MASTER LIST OF COMPOSERS

Below is a list of composers currently represented on this Web site. Clicking on a composer's name will bring up a list of madrigals available to be downloaded. Three downloads are available for each madrigal: Score (in PDF format), MIDI (.mid) and Text/Translation (also in PDF).

All downloads are free of charge; however, you must register with the site in order to download Scores and Texts/Translations.

Note that, in the case of madrigals in multiple sections, the full Text/Translation may be downloaded from the entry for the first section (the prima parte).

NOTE ABOUT MIDI FILES: Mac users are advised that Apple's QuickTime application no longer supports MIDI. However, MIDI files can be played on GarageBand for Mac, as well as on some third-party freeware programs. Alternatively, users can request MP3 files of particular pieces by contacting Martin Morell.


Aleotti, Vittoria
Arcadelt, Jacques (Giaches)
Artusini, Antonio
Bati, Luca, Primo a 5 (1594) (complete)
Bellasio, Paolo
Bertani, Lelio
Boschetti, Giovanni Boschetto
Caletti, Giovanni Battista
Califano, Giovanni Battista
Capilupi, Gemignano
Casentini, Marsilio
Cavaccio, Giovanni
Cifra, Antonio
Costa, Gasparo
Croce, Giovanni
D'India, Sigismondo
Dalla Casa, Girolamo
Del Mel, Rinaldo
Dentice, Fabrizio
Falcone, Achille
Felis, Stefano
Florio, Giorgio
Freddi, Amadio
Gabrieli, Giovanni
Gagliano, Marco da
Gastoldi, Concenti musicali a8 (1604/1610) (complete)
Gastoldi, Giovanni Giacomo
Gastoldi, Primo a 6 (1592) (complete)
Gastoldi, Quarto a 5 (1602) (complete)
Ghizzolo, Giovanni
Giovanelli, Ruggiero
Guami, Francesco
Guerini, Pietro Francesco
Ingegneri, MarcAntonio
Isnardi, Paolo
Leoni, Leone
Mancini, Curzio
Marenzio, Luca
Masnelli, Paolo
Massaino, Primo a 6 (1604) (complete)
Massaino, Quarto a 5 (1594) (complete)
Massaino, Terzo a 5 (1587) (complete)
Mezzogorri, Giovanni Nicolò
Monteverdi, Claudio
Mosto, Giovanni Battista
Nasco, Giovan (Jan)
Nodari, Giovanni Paolo, Madrigali a 5 (complete)
Pallavicino, Benedetto
Rognoni Taeggio, Francesco, Primo a 5 (1613) (complete)
Rognoni Taeggio, Giovanni Domenico, Primo a 5 (1605) (complete)
Rore, Cipriano (De)
Rossetti, Stefano
Rossi, Salamone
Ruffolo, Lucrezio
Sabino, Ippolito
Santini, Marsilio
Stabile, Annibale
Taroni, Antonio
Tomasi, Biagio
Tresti, Flaminio
Tresti, Secondo a 5 (1587) (complete)
Usper (Spongia), Francesco
Valmarana, Girolamo
Various (from Dolci Affetti, 1582)
Various (from Trionfo di Musica, 1579)
Vecchi, Orazio
Venturi del Nibbio, Primo a 5 (1592) (complete)
Venturi del Nibbio, Primo pastorali a 5 (1592) (complete)
Verdonck, Cornelius
Virchi, Paolo, Primo a 5 (1584) (complete)
Virchi, Paolo, Secondo a 5 (1588) (complete)
Wert, Decimo a 5 (1591) (complete)
Wert, Giaches de
Wert, Ottavo a 5 (1586) (complete)
Zanchi, Liberale
Zanotti, Camillo
Zoilo, Annibale

