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THE 2014 BLOOMINGTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL CONCERT SERIES
Early Music Associates, Inc. and Gamma Ut
Passioni Dolci
Saturday, May 24th, 2014 | 7:00 p.m. | First Presbyterian Church, Bloomington, Ind.
Descending Tetrachord
tutti
Musica Dolce
Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676)
Soprano: Kathryn Summersett
Violins: Juan Carlos Zamudio and Reynaldo Patino
Baroque Guitar: Taylor DiClemente
Viola da gamba: Brady Lanier
Harpsichord: Alice Baldwin
Toccata Settima
Michelangelo Rossi (1601-1656)
Harpsichord: Alice Baldwin
Scherzan Qui leggiadri amori
Sigismondo D’India (1582-1629)
Sopranos: Thea Smith, Christina Lynch
Baritone: Kevin de Benedictis
Percussion: Brian McNulty
Passacaille of L’Orfeo
Luigi Rossi (1597-1653)
Harpsichord: Alice Baldwin
Con Ghirlanda Di Rose
Domenico Mazzocchi (1592-1665)
Soprano: Lindsey McLennan | Viola da gamba: Brady Lanier | Harpsichord: Alice Baldwin
La Monicha (transition to the church)
Girolamo Frescobaldi(1583-1643)
Harpsichord: Alice Baldwin
Sanctorum Meritas
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Soprano: Thea Smith
Violins: Juan Carlos Zamudio and Reynaldo Patino
Viola da Gamba: Brady Lanier
Organ: Elizabeth Clark
Ave Dulcissima Maria
Bartolomeo Barbarino (1568-1617)
Soprano: Christina Lynch | Organ: Elizabeth Clark
Iste Confessor
Sopranos: Lindsey McLennan, Kathryn Summersett
Violin: Juan Carlos Zamudio and Reynaldo Patino
Viola da Gamba: Brady Lanier
Organ: Elizabeth Clark
Valli Profondo
Marco da Gagliano (1582-1643)
Baritone: Kevin de Benedictis
Organ: Elizabeth Clark
La Folia (transition back to pastoral)
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Harpsichord: Alice Baldwin
Queste lagrim'amare
Giulio Caccini (1551-1618)
Countertenor: Zachary Arneson
La Rossa
Tarquinio Merula (1594-1665)
Violins: Juan Carlos Zamudio and Reynaldo Patino
Harpsichord: Alice Baldwin
Act II, Scene 9 of L’Orfeo
Che può far Chitherea, di sdegno accesa
Dormite begl’ occhi
O su dunque alla danza
Luigi Rossi
Euridice: Kathryn Summersett
3 Driads: Lindsey McLennan, Thea Smith, Christina Lynch
Violins: Juan Carlos Zamudio, Reynaldo Patino
Viola da Gamba: Brady Lanier
Harpsichord: Alice Baldwin
La Folia
Tutti
THE COMPANY
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Summersett
Sopranos: Christina Lynch, Lindsey McLennan, Thea Smith, and Kathryn Summersett
Countertenor: Zach Arneson | Baritone: Kevin de Benedictis
Violins: Juan Carlos Zamudio, Reynaldo Patino | Viola da Gamba: Brady Lanier
Harpichord: Alice Baldwin | Organ: Elizabeth Clark
Percussion: Brian McNulty | Baroque Guitar: Taylor DiClemente | Theorbo: Patrick Gordon- Seifert
TRANSLATIONS
Musica dolce
Musica dolce, musica tu sei
Vera similitudine celeste,
ecco al suono del ciel fan le foreste,
e imitate da noi ridono i dei.
Sweet music, you are music!
Verisimilitude to heaven,
here, music of heaven echoes in the forests,
and as we imitate the gods, they laugh.
Seguite pur l’incominciato ballo,
giolive ninfe, allegri pastorelli!
Facciano I passi vostri paralleli
a chi di voi non pon mai piedi a fallo!
Follow the dance as it began,
jolly nymphs, cheerful shepherds!
Follow the steps parallel to those
whose feet never falter!
