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

Rognoni Taeggio, Giovanni Domenico, Primo a 5 (1605) (complete)

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Title and DescriptionScoreMidiTranslation
Introduction and Commentary
Brother of Francesco (q.v.), Giovanni Domenico Rognoni Taeggio (ca. 1575−before 1626) also published a book of five-voice madrigals, which are well crafted albeit in a more conservative style than Francesco’s. See the Introduction (downloadable from the Translation column) for more details.
Rose che l’arte invidiose (prima parte) (SATTB) *NEW*
A setting of a sonnet by Guarini, often attributed, but evidently incorrectly, to Tasso. As the last line of the seconda parte indicates, the poem is intended as an encomium of a certain Leonora, whose identity remains uncertain since several women of that name were associated with the Ferrarese court of Alfonso II at the time. Presumably Rognoni Taeggio composed the setting with some other Leonora in mind (perhaps the wife of the dedicatee Gaspare Omodeo?).		 Download
Amor ape novella (seconda parte) (SATTB) *NEW*
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Bevea Fillide mia (SSATB) *NEW*
The poem is attributed to Girolamo Casoni in an anthology dating to 1611, in which it is dedicated to the “clarissima signora Paolina Badoera.” A passage in a heroic poem by Ferdinando Donno, mentioning a group of noble Venetian ladies who danced at the Ducal Palace on the occasion of Venice’s annual Marriage of the Sea festival, describes Paolina Badoer as “d’ammirata bellezza unico sole” (a unique sun of admirable beauty). Conceivably, Rognoni Taeggio intends that this glowing description should also apply to the wife of his dedicatee.		 Download
Filli deh non fuggir (prima parte) (SSATB) *NEW*
This breathless bit of pastoral fluff by Benedetto Varchi is cast as a classical Petrarchan sonnet – perhaps an indication of how durable that poetic form was, notwithstanding the fact that Petrarch doubtless would have found the content and the sentiment appalling. Nonetheless, Varchi should be given credit for his clever adaptation, which is both animated and dramatic.		 Download
Rallenta o Filli ohimè (seconda parte) (SSATB) *NEW*
 Download
Vi basciarei mia diva (SATTB) *NEW*
A depiction of kissing as a kind of high-risk game, with the power to kill as well as to restore to life.		 Download
Arsi già per tuo amore (prima parte) (SSATB) *NEW*
The so-called proposta e risposta (proposal and reply) genre of the madrigal typically comprises a pair of pieces in which a male protagonist’s initial gambit – sometimes expressing a wish for greater intimacy, sometimes rather the opposite – is countered by a female protagonist’s spirited riposte. In this case the order of the protagonists is reversed (the woman speaks in the prima parte, the man in the seconda), and the two seem to have diametrically opposed views about whether to persevere in their evidently stormy relationship.		 Download
Perfida, qual amore (seconda parte) (SSATB) *NEW*
 Download
Come al bel viso al canto (SSATB) *NEW*
An oddly worded tribute to the power of a lady’s good looks and compelling singing voice – the gist seems to be that the protagonist’s resultant flintiness will strike sparks that will eventually overcome the lady’s coolness toward him.		 Download
Se vuoi Donna ch’amore (prima parte) (SATTB) *NEW*
A madrigal on a somewhat stilted text in which the protagonist invokes a bee / rose / honey metaphor to pledge an exchange of hearts to his lady-love.		 Download
Porgi la bocca bella (seconda parte) (SATTB) *NEW*
 Download
Questa spina crudel (SATTB) *NEW*
Love as a thorn in the protagonist’s bosom, to be plucked out or consumed in fire. 		Download
Se mi vedi Pittore (SATTB) *NEW*
This rather gloomy musing on bodily decay and dying affords Rognoni the opportunity to indulge in some chromatic and harmonic excursions not characteristic of the rest of his music, as well as to word-paint his setting of the last line using white notes to underscore the meaning of “esangue” (bloodless). 		Download
