We continue this splendid journey, now with the fourth book of the catalogue

Monteverdi's Madrigals, an essential catalogue in the history of music, represent the culmination of a genre, but – as they evolve – they also embody the birth of a whole new genre: opera.

Grouped into nine books and published between 1587 and 1651, we continue this splendid journey through this corpus, understood as an exercise in proto-opera and a theatre of emotions.

With this fourth book, published in Venice in 1603 and dedicated to Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso II d’Este, the composer wanted to move to the Ferrara's court, one of the most refined in Europe. The third book written in Mantua, in despite to its great success, didn’t allow him a bigger recognition. The Duke’s death frustrated his plans.

Based on texts by Gian Battista Guarini, Ottavio Rinuccini and Giovanni Boccaccio, Monteverdi created an ambitious and innovative collection in which the declamatory style, which was to develop over time.

Idiomatically, they present a much more daring and innovative language of the genre, which is full of daring harmonic games. Monteverdi endowed the music with a taste for naturalistic detail and sensitive reality.

Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor, harpsichordist and a true authority on the composer, will be the guide along the paths of this fascinating and luxuriant universe full of precious miniatures. Words, music, declamation and the concitato style are the first attempts to represent human passions through text and harmony.