Scherzan qui leggiadri amori
Scherzan qui leggiadri amori
Cantan qui lieti Pastori
Dolci note e dolci accenti
Di sfogando i lor tormenti
Here graceful loves joke
Here happy shepherds sing
sweet notes and sweet accents
Giving venting of their torments
Ride intorno l'aria e 'l cielo
E fiorisce ciascun stelo;
Da qui fugge affanno e noia
S'ode qui dolcezza e gioia
All around, the air and the sky laugh
and each stem blooms;
from here escape anxiety and boredom
here sweetness and joy are heard.
Translation: Kathryn Summersett & Pr. Austin Alexander
Con ghirlanda di rose
Con ghirlanda di rose
Moralità presa dall’Aurora
With a garland of roses
Morality captured by Dawn
Con ghirlanda di rose, ed aureo ammanto
Da la foglia gemmata esce l’Aurora,
Vè come il vago Ciel di rai s’indora,
Vè come l’ombra si dilegua intanto
With a garland of roses and golden mantle
The Dawn springs from the budding leaf,
She comes as the hazy Heaven gilds itself with rays
She comes as the shadow, meanwhile, disperses.
Piange la bella, mà son perle il pianto,
Onde il prato ne ride, e se s’infiora,
Per le campagne insuperbisce Flora,
Che di gemme odorose hà carco il manto.
Beautiful, she cries, but her tears are pearls, for
the meadow laughs & adorns itself w/ flowers,
Throughout the countryside Flora boasts,
Who has laden her cloak with fragrant buds.
Mà che? tosta de i fior d’ostro nascente
Impallidisce, à pena usci l’albore,
che se ne vola il giorno all’Occidente
But what? Bold with the flourishing of the rising
south wind. She fades, as soon as the dawn arises,
Which chases the day towards the West.
Cosi il ben di qua giù manca qual fiore,
Breve luce e la gioia, e di repente
Porta ad un lieto dì, notte il dolore.
Thus earthly bounty lacks such a flower,
Brief light and joy, and suddenly
Brings to a delightful day, a night of sorrow
Translation: Lindsey McLennan and Dr. Ayana Smith
Ave dulcissima Maria
Ave dulcissima Maria,
vera spes unica & vita,
dulce refrigerium & solatium.
O Maria flos virginum,
ad te clamamus,
filij Evae
dona nobis pacem.
O Gloriosa Virgo
dona nobis pacem.
Hail sweet Mary,
Only true hope and life,
Sweet relief and comfort.
O Mary, virgin flower,
I call to you,
Daughter of Eve
Grant us peace.
O Glorious Virgin,
Grant us peace.
Sanctorum Meritas
Sanctorum meritis inclita gaudia
Pangamus socii gestaque fortia:
Nam gliscit animus promere cantibus
Victorum genus optimum.
The signal joys the saints have earned
let us sing forth, friends, and their mighty deeds;
for the heart swells to exalt in song
this, the noblest race of victors.
Hi pro te furias atque ferotia
Calcarunt hominum saevaque verbera:
Cessit his lacerans fortiter ungula,
Nec carpsit penetralia
For your sake they bore the fury
the violence and the savage lashes of men:
for them the cruelly tearing hook lost its power,
and could not gnaw them inwardly.
Quae vox, quae poterit lingua retexere
Quae tu martiribus munera praeparas?
Rubri iam fluido sanguine laureis
Di tantur bene fulgidis.
What voice, what tongue could weave the song
of the rewards you prepare for you Martyrs?
for, reddened with the tide of their blood,
they are ennobled now with brightest laurels.
Te summa Deitas, unaque poscimus
Ut culpas abluas, noxia subtrahas,
Des Pacem famulis nos quo que gloriam
Per cuncta tibi saecula.
We beseech you, highest Godhead undivided,
to wash away our sins and take away all harm,
to grant your people peace, and that they may
give glory through all the ages. Amen.
Iste Confessor
Iste Confessor Domini sacratus, Festa plebs
cuius celebrat per orbem.
Hodie laetus meruit secreta Scandere caeli.
This Confessor, dedicated to the Lord, Whose feast
the people celebrate through the world, This day
has deserved in joy To ascend to the inmost heaven.
