Ensemble 44: Vanity & Truth – Songs of Love by Women of the Italian Court

A   mor, non dormir più!
Su, su! svegliati omai?
Che mentre dormi tu,
dormon le gioie mie; vegliano i guai.

[Love, sleep no more—
Up, up! Will you never wake?
For while you sleep,
Sleep also my joys; awake are my troubles.]”
  — Barbara Strozzi (1619-77), ‘Amor dormiglione’, tr. Candace Magner.

E nsemble 44 (Hannah Davidson, viola da gamba; Teri Kowiak, soprano; Kathleen McDougald, harpsichord) presented a recital yesterday of art songs by Italian women composers of the Baroque period. The concert was one of the many ‘fringe’ events connected with the Boston Early Music Festival.

• Strozzi – Amor dormiglione; La travagliata; Risolvetevi pensieri; Lagrime mie
  
• Ortiz – Recercada settima (from ‘Tratado de glosas’)
  
• Caccini – Se muove a giurar fede; La pastorella mia; Ch’amor sia nudo

T he texts for these songs are incisive, very passionate.

S   occorrete, luci avare,
un che muore di dolore,
con un vostro sguardo almeno!
Si può fare del guardare
carità che costi meno?.

[Help, you greedy eyes,
one who is dying of grief
with just one glance of yours!
Is there any act of charity
that costs less?]”
  — Barbara Strozzi (1619-77), ‘La travagliata’, tr. Candace Magner.

T he accessibility/universality of the sentiments expressed in these poems—timeless themes, really—plus the lyricism of the musical settings make these wonderful recital pieces, I think, for students and professionals alike.

T he acoustic intimacy of the small Steinert Hall in the Steinway Building in Boston made the experience for the several dozen attendees even more enjoyable. Such crystal clarity, for hearing the voice and the articulation of the viola da gamba and the harpsichord! The location was ideal—iconic, in fact, of how pieces like this are best presented.

E nsemble 44 has a new CD just released, entitled ‘Music of Ladies of the French and Italian Baroque’. I don’t see it yet on CDbaby website, but picked up a copy at BEMF recital… Beautiful! Here is a little clip from this disc:


    [50-sec clip, Ensemble 44, Barbara Strozzi, ‘Amor dormiglione’; 2011, 1.1MB MP3]

• Ensemble 44 / Studio 44, Boston
  
• Ensemble 44. Six Sonatas by 3 Women. (CDBY, 2010.)
  
• Recordings of Barbara Strozzi compositions (Amazon)
  
• Recordings of Francesca Caccini compositions (Amazon)
  
• Bowers B, Tick J, eds. Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950. Univ Illinois, 1987.
  
• Briscoe J, ed. New Historical Anthology of Music by Women. Indiana Univ, 2004.
  
• Citron M. Gender and the Musical Canon. Cambridge Univ, 1993.
  
• Emerson I. Five Centuries of Women Singers. Praeger, 2005.
  
• McClary S. Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality. Univ Minnesota, 2002.
  
• Neuls-Bates C, ed. Women In Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the Present. 2e. Northeastern Univ, 1995.
  
• Sadie J, Samuel R, eds. The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Woman Composers. Norton, 1995.
  
• Soli R, ed. Musicology and Difference: Gender and Sexuality in Music Scholarship. Univ California, 1995.