Marenzio, Luca - Madrigals - Alessandrini, Rinaldo

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The First Book of madrigals for four voices by Luca Marenzio (1533-99) was published in Rome in 1585.Paradoxically, Luca Marenzio is still a little-known composer, despite his distinguished career. Many people have heard of him, of course, but how many know anything about the life and works of the man who, with Monteverdi, was Italy's finest madrigalist? Marenzio was undoubtedly the greatest madrigalist working in Rome: Palestrina loathed him for it and used all sorts of wiles and calumnies to hamper his career. Monteverdi and Marenzio followed two very different paths. While Monteverdi projected the madrigal into a new dimension, in which the musical material and the theatrical element played a very important part, Marenzio preferred to concentrate on the emotional possibilities of pure harmony and the interplay of voices.