Ad sacrum cuius tumulum frequenter Membra
languentum modo sanitati Quolibet morbo
fuerint gravata Restituuntur.
At his holy tomb, where they throng, The limbs of
the sick, now healed No matter by what ailment
they were burdened, Are restored to them.
Sit salus illi, decus atque virtus,
Qui supra caeli residens cacumen,
Totius mundi machinam gubernat, Trinus et
unus Amen.
Salvation, honour and power be to Him
Who from His dwelling above the highest heavens
Governs the working of the whole world,
The Three in One. Amen.
Valli Profondo
(Prima parte)
Valli profonde al Sol nemiche Rupi
Che’l ciel superbe minacciate grotte
Onde non parte mai silentio e note
Aer che d’atra nube il Ciel occupy
(Seconda parte)
Precipitanti sassi alte di rupi
Ossa insepolte herbose mura e rotte
D’huomini albergo gia hor pur condotte
Che temon gir tra voi serpenti e lupi
(Terza Parte)
Erme champagne inhabitati lidi
Ove voce d’huom mai l’aer non fiede
Ombra son io dannata al pianto eterno
Che tra voi vengo a deplorer mia fede
E spero al suon de lacrimosi stride
Se non si piega il Ciel mover l’inferno
Queste lagrim’amare
Queste lagrim’amare
Quest’angoscio pianto
Piano non è, ma sangue
Del misero cor mio
Ferito dallo strale
Del vostro sdegno adamantino e rio.
Ahi, lasso! e si ne langue
Il mio spirto vitale,
Ch’io mi sento morire.
Fero sdegno, empio cor, aspro desire!
Volete pur ch’io mora?
Morirò, ma chi mor’è un che v’adora.
Deep valleys, enemies of the sun
Proud cliffs menacing the sky
Grottos, which silence and darkness never leave
Winds that cover the sky with black clouds
Rocks hurled down from cliffs
Unburied bones, walls over grown with weeds and
broken down
Once the abode of men, but now reduced to dens
Where even wolves and serpents fear to go
Lonely fields, uninhabited shores
Where the air is never broken by the voices of men
A shadow am I, condemned to eternal tears
That comes among you to lament my faithfulness
And hopes with the sound of tearful cries
To move Hell, if Heaven does not take pity.
These bitter tears,
This anguished cry
Are in fact the blood
Of my poor heart
Wounded by the arrow
Of your adamant disdain.
Alas, alas! and it languishes
My vital spirit,
I feel that I die.
Fierce anger, wicked heart, bitter desire!
Would you have me die?
I shall die, then, but he who dies adores you.
Act II, Scene 9 or L’Ofeo
Euridice
Che può far Citherea, di sdegno accesa,
S’Amor è in mia difesa?
What can Cytherea(Venus) do, by rage inflamced?
If Love is on my side?
Dell’ aria nei campi Armato di lampi
Il fato Sdegnato Minacci che può:
Non temo, nò, nò, nò, nò, nò.
Non hà la faretra Dell’ Etra Quadrelle
Da nuocermi, affè,
Ch’Amor con le stelle Guerreggia per me,
If the air’s battlefields, armed with lightenings,
Let Fate in anger threaten what he can:
I have no fear, no, no, no!
The quiver of the sky has no darts
to harm me, truly,
when Love and the stars fight for me.
Ma qui non vedo delle Driadi alcuna.
Il desio della danza
Me guidò pria del tempo in questo loco:
Attenderem un poco.
Ma par in ver che questo
suolo herboso M’inviti alla quite:
Vediam se’l vostro canto
Lusingarmi sapesse hor alriposo.
But here I do not see any of the Dryads.
The desire to dance
has led me before to this place:
we shall wait a while.
Buti t seems in fact
that this grassy ground entices me to rest:
let us see if your singing
could lull me now to sleep.
Choro
Dormite, begli occhi, dormite.
Che se ben tant impiagate,
Piu dolce è il mal che fate
Qual hora in pace ferite.
Dormite, begli occhi, dormite.
