Monteverdi: Selva Morale e Spirituale

Consortium Carissimi presents Monteverdi’s Selva Morale e Spirituale on Saturday November 9th and Sunday November 10th at 3:00 p.m. at the Ramsey Courtroom at the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota.

Monteverdi brought the contents of the Selva Morale together near the end of his life, offering a thrilling summation of his various styles and interests. These range from joyous psalm settings via a pensive Salve Regina to madrigals brooding on the ephemeral nature of life. ‘It is contraries which deeply affect our mind,’ wrote Monteverdi in the Preface to Book 8 of his madrigals. An idea that underpins the composer’s long career is the dynamic creative tension between opposing forces, whether emotions, styles, textures or even genres. Such contraries were at their most lively in Monteverdi’s later years.