Monteverdi, Claudio

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Title and DescriptionScoreMidiTranslation
Crudel perché mi fuggi (SS A/T TB)
Monteverdi on unrequited love, leaving one to wonder whether the love-object was worth the trouble.		 Download
Dolcemente dormiva la mia Clori (SSATB)
Monteverdi's version of Tasso's tale about a stolen kiss. (See also the settings by Giovanelli, Pallavicino and Tresti.) The piece is transposed down a minor third; a transcription at the original pitch is also available.		 Download
Ecco mormorar l'onde (SSATB)
A masterpiece of musical description. The imagery of daybreak over a seaside landscape is so vivid that the piece can almost be imagined as a painting.		 Download
La bocca onde l'asprissime parole (SSATB)
Notwithstanding the harshest words referred to in the opening line, Monteverdi seems more concerned with rendering the sensuous fragrance of roses, violets, nectar and ambrosia.		 Download
Non sono in queste rive (SSATB)
A tribute to a lady, whose singing is evidently as accomplished as she is beautiful. The ending of the piece holds some rhythmic surprises.		 Download
Vattene pur, crudel (prima parte of 3) (SSATB)
In this powerful setting of a highly dramatic episode from Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata, the sorceress Armida vents her wrath on Rinaldo for heeding the call of the Crusades and leaving her. However, she is overcome by her emotional exertions, falls into a swoon, and awakens to find herself abandoned and alone. (Versions transposed down a major second and a fourth are also available.)		 Download
Là tra 'l sangue (seconda parte) (SSATB)
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Poi ch'ella in sé tornò (terza parte) (SSATB)
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Vivrò fra i miei tormenti (prima parte of 3) (SSATB)
Monteverdi's portrayal of Tancredi's grief and remorse, driving him to the point of madness. (See the commentary for Wert's Giunto alla tomba.) A version transposed down a minor third is also available. 		Download
Ma dove oh lasso (seconda parte) (SSATB)
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Io pur verrò (terza parte) (SSATB)
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Anima mia, perdona (prima parte of 2) (SSATB)
A setting of part of Amarilli's wrenching soliloquy (Pastor Fido, III/iv), in which she laments the emotional harm that she is compelled to inflict on Mirtillo.		 Download
Che se tu sei 'l cor mio (seconda parte) (SSATB)
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Quell'augellin, che canta (SS A/T TB)
Monteverdi turns Linco's exhortation to Silvio, to the effect that birds do it, bees do it, everyone but you does it (Pastor Fido I/i) into a musical tour de force.		 Download
Ecco Silvio colei (prima parte of 5) (SSATB)
Monteverdi's most extended, and arguably most powerful, Pastor Fido setting -- a dialogue (Act IV Scene ix) between the gravely wounded Dorinda and Silvio, who has unintentionally shot her with an arrow while hunting. As a result of this unfortunate contretemps, Silvio undergoes a profound change of heart. (A version transposed down a minor third is also available.)		 Download
Ma se con la pietà (seconda parte) (SSATB)
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Dorinda ah dirò mia (terza parte) (SSATB)
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Ecco piegando le ginocchia a terra (quarta parte) (SSATB)
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Ferir quel petto Silvio (quinta parte) (SSATB)
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Ch'io t'ami (prima parte of 3) (SSATB)
A setting of part of Mirtillo's increasingly desperate, and hopeless, appeal to Amarilli (Pastor Fido, III/iii).		 Download
Deh bella e cara (seconda parte) (SSATB)
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Ma tu più che mai dura (terza parte) (SSATB)
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Sestina: Incenerite spoglie (prima parte of 6) (SS A/T TB)
A cycle composed in memory of the virtuosa singer Caterina Martinelli, who died tragically at the age of 18. (Apparently she had caught the eye of the reigning duke of Mantua, Vincenzo Gonzaga, who is believed to be the grieving Glauco of the text.) The poem was evidently composed in haste; it is a tribute to Monteverdi's genius that he fashioned so compelling a musical work from such unpromising material. The cycle is also known by its subtitle, "Lagrime d'amante al sepolcro dell'amata" (Tears of a lover at the tomb of his beloved)		 Download
Ditelo o fiumi (seconda parte) (SS A/T TB)
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Darà la notte il sol (terza parte) (SS A/T TB)
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Ma te raccoglie, o ninfa (quarta parte) (SS A/T TB)
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O chiome d'or (quinta parte) (SS A/T TB)
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Dunque amate reliquie (sesta parte) (SS A/T TB)
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Baci soavi e cari (SSATB)
Monteverdi's well-known setting of a suggestive Guarini poem about the ravishing effects of kisses. See also Masnelli's slightly earlier setting of the same text. The version offered here is transposed down a minor third; a version at the original pitch is also available. 		Download
O primavera, gioventù dell'anno (SSATB)
Monteverdi somewhat shortens Guarini's text (Pastor Fido III/i), with the result that it loses some of its raw emotion and the piece becomes more of a musing on the "nature-is-so-beautiful-but-I'm-so-miserable" theme. For greater plumbing of emotional depths, see the more extended setting by Wert.		 Download
