Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda

History has rightly acclaimed Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) as one of the most significant composers of all time. So much of what transpired in subsequent centuries, especially in vocal music, would have been fundamentally different without Monteverdi’s contributions. He was the seminal figure in the transition from the massive polyphonic edifices of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance to the directed tonality of the Baroque. His innovations in harmony and dissonance treatment marked him as the prophet of a “new practice”; it also drew him into a prominent debate over the future of music. In essence, his greatness may be attributed to a careful respect for superlative poetry. It was Monteverdi who championed text expression and its emotive power over purely musical considerations of counterpoint and form.
Monteverdi published eight books of secular madrigals between 1587 and 1638 (a ninth book appeared posthumously). Book 8 is organized into two parts that present contrasting “warlike” and “amorous” texts. The final warlike piece, Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, offers far more than a conventional madrigal. It is actually a 20-minute, semi-staged opera performed by two lead characters and a narrator. Given the early date, we are fortunate to know the specifics surrounding Il combattimento’s first performance, which took place at the palace of a Venetian senator during Carnival season in 1624.
The text comes from Canto XII of Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberate (Jerusalem Delivered), a crusader epic written in the late 1560s. Before the excerpt begins, the Christian knight Tancredi has briefly seen and fallen in love with a beautiful Muslim woman, Clorinda, who then dons armor and helmet to fight the invaders. Tancredi and a disguised Clorinda meet in combat. Only too late are the “veils” lifted and the truth of their tragic fate realized.
Monteverdi’s setting is celebrated for its use of new string techniques, including dynamic fast repeated notes (henceforth known as the stile concitato or agitated style) and perhaps the earliest use of pizzicato. The composer varies the density of texture, the rate of chord changes, and the rhythms to parallel the action in a kind of moment-to-moment soundtrack. Such features reinforce Monteverdi’s belief in the emotive power of music. Reclaiming a Platonic notion, Monteverdi argued in the preface to Book 8 that music could directly influence man’s behavior, guiding him toward war or peace depending on the particulars of musical style.

(c) Jason Stell