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Collegium Vocale Gent

Criminal madrigals | 27 - 29 May 2025

Collegium Vocale Gent

Criminal madrigals 
That Carlo Gesualdo murdered his wife and her lover ‘in flagrante delicto’ is one of the juiciest facts in music history. Could there be a connection between this drama and the eccentric polyphony of the Prince of Venosa? Gesualdo's Fourth Book of Madrigals dates from shortly after the event, and testifies to his unrestrained experimentalism and emotional inflammability. Collegium Vocale Gent extracts the finest nuances from these songs of scorching desire and sweet heartache.

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Programme & Musicians

Kristen Witmer soprano
Barbora Kabátková mezzo-soprano
Marine Fribourg alto
Benedict Hymas, David de Winter tenor
James Holliday bass
Jonas Nordberg chitarrone

Philippe Herreweghe musical direction

Carlo Gesualdo 1566-1613
Luci serene e chiare
Tall’or sano desio
Io tacerò, ma nel silenzio mio
Invan dunque o crudele
Che fai meco, moi cor
(from: Madrigali Libro Quarto, Ferrara 1596)

Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger c1580-1651
Toccata I instrumental

Carlo Gesualdo
Questa crudele e pia
Or, che in goia
O sempre crudo Amore
Cor mio, deh, non piangete
Dunque non m’offendete
Sparge la morte al mio Signor
(from: Madrigali Libro Quarto)

Alessandro Piccinini 1566-c1638
Toccata cromatica instrumental

Carlo Gesualdo
Moro, e mentre sospiro
Quando di lui la sospira vita
Mentre gia costei
A voi, mentre il mio core
Ecco, morirò dunque
Ahi, già mi discoloro
(from: Madrigali Libro Quarto)

Alessandro Piccinini
Toccata XIII instrumental

Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger
Kapsperger

Carlo Gesualdo
Arde il moi cor
Se chiudete nel core
Il sol, qual or più splende
Volgi mia luci
(from: Madrigali Libro Quarto)

Programme subject to change