Monteverdi's Voices

"e;Ah, alas!"e; The "e;faithful shepherd"e; Mirtillo's woeful sigh of unrequited love, delivered with outrageous musical dissonances, has rung through the ages since the first publication of Claudio Monteverdi's madrigal "e;Cruda Amarilli"e; in 1605. But there is far more to the composer's nine books of madrigals than dissonant progressions--they are an integral part of the intellectual, artistic,...