A Message from Denis Stevens

Dear Friends,

I want to tell you about a new edition of madrigals by Carlo Gesualdo, the Italian sixteenth-century composer whose life and music have so captured the interest of modern historians and musicians. Igor Stravinsky completed some of his religious music, restoring missing material, and he also made use of Gesualdo’s music in other works of his own.

Technically, Gesualdo is challenging. But his music is singable, beautiful and exciting. In my new edition I have tried to help singers and conductors with the correct placing of accents, always so important in early music. Unless we know how to do this, the text does not come through as clearly as it should. Once you begin to feel the flexibility and power of the underlying pulse, the madrigals will take on a life of their own. And the poetry, much of it by unknown authors (or by Gesualdo himself or his friends) is a prize in its own right.

I have not complicated the issue by transposing, and all 22 of these works are in the original key. All vocal ranges are comfortable to sing. Before each madrigal I have given brief indications regarding the best way to interpret them, and my thoughts are based on many years of experience in this kind of repertory. Unfortunately, the only recording I made with my Ambrosian Singers is out of print, although some of you may be able to trace it in record libraries—it’s a Dover Record, HCR 7287 (Madrigals by Gesualdo and Schütz).

In the Preface to the new Gaudia Music and Arts volume I discuss Gesualdo’s life, and I try to explain why he wrote the kind of music he did. I also mention some of the influences that molded his style, and how he came to know the music of his contemporaries, especially Luzzaschi and Nenna. His is a fascinating story, with enough sensation for a television drama if not a movie, and whatever we think of his adventures and his life there is no denying the outstanding quality of his music. But it requires concentration and hard work, and these, in the long run, will bring their own reward.

DENIS STEVENS

CARLO GESUALDO: Selected Madrigals
edited by Denis Stevens

(1992) 7 x 10 in., softbound, 136 pp. GM3205 US$18.00

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