| Instrumentation |
Clarinet, Saxophone, Bassoon, Cor anglais, Trombone basso, Trombone tenor, Baritone horn, Alto horn, Cornet, Euphonium, Horn, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba, Tenorhorn, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flugelhorn, Bass Tuba |
| Description |
The Fifth book of madrigals starts to see much more development towards operatic style writing, with more songs being strung together to form scenas and with the addition of accompaniment on instruments. Some of these songs can be written by incorporating the accompaniment into the parts for those instruments which are resting, some will require more than a quintet. Certainly as we get into the next three books, reduction to a quintet will become increasingly more difficult, if not impossible.
The final song from book 5 shows quite an advance on the previously (relatively) simple writing. Here we have a full SATB ensemble plus a quite detailed continuo. Questi vaghi (These wandering little birds) also has a more complex structure being, by itself, a scena split into sections by ritornelli which he calls Sinfonias. At this stage, they are by no means substantial enough to be considered preludes or interludes, but merely dances between the sections of the song.
Because of this added complexity, I have had to arrange the piece for a 9-part brass choir. There is some overlap and crossover between the continuo and choral parts to accommodate the different groupings needed for each section. The ritornello sections need to be played more lightly and in a skipping style to add contrast between the 'vocal sections'. |