Sleep, fair eyes, sleep
For though so deeply you wound,
softer is the harm you do
when in repose you strike.
Sleep, fair eyes, sleep.
Gratia
Ma ché, son qui le Driadi, Euridice,
Sgombra pure del sonno ogni speranza!
But now, here are the Dryads, Eurydice,
give up completely all hope of sleep!
Euridice
O sù dunque, alla danza!
O then, to the dance!
Translation by: Anthony Hicks
Clifford and Elaine Bartlett, L’Orfeo. Huntingdon:
Kings Music 1997
.
Passioni Dolci - Program Notes
“To all lovers of Musick. Ladies and Gentlemen, Persons of Eminence, Rank, Quality and a
distinguishing Taste in any particular Art or Science,” (Pier Francesco Tosi, Observations on the
Florid Song, 1723,) welcome to our show on such a spring evening!
Our program consists of two realms: The Pastoral and the Religious. As they are juxtaposed
against each other, one can easily see the sweet passion that lies within both.
Musica Dolce was composed by Francesco Cavalli in 1640 in his opera Gli Amori d’Apollo e di
Dafne, a collaboration with librettist Giovanni Francesco Busenello. The song is sung by Dafne in
praise of Music. The text painting and florid ornamentation in this song are common features
found within Italian music of the 17th century. The long melismas are set on the penultimate
syllable of the word ending each phrase, thus stressing the correct syllable to make the text
easily understood. Some call this style of singing “Secondo Prattica.” This is in contrast to “Prima
Prattica,” a style of singing from the late Renaissance where ornamentation and harmony were
more important, thus obscuring the text. (Both of these terms originated from Claudio
Monteverdi, in the intro to his 5th book of madrigals in 1605).
Sigismondo D’India was a well-known composer from early 17th century Italy. He specialized in
secular vocal music and monody, a style of solo singing that fits within the second prattica
mentioned above. Unlike many Italian madrigals of late Renaissance, when different texts were
sung simultaneously, in the madrigals by D’India, all three singers have the same text rendering
it more understandable.
Michelangelo Rossi was not only a virtuosic violinist, but also a talented composer. In 1640 he
published a volume of keyboard works including toccatas that fell in line with his
contemporaries such as Frescobaldi.
We have two selections from the opera Orfeo by Luigi Rossi. The first is the Passacaille. You
might notice that this is a French title hidden in an Italian program, where you would expect it to
be “passacaglia” instead. On March 2nd, 1647, Rossi premiered his opera Orfeo in Paris, France. It
must have been given a French title as a sentiment of the location it was performed in. In the
original opera, there was actually a small chamber orchestra with strings playing it, but tonight
we hear one of a variety of keyboard reductions made from the piece. In this program, this music
is loosely used as a dance, where two lovers are brought together within the pastoral scene.
During our transition from Pastoral to Church, we hear a keyboard toccata composed by
Girolamo Frescobaldi. It is composed off of a popular basso continuo line titled La Monicha that
can be found in a number of other pieces throughout the 17th century. La Monicha comes from a
popular story found throughout Europe from the 16th century to 18th century. It is of a young
woman who is forced into a convent to become a nun. The reality, however, is that this type of
situation was not far from the truth for much of western European history. Since there were few
respectable options for women if they were not able to get married, one of the most common
was to be placed in a convent.
In this program, we see a young woman who we earlier identify in the pastoral as a young lover.
Now we watch her transition into the church where there are other young ladies possibly in a
similar situation. In the pieces by Monteverdi and Gagliano, we see a sacred passion that
sweetens the deal for the young new nun.
As we return to the Pastoral setting, the repeating idea follows the very popular dance La Folia.
Not only are there countless compositions base upon this repeating ground, the possibilities are
endless for improvisation.
Our second selection from Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo is from Act II, Scene 9. Euridice was bitten by a
snake on her wedding day and sent to live in the underworld as a result of a plot from jealous
rivals against her marriage with Orfeo. Unlike many other adaptions of this story, however,
Euridice is a character with personality and spark as we can see in this scene.
Again, thank you for gracing us with your presence. We hope you enjoy our program Passioni
Dolci!

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