Sorrows, Prayers

Kate Molleson explores Monteverdi’s final decades, as Venice becomes a centre for public opera in the aftermath of war and plague. It’s a period of renewal and experimentation, from the theatrical intensity of Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda to the large-scale operas of his later years. With the opening of Venice’s first public opera house, Monteverdi adapts his style, writing music that responds to changing audiences and expectations.

Chiome d’oro, bel tesoro
Nuria Rial, soprano
L’Arpeggiata
Christina Pluhar, director

Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (extract)
Catherine Bott, soprano (Clorinda)
John Mark Ainsley, tenor (Testo/narrator)
Andrew King, tenor (Tancredi)
New London Consort
Philip Pickett, director

Pianto della Madonna
Alena Dantcheva, soprano
Odhecaton
Paolo Da Col, director

Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria – Prologue and Act I scene 1
Dominique Visse – L’Umana Fragilità (countertenor)
Michael Schopper – Tempo (bass)
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson – Fortuna (mezzo-soprano)
Martina Bovet – Amore (soprano)
Bernarda Fink – Penelope (mezzo-soprano)
Jocelyne Taillon – Ericlea (contralto)
Concerto Vocale,
René Jacobs, director

L’incoronazione di Poppea – Pur ti miro
Nuria Rial, soprano (Poppea)
Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor (Nerone)
L’Arpeggiata
Christina Pluhar, director

Produced by Ellie Ajao for BBC Audio Wales and West