Lungi da te, cor mio (SSATB) *NEW*
Essentially the same text was set by Monteverdi (the opening line reading “Longe da te, cor mio”), and a variant version was set by Luzzaschi (“Lunge da te, cor mio,” in which the protagonist is a woman, since the last line reads “… e morirò beata”).		 Download
Dolce spirto d’amore (SSATB) *NEW*
This compact poem by Guarini, with its clever word-play (spirto / sospir / spira / sospirando, here imperfectly rendered as spirit / sigh / breathes / sighing), attracted the attention of a number of other madrigalists, including Gesualdo, Pallavicino and Antonio Cifra. Note how Rognoni Taeggio uses rests to heighten the effect of setting the words “sospir” and “sospirando.”		 Download
Cor mio, non mori? e mori! (SSATB) *NEW*
Much better known is Monteverdi’s setting of this anonymous anguish-laden text. 		Download
Ah dolente partita (SSATB) *NEW*
Mirtillo’s anguished outburst that concludes Scene iii of Act III of Il pastor fido, in response to Amarilli’s dictum that she can never be seen with him again. The text as set by Artusini, Monteverdi, Taroni and Wert (qq.v.) is virtually identical apart from a few spelling differences.		 Download
Ohimè se tanto amate (SSATB) *NEW*
Better known is Monteverdi’s setting (Quarto libro a 5, 1603) of this Guarini madrigale. The same text was put to music by more than a dozen contemporary composers, including Marenzio, Pallavicino, Salamone Rossi, Giovanni Ghizzolo and Andrea Falconieri.		 Download
Verde e spinosa pianta (SA A/T TB) *NEW*
The last note of the piece in the source – a minim instead of the customary longa – is evidently intended to highlight the protagonist’s sense of losing his strength little by little, and presumably is to be preceded by a diminuendo.		 Download
Nato Cupido un ape (SSATB) *NEW*
The text is attributed to Girolamo Casoni in a 1599 anthology of poetry that was curated by Gherardo Borgogni, a member of the Milanese Accademia degli Inquieti. It represents a kind of “just so story” that purports to explain the duality of Cupid’s nature (and correspondingly whether the sentiment he arouses is toxic or sweet). 		Download
Ero così dicea (SATTB) *NEW*
The text is better known from its 18 musical settings, by 17 different composers, published in the anthology L’amorosa Ero (1588). Given the 17-year interval from the date of L’amorosa Ero’s appearance in print, it is implausible that Rognoni Taeggio would have composed his setting for inclusion in that publication. Together with the fact that Rognoni’s setting is notably florid and elaborate in places, it would seem that the composer intended his version to be a kind of demonstration of his creative talents. 		Download
Labbra amorose e care (SATTB) *NEW*
A paean to the pleasure-giving / death-dealing properties of a woman’s lips. 		Download
Occhi un tempo mia vita (SATTB) *NEW*
The text is a quintessential bit of Guarini versifying – short, epigrammatic, punctuated with unanswered questions to a mute interlocutor, and redolent of studied desperation. The poem circulated in various versions, some incorporating additional lines. Rognoni’s text is more faithful to the standard version, while Pallavicino’s and Monteverdi’s settings (qq.v.) employ a shorter variant. 		Download
Il più bel pastorello e ’l più gentile (prima parte) (SATTB) *NEW*
A neo-Petrarchan sonnet by Benedetto Varchi, an Italian humanist and poet who flourished in the first half of the 16th century. The setting is a stock pastoral one, on the well-worn theme of a shepherd’s complaint that his love for a wayward shepherdess is unrequited. (Nos. 4–5, “Filli, deh non fuggir,” with seconda parte “Rallenta o Filli ohimè,” offer a similarly themed example, also by Varchi.) 		Download
Tirsi, che sola te nott’ e dì chiama (seconda parte) (SATTB) *NEW*
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