Musical Wars of Love Madrigals by Barbara Strozzi and Claudio Monteverdi
Michael Horst
A musical homage to their hometown: Venice is at the center of today’s concert by La Venexiana. More than anyone else in the years after 1600, Claudio Monteverdi was the dominating figure of musical life in the city on the lagoon, until his death in 1647. The focus of La Venexiana’s program, however, is on works by Barbara Strozzi, the remarkable woman who used her talent, wits, and perseverance to gain access to the male-dominated areas of musical life. Her 400th birthday, which is celebrated this year, offers a welcome opportunity to examine the life and work of this extraordinary composer. The artfully assembled program is bookended by two madrigals of the older Monteverdi. Many years had passed since his First Book of Madrigals in 1587—years in which music underwent profound change. While early in his career Monteverdi still paid homage to contrapuntal polyphony designed along horizontal lines, after 1600 he became one of the progenitors of the seconda pratica, the new style that emphasized vertical, clear harmonic structures constructed on the foundation of the basso continuo that would become the hallmark of Baroque music. The poetic title Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi (“Madrigals of War and Love”) graces the Eighth Book of Madrigals, which the composer published in 1638, at the advanced age of 71. But there was no sign of weakening with age, on the contrary: two years later
