Gianches de Wert’s Ninth Book of Madrigals
In 1601, Giulio Caccini’s Nuove Musiche championed the close relationship between words and music. Yet composers had been exploring this idea long before Caccini. During the second half of the sixteenth century, many sought to bring the meaning and emotion of individual words and phrases to life through music. The madrigal, with its expressive possibilities, was the perfect genre for such experiments. The musical devices used to illustrate the text became known as ‘madrigalisms’.
Little is known about De Wert’s early life or musical training. He may have been born in Ghent and was probably taken to Italy as a child. He is thought to have grown up in Avellino, near Naples, at the court of Maria di Cardona, Marchioness of Padula. His career took him to Novellara, Milan, Mantua and Ferrara. In Ferrara, he met Cipriano de Rore, the foremost madrigal composer of the time. His connections with the Gonzaga family, who ruled Novellara, may have helped him obtain a position as chapel master at the court of the governor of Milan. In 1565, he took up the post of chapel master at the court of Mantua.
Although De Wert wrote a substantial body of sacred music, most of it has survived only in manuscript. Just three collections of his motets appeared in print during his lifetime. His madrigals, however, circulated widely in print, in sixteen collections.
The ninth book was published in 1588, shortly after the death of Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga, De Wert’s employer in Mantua. The collection may have been intended to secure the favour of the new duke, Vincenzo. Its opening madrigal celebrates Vincenzo’s coronation, while another evokes the Gonzaga family’s hunting lodge beside the River Po.
Most madrigals were written for five voices, making the three six-part works in this collection particularly noteworthy. Their texts span different periods, from the poetry of De Wert’s contemporary Torquato Tasso to that of the medieval poet Francesco Petrarch.
Giaches de Wert (1535–1596)
Nono Libro de Madrigali (1588)
- Or si rallegri il Cielo (I)
- L’anima mia ferita (IX)
- Vago augelletto che cantando vai (IV)
- Valle che de’ lamenti miei se’ piena (III)
- Quel rossignol, che sí soave piagne (XI)
- Ecco che un’altra volta, o piagge apriche (II)
- Mia benigna fortuna e ’l viver lieto (VII)
- Sovra un bel cristallino e puro rivo (V)
- Un bacio solo à tante pene, hai, cruda? (XII)
- Di morte già sentìa il fero ultimo dardo (VIII)
- Mesola, il Po da lato, e ’l mar a fronte (XIII)
- O come vaneggiate, Donna (X)
- Ha Ninfe adorne, e belle (XIV)
- Padre del ciel, dopo i perduti giorni (VI)
La Compagnia del Madrigale
CD: Nono Libro de Madrigali, 1588. Glossa GCD 922813 (2026)
Additional track
Giacomo Gorzanis (c. 1525–after 1574)
- Fantasia quarta
Michele Carreca (lute)
CD: Solo Lute Music. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 88985374332 (2017)
Pictured: Title page of Giaches de Wert’s ninth book of madrigals (source: Petrucci Music Library)
