Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance

Alessandro Striggio

Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci
Edited by David Butchart
 

R 143	ISBN 0-89579-589-2 (10-digit)	March 2006	xxxi + 181 pp.	$93.00
	ISBN 978-0-89579-589-2 (13-digit)

The Mantuan nobleman Alessandro Striggio (ca. 1537/38–1592) was one of the greatest instrumental virtuosi and composers of his day. On a visit to Venice in 1560 he published his First Book of Madrigals for Five Voices in tandem with his First Book for Six Voices (R 70–71); like the latter, it went through numerous editions in the succeeding 25 years and counts as one of the most successful madrigal books of its time. A large and apparently miscellaneous collection, it offers a rich mixture of amorous and occasional settings (including a multi-part Epithalamium) in a wide variety of musical styles. While the opening madrigal, “O de la bella Etruria invitto Duce,” proclaims Striggio’s allegiance to his new employer, Duke Cosimo de’ Medici of Florence, the book as a whole reflects his Mantuan origins. Several poetic texts can be ascribed to a local Mantuan poet, Giulio Nuovoloni, with whom Striggio must have had close contact. Among the persons addressed are members of the Gonzaga family, who ruled Mantua. In the introduction to this new edition—the first in modern times—the publication history of the collection and its literary origins are discussed in detail, and an overview is given of the music and the organization of the collection.

Music Sample

Contents:

Acknowledgments
Introduction
    The Virtuoso and Composer
    Publication History
    The Ordering of the Collection
    The Poetry of the Primo libro a cinque voci 
    Musical Styles 
    The “Additional” Madrigals 
    Notes
Texts and Translations
Plates

Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci

1.	O de la bella Etruria invitto Duce
2.	Ridon liete le rive e i verdi colli
3.	Epitalamio: Or che lucente e chiara
4.	Giovane illustre, sopr’il Mincio nata
5.	Donna felice e bella
6.	Mentre la donna, anzi la vita mia
7.	Poi che morta è colei, che mentre visse
8.	Illustre alma gentile
9.	Caro dolce ben mio, chi mi vi toglie?
10.	Arse così per voi, donna, ‘l mio core
11.	Ditemi, o donna mia, ditem’un poco
12.	Notte felice, aventuros’e bella
13.	Che deggio far, da poi che ‘l mio bel sole
14.	Miser’oimè, che potrà più allegrarmi
15.	Misero più d’ogni uom, misero e lasso
16.	Torbido il Mincio corre e piange il mondo
17.	Chi brama al maggior caldo esser di ghiaccio
18.	Pensai, lasso, fra quest’alpestri monti
19.	Ardendo i’ grid’e moro
20.	Quanto privo di te, mia Nub’, i’ veggo
21.	Non fiammeggiav’ancor ne l’oriente
22.	Felice l’alma che per voi sospira
23.	Era la mia virtù quasi smarrita
24.	Madonna, il vostro petto è tutto ghiaccio
25.	Sì dolce’è d’amar voi, lo mio desio
26.	Invidioso Amor del mio bel stato
27.	Era ‘l bel viso suo, qual’esser suole

Madrigali aggionti

28.	Voi, se col raggio di virtute ardente
	[Gianetto da Palestrina: Donna bell ’e gentil]
	[Cipriano: O voi che sotto l’amros’insegne]

Di novo aggionti

29.	Madonna, se non sete
30.	Lavinia, se non sete

Critical Report  
Library Abbreviations   
Bibliographical Descriptions of the Sources  
Editorial Methods  
Critical Notes