Madrigal Week: Fiery Passions

It's true that we tend to listen to songs that we can relate to. We're not interested on whether the C note is the one that should be sung, not the G note or that one's pitch is somewhere near the middle C. During the Renaissance period, the Madrigal style of singing not just centered on the notes but also on the text that goes with the notes. They call it word painting.

The idea behind word painting is that composers choose the words or the text of a song that would express the emotion or the story that they want the song to convey. For example, if you'd like to portray the image of a sunrise, you'd probably have notes that tend to rise up and the text that is used (like "sun rises") would be set into song that portrays the rising of the sun.

Songs that express emotion are quite appealing--joy, despair, hope, peace, love, justice, gratitude, and so many others. But the strong emotions are the ones that draw much attention. Such compositions that express a wide range of emotions also tend to be creative, diverse, and filled with various lines of poetry and music that blend together towards a genius work of art. One such composer is known to have created a compilation of madrigals that expresses various types of emotions--Carlo Gesualdo.

Carlo Gesualdo's tragic love story is a real story that we often see dramatized in some Shakespearean play or modern day telenovelas. Upon catching his unfaithful wife having relations with another man, all hell breaks loose and Gesualdo murders both his wife and her lover there on the bed where they're making out. Imagine the range of emotions involved in this tragic tale--unrequited love, furious anger, green-eyed jealousy, hurt pride, emotional anguish--the list of extreme heart-felt emotions is endless. Gesualdo decides to tell all and his outlet is the madrigal.

I shall feature one of these madrigals entitled "Dolcissima Mia Vita." Here I present the Italian and English translated text. The text presents a lover's heart that's all fired up with burning love. This love consumes his heart to the point that death is better than to not have loved the one desired. The counterpoints that happen in the line "Credete forse on'ardo..." portrays that fiery passion happening inside the lover's heart.

Dolcissima mia vita,                                                        Sweetest life,
a che tardate la bramata aita?                                         why do you withhold the relief which I long for?

Credete forse ond' ardo,                                                Perhaps you think that my burning desire will end,
sia per finir perche torcete il guardo?                              because you turn away whenever I see you?

Ahi, non fia mai che brama il mio desire                          Alas, this cannot be,
o d'amarti o morire.                                                       I must either love you or die. 

Madrigal Week: Why I Love Choral Music

A friend of mine asked me, "What is your (musical) genre?" She knows that I used to sing with the choir and she knows about this blog. I figured I'd tackle this question because my blog is about choral music--this is my musical inclination.

I speak about this from the point of view of personal experience. I don't claim to be its expert. I am not here to do a critique of any performance of a choral group. My goal is simply to share to the world what choral music has done for me. I think it's good that aside from watching movies and TV shows or listening to mainstream pop music on the radio, it would be nice if people would also take interest in choral music. That is why I'd like to share my personal experience about it.

I love to sing and there are many ways to do this; there are many musical outlets available. The outlet I chose is choral singing. I appreciate how individual voices are able to unite themselves and sing harmoniously. Each singer in the choir is different--each has their own personalities, attitudes, and lifestyles. But it's amazing how they can come together, utilizing their different voice range and talents for the sake of singing one song.

Just as there are several types of music that we listen to on the radio, choral music has several genres as well. One of them is the Madrigal. A Madrigal is an a capella style of singing that was popular during the Renaissance period. This type of singing is also characterized as polyphonic--different voices singing in different ranges singing two or more musical lines depending on the arrangement. In other words, the singers are divided amongst groups according to their range--some will sing the high notes (soprano), some the low notes (bass), and some the middle range (alto and tenor). They each sing their lines accordingly but when they join together to sing the entire song, they blend smoothly and harmonize fantastically. To me, the unity of these voices is just breath taking, like you're flying and it feels free, relaxing and soothing to the soul.

Today, I wish to share a Madrigal with you. This is one of the Madrigals I've sung when I was with the choir. The song is entitled "Hard By A Crystal Fountain" composed by Thomas Morley.  I chose this particular rendition that you are about to watch because you could see that choral singing does not always mean having many individuals singing. With Madrigal style, I often see smaller groups of singers sing this style. Here are the words and the video for your enjoyment.

HARD BY A CRYSTAL FOUNTAIN

Hard by a crystal fountain,
Oriana the Bright lay down asleeping.
The birds they finely chirped, the winds were stilled;
sweetly with these accenting the air was filled.
This is that Fair, whose head a crown deserveth,
which Heav'n for her reserveth.
Leave, shepherds, your lambs keeping,
upon the barren mountain,
and nymphs attend on her and leave your bowers,
for she the shepherd's life maintains and yours.

Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana:
Long live fair Oriana! 

Pop Week: We Need To Rise Up Together

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34

There are times when we feel lost in the dark--the dark recesses of our problems, setbacks, failures, trials, and many others. But while there is darkness, there is also the light. The light sheds its brightness upon these problems, setbacks, failures, trials and helps us see, how and where did we go wrong. Ah, but do we really want to see in the dark? Not everybody is open to admit that he has failed in something. Some people feel that only they can solve their own problems because other people will just get in the way. Some people admit to being a failure but simply accepted it as that, not moving towards a way to get up and take the fight again.

From time to time, it is best that we sort things out ourselves first. Hopefully, it wouldn't end there. We need to admit that we couldn't always do everything on our own. That is why the family is there as well as friends and colleagues. We need the help of other people just as they need our help too.

Things will not be resolved if it is not corrected. However, when we do correct someone whom we care about, we must do it with the right intention. We do it because we love the person and so we point out their faults not to bring them down but in order to make them change their bad way and win them back. In the same way, we must be open to what other people say about us. Maybe we don't like being told what to do. It's okay to feel bad about it, but we have to keep an open mind. Knowing our faults is not fun to hear--it shouldn't be precisely because it is a fault. What's better is we take it as an opportunity to change for the better.


In keeping with Pop Week, let's listen to a song that would uplift our spirits and inspire hope amidst our daily struggles in life.