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

Wert, Giaches de

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Title and DescriptionScoreMidiTranslation
Che giova posseder (prima parte of 4) (SATB)
Perhaps Wert had some particular ruler (and patron?) in mind in choosing to set this text by Pietro Bembo, a kind of mirror for princes: What avails you to amass power and riches, only to find yourself lying in bed cold and alone? The piece has been transposed down a fourth; a version at the original pitch is also available.		 Download
Ma che non giova (seconda parte) (SATB)
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Quant'esser vi dee car un uom (terza parte) (SATB)
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Però che voi (quarta parte) (SATB)
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Giunto alla tomba (prima parte of 2) (SATTB)
A stunning setting of one of the most poignant moments in Tasso's epic Gerusalemme Liberata: Tancredi lamenting his loss before the tomb of Clorinda, whom he has unwittingly slain in combat. (In a case of musical one-upmanship, Marenzio proceeded to set these plus an additional two stanzas.) 		Download
Non di morte sei tu (seconda parte) (SATTB)
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Vive doglioso il core (SMATB)
A madrigal on the theme of suffering for the sake of love. The version given here is transposed down a whole step; an edition at the original pitch is also available. 		Download
L'anima mia ferita (SS A/T TB)
A madrigal on a morose text by Ferrante Gonzaga, related to Wert's patron Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Within the madrigal, Wert quotes his own setting of the text "Queste non son piu lagrime" (Quinto libro a 5, 1571)		 Download
Vago augelletto (prima parte of 2) (SM A/T TB)
Wert's brilliant setting of an anguish-laden sonnet by Petrarch. The end of the prima parte is notably striking for its rendition of the words i dolorosi guai (the painful woes). The version given here is transposed up a step; a version at the original pitch is also available. 		Download
Io non so se le parti (seconda parte) (SM A/T TB)
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Ah dolente partita (SSATB)
Wert's compact but powerful setting of Mirtillo's anguished lament (Pastor Fido III/iii). See also the settings by Monteverdi, Artusini and Taroni.		 Download
O primavera gioventù dell'anno (prima parte of 5) (SS A/T TB)
A gorgeous extended cycle which plumbs the panoply of Mirtillo's emotions as he awaits what will prove to be a disastrous encounter with his beloved Amarilli (Pastor Fido III/i).		 Download
O dolcezze amarissime d'amore (seconda parte) (SS A/T TB)
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Ma se le mie speranze oggi non sono (terza parte) (SS A/T TB)
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E s'altri non m'inganna (quarta parte) (SS A/T TB)
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O lungamente sospirato in vano (quinta parte) (SS A/T TB)
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Udite lagrimosi spirti d'Averno (prima parte of 2) (SAATB)
A setting of Mirtillo's depths-of-dispair soliloquy (the opening lines of Pastor Fido III/vi), at which point he has abandoned hope of a reconciliation with Amarilli and is vulnerable to manipulation by Amarilli's rival Corisca.		 Download
La mia donna crudel (seconda parte) (SAATB)
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Scherza nel canto (SSATB)
An intriguing madrigal, which might be termed self-referential, about the effects of a woman's beautiful singing on the hearer.		 Download
Tirsi morir volea (dialogo a 7) (SSA ATTB)
Wert approaches Guarini's famous (or notorious) text as much as an "amorous dialogue" as an exercise in erotic depiction. The inclusion of the piece in Wert's Settimo libro, dedicated to Margherita Farnese and commemorating her marriage to Vincenzo Gonzaga, suggests that Wert intended to convey a wish that their union be passionate and fruitful. See also the settings by Marenzio, Pallavicino, Tomasi and Zanotti.		 Download
Ahi, come soffrirò (SMATB)
The protagonist is tormented by the thought of his beloved in the arms of a rival. Wert's setting highlights the attendant wailing and gnashing of teeth.		 Download
Ancorché l’alto mio nobil pensiero (SSATB)
A melodramatic and gloomy musing on the prospect that sudden death would sever the protagonist from his (or her) beloved for all eternity.		 Download
Grazie ch'a pochi il ciel (prima parte of 2) (SSATTB)
A grand and glorious setting of a Petrarch sonnet, evidently "re-purposed" as a tribute to the virtues and graces of Vincenzo Gonzaga's bride, Margherita Farnese. (The unhappy match was to end in mutual recrimination and annulment shortly thereafter.) The work is one of the relatively few specimens of six-part writing that Wert left to posterity.		 Download
E que' begl'occhi (seconda parte) (SSATTB)
