Posted at 3:07 AM on April 28, 2010
by Ward Jacobson
Filed under: Programs
Classical MPR's exclusive Euro-Classics focus on the voice this week.
In the mid 17th century, Claudio Monteverdi was in his 70s and still going strong composing all sorts of varied music involving the voice. His collection entitled Selva Morale e Spirituale (Moral and Spiritual Forest) contained nearly 40 vocal works - motets, psalms, mass settings and madrigals. They all varied in size, from the small motet for solo voice and continuo to the more grand settings like the "Gloria" for seven voices, two violins, four violas, four trombones, and continuo. Stay up late tonight (12:05am Thursday) to hear selections from Monteverdi's "Selva Morale e Spirituale" in a performance recorded live in June, 2009 at St. Kastor Basilica in Koblenz, Germany with the ensemble La Venexiana.