listen to Monteverdi’s Ecco mormorar londe while following the text and translation below. Complete Reflection #1, on word painting in “Ecco mormorar l’onde,” before class.
link to to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OGug8CRDWc
Italian text
Ecco mormorar l’onde
e tremolar le fronde
a l’aura mattutina e gli arboscelli,
e sovra i verdi rami i vaghi augelli
cantar soavemente
e rider l’oriente.
Ecco gi l’alba appare
e si specchia nel mare
e rasserena il cielo
e [le campagne] imperla il dolce gelo,
e gli alti monti indora.
O bella e vaga Aurora,
L’aura tua messaggera,
e tu de l’aura
ch’ogni arso cor ristaura.
English translation
Here are the waves murmuring
and the foliage quivering
at the morning breeze; and the shrubs,
and on the tree branches the pretty birds
sing softly;
and the Orient smiles.
Here dawn looms up
and is reflected in the sea
and brightens up the sky
and beads the sweet ice
and gilds the tall mountains.
O beautiful and vague dawn,
the gentle breeze is your herald
and you [are the herald] of the breeze
which refreshes every burnt heart.
In a short listening reflection of about 400-500 words (normally 2 pages double-spaced), discuss the ways in which Monteverdi uses word painting in this madrigal. Word painting is a technique in which the composer seeks to capture in music a visual or poetic image, usually of nature, but sometimes also of human activity and actions. In other words, in which ways does Monteverdi communicate or express the meanings and images of the poem (by Torquato Tasso), with its evocation of various phenomena? Try to use the vocabulary we have been developing in class as frequently as possible throughout and think beyond melodic line; you’re encouraged to consider rhythm, harmony, and texture as well.
If you’re struggling to fill two pages, consider thinking more broadly: how does Monteverdi’s music complement and enhance our experience of Tasso’s poem? Feel free to compare Monteverdi’s polyphonic treatment to that of Josquin’s that we studied in the latter’s Ave Maria. Do you hear any aspects of continuity, or what seems different? How might Monteverdi’s composition resemble Thomas Morley’s instructions in his Plaine and Easie Introduction? None the questions in this paragraph are required by any means, and are only offered as suggestions to help flesh out your reflection.
