Biagio Marini

Marini: Allegrezza del Nuovo Maggio
Emanuela Galli / Ensemble Galilei - Paul Beier
Stradivarius 33446

Contents:

    Primavera
  1. Balletto: Entrata (sinfonia primo tuono; 2 violins, viol, violone, plucked continuo)
    Zarabanda quarta
    Corrente seconda
    Balletto quarto allemano
    Retirata (sinfonia terzo tuono)
  2. Allegrezza del Nuovo Maggio (soprano, 2 theorbos, archlute, viol)
    Ritornello (violin, plucked continuo)
  3. Sinfonia quarto tono (2 violins, theorbo, archlute, 2 viols, organ)
    Sonata per Due Violini "Dolcemente" (2 violins, theorbo, archlute, viol, organ)
  4. Le Rugiade (soprano, plucked continuo)
    Ritornello (violin, theorbo, archlute, viol)

    5. Estate
  5. Balletto: Entrata (sinfonia quinto tuono; 2 violins, viol, violone, plucked continuo)
    Balletto Primo in quattro parti - V. Corrente
  6. Invita la sua donna alle delitie della Campagna (soprano, plucked continuo, viol)
    Ritornello (violin, theorbo, archlute)
  7. Sonata per Basso e Violino (2 violins, theorbo, archlute, viol, organ)

    8. Autunno
  8. Balletto Secondo: Entrata, Balletto, Gagliarda, Corrente, Retirata (2 violins, 2 viols, plucked continuo)
  9. Invito all'amoroso riposo (soprano, archlute)
    Ritornello (violin, theorbo)
  10. La Luna (soprano, plucked continuo)
    Ritornello (violin, plucked continuo, viol)
  11. Sonata Prima per Due Violini e Basso sopra "Fuggi Dolenti" (2 violins, theorbo, archlute, viol, organ)

    12. Inverno
  12. Balletto: Entrata (sinfonia secondo tuono; 2 violins, 2 viols, plucked continuo)
    Balletto Terza, Corrente Terza, Zarabanda Seconda, Retirata (sinfonia sesto tuono)
  13. Il Verno (soprano, plucked continuo, organ)
    Ritornello (violin, theorbo, archlute, viol)
  14. Natività Christo (soprano, theorbo, archlute, organ)
    Ritornello (violin, plucked continuo, viol)

    15. Epilogo
  15. Passacalio (2 violins, 2 viols, plucked continuo, organ)

Performers: Emanuela Galli (soprano), Giulia Panzeri (violin), Claudia Combs (violin), Rodney Prada (viol), Giorgio Sanvito (viol, violone), Guido Morini (organ), Paul Beier, Maurizio Martelli, Ivan Pelà (theorbos); Gabriele Palomba, Marco Fodella (archlutes); Fulvio Garlaschi, Franklin Lei (guitars)

Playing time: 72'

Recording date: October 1994

This is another step in the integration of vocal and instrumental music. Biagio Marini (1597-1665) was famous as a violinist, beginning and ending his career at St. Mark's in Venice. In the interim, he had numerous posts including travels in Germany. Many of the vocal pieces incorporate explicit instrumental ideas, and indeed come with ritornellos composed specifically for violins. Variation form also becomes a driving force.

This program is compiled from two of Marini's publications, the Scherzi e Canzonette (Opus 5, 1622) and Diversi generi di Sonate, da Chiesa, e da Camera (Opus 22, 1655), to form a coherent cycle on the seasons.

A similar vocal-instrumental program featuring winds:

L'Heritage de Monteverdi III
Marini - Moderne e Curiose Inventioni...
Kiehr / Elwes / La Fenice - Jean Tubéry
Ricercar 205852

More thoroughly vocal recordings devoted to Marini:

Marini: Concerto Terzo delle Musiche da Camera
Consort of Musicke - Anthony Rooley
Musica Oscura 70994
Marini: Le Lagrime di Davide
Sparse nel Miserere
Gli Erranti - Alessandro Casari
Stradivarius 33474
Marini: Canzonette / Torri: Trastulli
Accademia Claudio Monteverdi Venezia - Hans Ludwig Hirsch
Arts 47399

A recording by the renamed version of the present ensemble devoted entirely to Marini's instrumental output:

Marini: Curiose invenzioni dall'opera ottava
Monica Huggett / Galatea - Paul Beier
Stradivarius 33549

This ensemble's other recording on Stradivarius:

Strozzi: Diporti di Euterpe
Emanuela Galli / Ensemble Galilei - Paul Beier
Stradivarius 33487

Finally, a recording devoted to a similar variety of vocal & instrumental genres by a near-contemporary from Naples, Andrea Falconieri (1585-1656):

Falconieri: Fantasies, Danses, Villanelle, Arie
Ensemble Fitzwilliam
Astrée 8551

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Todd M. McComb