Les Arts Florissants perform Monteverdi: Madrigals, Book II

The Arts Florissants continue to perform Monteverdi's complete madrigals. For this concert they perform the Second Book.

Among the twenty madrigals that are part of Monteverdi's Second Book (that was published in 1590), nine are musical translations on poems written by Torquato Tasso, who was already considered in his lifetime as the greatest poet in Italy. However Torquato Tasso gradually sinked into madness. He was committed in 1577 after a paranoia crisis, then again in 1579 during seven years in Sant'Anna de Ferrare hospital.

Nonetheless, pastoral atmospheres are suggested by the poet to the composer in several madrigals here performed. The No. 10, "S'andasse amor a caccia", is a scene of loving quest in which voices are in canon and follow themselves. Above all, the No. 12 which is the famous "Ecco mormorar l'onde" is a little jewel of the madrigals, that is enhanced by the whisper of water and bird songs.

This concert was part of the complete Monteverdi Madrigals series performed by Les Arts Florissants conducted by Paul Agnew at the Cité de la Musique, the théâtre de Caen and the Valladolid Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes.

Les Arts Florissants are supported by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, la Ville de Caen and the Région Basse-Normandie. They are in residency at the théâtre de Caen. Imerys is the great benefactor of Les Arts Florissants.