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, Ottavo a 5 (1586) (complete)

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Title and DescriptionScoreMidiTranslation
Io non son però morto (SSATB)
A madrigal of considerable musical and psychological sophistication, with subtle interplay of contrasting motifs. The protagonist, who seems to be on his deathbed at the outset, triumphantly "returns to life" by the middle of the piece.		 Download
Rallegrati, mio cor (SSATB)
A rare depiction of requited love and lasting (perhaps even wedded) bliss.		 Download
Sì com’ ai freschi mattutini rai (SSSTB)
The uncommon use of three C1 clefs and the generally florid and lyrical writing suggest that the piece may have been intended for the famed "three singing ladies" of Ferrara (on whom Wert lavishes praise in the dedication). 		Download
Vezzosi augelli (SSATB)
A setting of a passage from Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata (Canto XVI) that lyrically describes the charms of Armida's enchanted garden. 		Download
Fra le dorate chiome (SSATB)
A variation on the theme of Cupid being ensnared by his own snare. The "fair and curly strands" may belong to Margherita Gonzaga, consort of the dedicatee Alfonso II d'Este (see also below).		 Download
Usciva omai dal molle e fresco grembo (SSATB)
A setting of the opening stanza of Canto XIV of Gerusalemme liberata, which sets the stage for Gofreddo's dream-vision in which he is instructed to find Rinaldo and summon him back to the crusade.		 Download
Sovente allor (prima parte of 2) (SSATB)
Erminia, who has found refuge among shepherds by the river Jordan, whiles away the time pining for Tancredi and lamenting her misfortunes. (Gerusalemme liberata, Canto VII)		 Download
Poscia dicea piangendo (seconda parte) (SSATB)
Download
Misera! non credea (prima parte of 2) (SSATB)
At a dramatic moment in Gerusalemme liberata (Canto XIX), Erminia comes upon Tancredi lying unconscious after his combat with the pagan champion Argante, and, not knowing if he is dead or alive, gives free rein to her feelings for him. (A version transposed down a fourth is also available.)		 Download
Ma che? squallido e scuro (seconda parte) (SSATB)
It may be mentioned that, in the course of the famous Artusi-Monteverdi controversy, Wert's treatment of the word "esangue" (Basso, bars 26-27) was tendentiously cited by Artusi as an example of the "imperfections of modern music."		 Download
Non è sì denso velo (SSSTB)
A tribute to the enduring power of a woman's eyes. The use of three G clefs suggests that the piece was also intended for the "three singing ladies."		 Download
Qual musico gentil (prima parte of 5) (SATTB)
An extended cycle that forms the centerpiece of the Ottavo libro, and perhaps the most musically masterful and psychologically nuanced of Wert's secular compositions. Armida, having gotten wind of Rinaldo's secret plan to abandon her (Gerusalemme liberata, Canto XVI), confronts him by the shore, intending to make use of all her "arts and wiles" to stay his course.		 Download
Poi cominciò (seconda parte) (SATTB)
Armida gets down to business: first she seeks to put Rinaldo off balance by saying he should harken to her as an enemy, not a lover.		 Download
Se m'odii (terza parte) (SATTB)
Armida makes no bones about the stratagems she has used to entice Rinaldo away from his crusading mission, or about the unbridgeable gulf between Christians and "pagans" like herself.		 Download
Aggiungi a quest' ancor (quarta parte) (SATTB)
Warming further to her subject, Armida subjects her professed love for Rinaldo to scorched-earth treatment -- 'twas all a snare and a delusion. But an element of self-pity begins to creep in.		 Download
Sia questa pur (quinta parte) (SATTB)
"Get thee gone!" Armida cries, but is overcome by the realization that she loves Rinaldo still. The cycle concludes in a mood of dazedness, defeat and desolation.		 Download
Forsennata gridava (SSATB)
Armida's frenzied shriek of realization, arrestingly captured in the opening motif, that Rinaldo has deserted her. In Gerusalemme liberata, the stanza occurs before the passage "Qual musico gentil"; but Wert positions his setting of the stanza so that it becomes a kind of coda to the latter.		 Download
Non sospirar, pastor (AATTB)
A charming, florid treatment of the conventional theme of an unconsolable shepherd wasting away in unrequited love.		 Download
Questi odorati fiori (SSATB)
A masterful exercise in musical imagery, with its evocation of a waving field of multicolored flowers, Cupids languishing in summer's heat, and the diaphanous veil covering the bosom of a "regal lady" (the last is probably a reference to Margherita Gonzaga).		 Download
Vener, ch'un giorno avea (SSSTB)
Another piece with the unusual three-C1-clef disposition, on the theme of Venus and Cupid, with a twist: Venus's golden tresses become the snares that entrap hapless mortal lovers. Since a reference to Margherita Gonzaga has been interpolated into the text, the implication is evidently that Margherita, like Venus, has the power to turn lovers' heads (albeit inadvertently).		 Download
Con voi giocando Amor (AATTB)
A piece addressed to (presumably) a woman who, by filching Cupid's quiver, bests him at his own game, as he eventually realizes and sportingly concedes. The woman in question may again be Margherita Gonzaga -- if so, the poem may be another tribute to her power to turn lovers' heads, while at the same time implying that, in the end, love is all just fun and games.		 Download
Introduction and Commentary
The text can be downloaded from the Translation column.

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