Sì dolce è’l tormento

How Sweet Is the Torment is the title of the concert featuring Il Giardino Armonico, taken from an aria by Claudio Monteverdi. Early Baroque music written in Italy – the homeland of beauty – is pure sweetness. So where does suffering come from? Sì dolce è’l tormento and other vocal works will be performed by Angelica Antonini, and the ensemble will be led by flautist, music director, and former Wratislavia Cantans artistic director Giovanni Antonini.

Travelling with Il Giardino Armonico through early 17th-century Italy, we will visit the Duchies of Milan, Parma, Modena, and Mantua, the Republic of Venice, the northern reaches of the Papal States, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The same green fields, the same cypresses and hills as today; only industry and highways are missing from this landscape. The journey promises to be slow, partly because we will be listening to the music of individual cities. We will begin in the Venetian lagoon, where we will hear a sinfonia from one of Claudio Monteverdi’s last operas, as well as several sonatas by Dario Castello, drawing on the idiom of the then new musical theatre. We will also hear a thought-provoking Sonata by the lesser-known Venetian organist Giovanni Battista Riccio.

Slightly to the south, in present-day Emilia-Romagna worked Marco Uccellini and Benedetto Ferrari, and the latter authored the aria Amanti, io vi so dire, framed on the ciaccona bass. Moving across the Apennines, we will stand at the foot of Florence’s Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Giulio Caccini spent most of his life in the Tuscan capital. His Amarilli mia bella, a hit well-known to early music lovers, will be performed in two versions: for flute and for voice. The melody was so popular that in the mid-17th century, the Dutchman Jacob van Eyck arranged it for flute. Moving on, we find ourselves in the cities of Lombardy. From the work of Cremona’s Tarquinio Merula, who worked for many years in Bergamo, we hear instrumental arrangements of the popular themes of ciaccona and ruggiero, as well as the moving lullaby of Our Lady, Or ch’è tempo di dormire. Milan’s Francesco Rognoni left behind a diminution of the Palestrina madrigal Vestiva i colli. Salamone Rossi, active in Mantua, modelled his work on Monteverdi’s early style, composing short Symphonies and Gagliardas. This brings us back to the composer of Sì dolce è’l tormento, which expresses an unquenchable desire for beauty…

Programme:

Claudio Monteverdi Sinfonia from Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria (Venice, 1639–40) 
Tarquinio Merula Ciaccona a 2 violini, ed a 3 col violone from Canzoni overo sonate concertate per chiesa e camera op. 12 (Venice, 1637)
Dario Castello Sonata Decima a 3, due soprani e fagotto overo viola from Sonate concertate in stil moderno, libro secondo (Venice, 1629)
Salamone Rossi Sinfonia undecima from Il primo libro delle Sinfonie et gagliarde a tre quattro & a cinque voci (Venice, 1607)
Giovanni Battista Riccio Sonata a 4 from Il terzo libro delle Divine lodi musicali (Venice, 1620)
Benedetto Ferrari Amanti, vi so dire from Musiche e poesie varie à voce solo, libro terzo (Venice, 1641)
Marco Uccellini Aria quinta sopra la Bergamasca a 3 from Sonate, ariae et correnti a 2 e 3 (Venice, 1642)
Claudio Monteverdi Si dolce è ‘l tormento from Carlo Milanuzzi’s Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze (Venice, 1624)
Dario Castello Sonata Decima settima à 4 in ecco per due cornetti e due violini from Sonate concertate in stil moderno, libro secondo (Venice, 1629)
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Tarquinio Merula Or ch’è tempo di dormire. Canzonetta spirituale sopra alla nanna from Curtio precipitato (Venice, 1638)
Dario Castello Sonata Duodecima a 3, due soprani e trombon overo violetta from Sonate concertate in stil moderno, libro secondo (Venice, 1629)
Salamone Rossi Gagliarda a 4 & a 3 si placet detta la Zambalina from Il secondo libro delle sinfonie & gagliarde a tre voci (Venice, 1608); Sinfonia grave a 5 from Il primo libro delle sinfonie et gagliarde a tre, quattro & a cinque voci (Venice, 1607)
Jacob van Eyck Amarilli mia bella from Der fluyten lust-hof (Amsterdam, 1646)
Giulio Caccini Amarilli mia bella from Le Nuove musiche (Florence, 1601)
Tarquinio Merula Ruggiero a 2 violini ed a 3 col violone from Canzoni overo sonate concertate per chiesa e camera op. 12 (Venice, 1637)
Francesco Rognoni Vestiva i colli del Palestrina from Selva de’ varii passaggi (Milan, 1620)
Dario Castello Sonata Undecima a 3, due soprani e trombon overo violetta from Sonate concertate in stil moderno, libro secondo (Venice, 1629)
Salamone Rossi Gagliarda a 5 & a 3 si placet, detta la Norsina from Il primo libro delle sinfonie et gagliarde a tre quattro & a cinque voci (Venice, 1607)

Performers:

Giovanni Antonini – recorders, dulcian, artistic direction
Angelica Antonini – soprano
Il Giardino Armonico:
Stefano Barneschi, Angelo Calvo – violins
Giulio Padoin – cello
Giulia Genini – recorders, dulcian
Andrea Inghisciano, David Brutti – cornets
Margret Köll – harp  
Riccardo Doni – harpsichord, chest organ

Venue: