altri canti d'Amor: Audio Samples - Claudio Monteverdi
History Chunks: The Baroque - Helpful Test Tips

EACH MUSIC LISTENING CONTEST team member receives a printed study guide of more than 50 pages along with a set of three compact discs. The study guide and CD content closely complement one another. This page shows how a piece by Monteverdi was treated in last year's study guide. Audio files of both the work and its introduction by Minnesota Public Radio announcer Lynne Warfel-Holt are offered here in addition to the study guide text elements written by Timothy J. Jones.

Altri canti d'Amor: Audio Samples

These two audio samples from the 1995 - 96 Music Listening Contest compact disc set are available as Shockwave streaming audio files. (Note: The quality of the 16 kbps samples is significantly better and does play well over some 14.4 connections).

Comments by Lynne Warfel-Holt, 16 kbps (for 28.8 modems)
Comments by Lynne Warfel-Holt, 8 kbps (for 14.4 modems)
"Altri canti d'Amor", 16 kbps (for 28.8 modems)
"Altri canti d'Amor", 8 kbps (for 14.4 modems)

Claudio Monteverdi Study Guide Text

Early in his life, Monteverdi worked as a performer, playing the violin and the viol; during the last 30 years of his life, he worked as maestro da capella (music director) at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice.

Monteverdi believed that music had the power to affect the emotions of the listener. He also believed that music must be subservient to the text. Indeed, Monteverdi's music, such as the example here, is extraordinarily descriptive.

In his eighth book of Madrigals, Monteverdi attempted to depict what he called the "three humors (or emotions) of man": stillness, agitation (war), and love. In "Altri canti d'Amor, tenero Arciero," the composer depicts love and war. Notice in particular the difference between the love section (the first four lines of text) and the war section (the last four lines).

Monteverdi's career overlapped the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque. The madrigal was a Renaissance vocal genre that had been popular throughout the 16th century. It was characterized by an a capella texture and lots of text painting, a term that refers to a composer's ability to describe a word or phrase with music. Monteverdi managed to keep the madrigal contemporary by adding some elements of the new Baroque style.

One Baroque element you'll notice in your listening is the alternation of instrumental and vocal sections. The excerpt begins with an instrumental introduction (strings), followed by the vocal line with lute. We refer to this effect of contrasting instrumental or vocal groups as concertato, and it is from this term that the word concerto derives.

Another feature of the Baroque was the use of trio texture. This texture is defined by the presence of a bass instrument (a bass viol or a cello), two higher instruments (violins), and an instrument that can play chords and harmonies, such as a harpsichord or a lute. You'll hear the three string instruments and harpsichord at the beginning of the excerpt; the lute enters to accompany the voice for the first line of text.

Altri canti d'Amor, tenero Arciero,
I dolci vezzi sospirati baci
Narri glisdegni e le bramate paci
Quand'unisce due alme un sol pensiero.

Di Marte furibondo e fiero
I duri incontri e le battaglie audaci
Fo nel mio canto bellicoso e fiero
Strider le spade e bombeggiar le faci.

Let others sing of Love, the tender archer,
of the sweet caresses, the sighing kisses,
let him narrate the quarrels and delightful
making-up when two souls finite in a single
thought.

Of Mars, wild and raging,
of harsh encounters and brave battles,
I make my niartial, fierce song,
of the drawing of swords and flashing
lightning.