Monteverdi: Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda; Il Lamento di Arianna; "Se I lenguuidi miel sguardi..."

Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda represents one of the highest moments in Monteverdi’s works, both from the standpoint of style and composition and that of pure artistry. The work, taken from the Eighth Book of Monteverdi Madrigals (Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi Con alcuni opuscoli in genere rappresentativo che saranno per brevi Episodi fra i canti senza gesto. Libro Ottavo. In Venice in the care of Alessandro Vincenti. MDCXXXVIII), was performed for the first time in the palace of the Venetian nobleman, Girolamo Mocenigo, in 1624 “during Carnival as a vigil entertainment, in the presence of all the nobility, whose sense of compassion was so touched, that they were almost moved to tears; and the applause granted the work was such as has rarely been seen or heard.” The preceding is how Monteverdi himself described the origin of the composition in the preface to his eighth book of madrigals.