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Quel rossignuol, che sì soave piagne (prima parte of 2) (SSATTB)
Another Wert setting of a Petrarch sonnet -- this one "in morte di Madonna Laura" -- and also a scarce example of six-part writing by the composer. The low register and rich texture seem to accentuate the mood of grief and loss.		 Download
O che lieve è ingannar (seconda parte) (SSATTB)
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Mesola, il Po da lato (SSATTB)
Wert’s lush six-voice setting of Tasso’s encomium of Mesola, Duke Alfonso II d’Este’s vast estate and hunting preserve in the Po River delta, represents the composer at his most expansive and ebullient.		 Download
Luce degl'occhi miei (SSATTB)
Another upbeat six-voice madrigal by Wert, based on a love poem by Girolamo Muzio. The vivid imagery describing the course of the Sun seems to affirm that the Earth is round (although not necessarily that the latter revolves around the former).		 Download
Un bacio solo (SSATTB)
A relatively early setting by Wert of one of Guarini’s madrigali, with a rich six-voice texture but perhaps a bit less expressive of the text than similar later settings by the composer.		 Download
O come vaneggiate, donna (SSTTB)
Wert’s setting of this somewhat misogynistic reproach to a former lady-love, generally attributed to Guarini. See also the settings by Giovanelli and Pallavicino.		 Download
Cruda Amarilli (prima parte of 2) (SSATB)
Much of the prima parte of Wert’s setting of the speech that introduces the woebegone protagonist Mirtillo of Pastor fido (I/ii) seems to offer the composer’s standard fare – until the introduction of an arresting series of downward chromatic passages. Furthermore, nothing prepares the hearer for the extreme ranges and prodigious leaps at the beginning of the seconda parte (all parts except the Alto span an octave and a fifth within a space of two semi-breves). Additionally, the piece, and especially the seconda parte, is a bit of a puzzle from the standpoint of transposition; according to one view, the use of chiavette with no flat in the signature would suggest a downward transposition of a fifth, but in such case the resultant disposition would be a very low AATBarB. A more modest transposition would seem advisable. (A version transposed down a major second is available.)		 Download
Ma grideran per me (seconda parte) (SSATB)
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Chi mi fura il ben mio (prima parte of 2) (SATB)
Wert’s expressive setting of this anonymous text prefigures his treatment of anguish-laden and dramatic themes in his later books of madrigals. Unusually, the ending of the seconda parte recapitulates, almost note-for-note, the opening of the prima parte; as a result, furthermore, the piece ends on the dominant rather than the tonic, creating a mood of uncertainty and suspense.		 Download
Misero, chi m'ha tolto (seconda parte) (SATB)
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Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori (SAATB)
A setting of a stanza from Canto VI of Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando Furioso, at which point the heroic knight Ruggiero, borne by a hippogriff – a mythical creature familiar to Harry Potter fans – has just alighted on a far-off island paradise abounding in all manner of tropical delights. (He is soon to learn, however, that the island is the abode of the evil enchantress Alcina, who recycles used lovers by transforming them into trees, rocks and beasts.) See also the settings by Ingegneri and Pallavicino. A version transposed down a whole step is also available.		 Download
Queste non son più lagrime (SSA A/T TB)
A relatively early setting by Wert of a stanza from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, that marks the beginning of Orlando's descent into madness. The remarkable opening motif, outlining a diminished fifth, seems to underscore the protagonist's tortured state of mind.		 Download
Notti felici e care (prima parte of 2) (SATTB)
An early madrigal by Wert, in which the word-painting and treatment of affective content are suggestive of the composer's later style.		 Download
Perché noiose e amare (seconda parte) (SATTB)
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Non tanto il bel palazzo (SMTTB) *NEW*
A charming setting of an ottava from Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando Furioso (variously translated as “The Frenzy of Orlando,” “Orlando Maddened,” “Raging Roland,” etc.). The heroic knight Ruggiero has alighted on a far-off island paradise abounding in all manner of tropical delights, and – after dispatching the giantess Eriphila – has made his way to the palace of the evil enchantress Alcina. (He has yet to learn that Alcina recycles used lovers by transforming them into trees, rocks and beasts.)		 Download

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