Se per avervi, ohimé, donato il core (SSATB)
An early, not well-known Monteverdi madrigal, at once elegant and concise. Those familiar with the late-20th-century a cappella choral repertoire will recognize the (anonymous) text as one used by the American composer Morten Lauridsen in his "Six 'Firesongs' on Italian Renaissance Poems." 		Download
Ah, dolente partita! (SSATB)
The opening bars of Monteverdi's rendition of Mirtillo's grief-stricken leave-taking from Amarilli (Pastor Fido, III/iii) harken back to Wert's setting of the same text (q.v.), but the gut-wrenching emotional portrayal and formidable compositional complexity make the older master seem tame by comparison. (Transposed versions of this piece are also available.)		 Download
Lasciatemi morire (prima parte of 4) (SA A/T TB)
A polyphonic adaptation of the famed “Lamento d’Arianna,” the solo aria which provides the emotional high point of Monteverdi’s opera L’Arianna (1608), of which only the libretto and the “Lamento” survive. The piece is both a musical tour de force and a work of near-overwhelming emotional intensity. A version transposed up a minor third is also available.		 Download
O Teseo, o Teseo mio (seconda parte) (SA A/T TB)
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Dove è la fede (terza parte) (SA A/T TB)
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Ahi, che non pur risponde (quarta parte) (SA A/T TB)
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Io mi son giovinetta (SS A/T TB)
A spectacular piece of virtuosistic word-painting and vocal extravagance (the three lower voices in particular have exceptionally wide ranges). The text draws upon a ballata in Boccaccio’s Decameron, but is quite freely adapted and exhibits an altogether different affect.		 Download
Cruda Amarilli (SSTTB)
Monteverdi’s setting of the speech that introduces the woebegone protagonist Mirtillo of Pastor fido (I/ii) is featured prominently as the first madrigal in his Quinto libro a 5 (1605) -- possibly as a deliberate rebuke to the conservative music theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi, who had published a harsh critique five years earlier (when “Cruda Amarilli” was still in manuscript) of the “crude” and “barbaric” license taken by some contemporary composers. Without naming Monteverdi explicitly, Artusi cited no fewer than seven passages in “Cruda Amarilli” with which he took umbrage. However, Artusi was waging a rearguard action at a time when musical taste was evolving rapidly; by the time the Quinto libro appeared in print, the piece may have seemed less subversive.		 Download
Rimanti in pace (prima parte of 2) (SSATB)
Descending chromatic scales, harmonic instability and striking juxtapositions of contrasting motifs are all displayed in this early work of Monteverdi. Its daring and sophistication are all the more remarkable considering that the composer was 25 years old at the time it was published. See also the setting by Salamone Rossi.		 Download
Ond' ei di morte (seconda parte) (SSATB)
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M’è più dolce il penar (SSATB)
Monteverdi's depiction of Mirtillo's grim resolve to remain faithful to Amarilli, despite Corisca's blandishments (Pastor Fido III/vi), seems musically less daring than other pieces in his Quinto libro; at the same time, bars 32-36 are noteworthy for their compositional complexity. The inverted chord at the beginning of bar 9 seems out of place, but it occurs in both the first edition of 1605 and the 1608 reprint. See also the setting by Gastoldi.		 Download
O Mirtillo, Mirtillo (SSATB)
Monteverdi's setting of a poignant passage in Pastor Fido (III/iv), in which Amarilli laments the pain that she is unwillingly obliged to inflict on the jilted Mirtillo. Perhaps the excruciating dissonances on the word "crudelissima" (most cruel) shocked some contemporary ears. See also Croce's more leisurely and musically more traditional setting of the same text.		 Download
Filli cara ed amata (SATTB) *NEW*
An early Monteverdi madrigal, with hints of later developments, on the well-worn pastoral theme of a shepherd swain yearning for tokens of affection from a recalcitrant nymph. (In other versions, Filli then offers a riposte, in a manner that is seemingly inviting but at the same time ambiguous.)		 Download
Occhi un tempo mia vita (SSATB) *NEW*
In setting this quintessential bit of Guarini versifying – short, epigrammatic, punctuated with unanswered questions to a mute interlocutor, and redolent of studied desperation – Monteverdi was no doubt aware of Pallavicino’s version published a few years previously (q.v.), and indeed Monteverdi’s effort may reflect a certain rivalry between the two composers. A transcription transposed down a minor third is also available. 		Download
Lumi miei, cari lumi (SSSTB) *NEW*
Guarini’s epigrammatic poem perhaps represents the epitome of the emotion and significance that can be packed into a single fleeting glance. (Bear in mind that, in an era when interactions between the sexes were severely constrained, eye contact was a hugely important means of communication.) Musically the piece is clearly intended for an ensemble of accomplished singers, and is unusual in that it employs three equal soprano voices. Monteverdi exploits the action-packed words of the text to maximum effect. The text attracted the attention of numerous other contemporary composers, including Filippo de Monte, Salomone Rossi, Marco da Gagliano and Pomponio Nenna. 		Download

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