The tragically short career of Monteverdi’s star soprano Caterina Martinelli 

Rest in peace, Caterina. Thank you for sharing her story.

I laughed so hard at the "Monteverdi" family

Listening to Monteverdi's Lamento, I also feel saddened by the death of this poor girl, even though she died almost four centuries before my time...

That little letter from Catarina's father advocating for her destroyed me completely.

The breakdown of the lament at the end was very interesting, thanks. PS The "Monteverdi family" had me in fits!

So sad and beautiful at the same time...

Such a great presentation! And your singing of the Monteverdi extracts in the final sections is really heart warming!

I remember taking contrapunct lessons on a humble conservatoire on a small town in Argentina. Our teacher would teach us the rules and sort of beg us to take his word for it, as in a modern piano, plain parallel 5ths wouldn't sound much worse than any other thing. He would say "if you could hear all this with an actual choir, you would understand". Men, how great is to have this video and being able to hear all the way from the more consonant to the more dissonant with world-class singers playing it. Thanks so much, Mr. Rotem!

A little moment of joy and transcendence in these parlous times.

A singer who accompanies herself! Lovely and brilliant. And probably very historical.

Outstanding stuff... I simply find your work to be too notch! Many thanks for sharing these episodes!

Durumator 1608 ...😂 Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! A great pleasure for me.

Great, thanks!

My favorite youtube channel!

Indeed a most fascinating insight into the historical appreciation of good musicians, something, as you said, quite unimaginable today. Emma-Lisa Roux’s delightful rendition of a minor composer's little piece bears out what a sublime performer can do to music. Thanks for the treat!

Excellent, thank you very much! Wonderful documentation, I will preserve the video, but why yuo don't mention the poet, Scipione Agnelli?

The sestina has been one of my favorite vocal works since I was a teenager. It's great to hear the whole story.

This is beautifully put together to my ears. I appreciated the fact that you started with a relatable story, interluded with your friend's take on Fuggi Fuggi and ended with the spicy gold of analysis :)

brilliant episode... I'd love to see a movie about her life.

Monteverdi´s version gave me goosebumps. 👍 ⚡❄ Love the *durumator* ! 😘-------> video, THX

So glad I found this channel! I'm rusty on my counterpoint, but that was a nice clear explanation of how dissonant the harmony is in this piece.

Thank you Elam.

Very sad story but so masterfully explained, thank you!

Thank you so much!!!!!!!! Great story with a sad end.

I can only imagine the hunt for the lost opera, which must have occupied so many scholars and researchers through the years. May Monteverdi’s great and lost work see the light of day.

Excellent

Molto interessante. Grazie! Bravi!

Thank you Dr Rotem for this insightful and compelling lesson. You would be BFF with Monteverdi if that were possible 😉

Bellissimo 👏

Amazing storytelling. Thank you for another great video!

Thank you so much!

How eloquent! And how kind to the memory of her.

I like this!

Great video!!

Wow, what a gem of a channel. I subscribed.

Bravi 💐 Wonderful work!

Thoughtful and soulful episode. Thank you!

Keep up the good work! Your channel is a music gem.

Go on Elam, try to write a screen play. You can do it. You have the pulse of that time. It would be so rich with little details it would be amazing. Happy Christmas Elam and friends.

What a superb presentation. Thanks so much

Maravilloso, como siempre.

Wonderful presentation and very beautiful singing, thank you!

So interesting. And so sad. All of the participating singers were wonderful. Monteverdi's harmonic choices were so truthful, and ahead of his time. Thank you for sharing this with your listeners!

Thanks!

Thank you for this clear explanation. Very interesting!!

The art of composition is presented fantastically. Thank you so much!

Fabulous video as always, look forward to you posting every time. I wanted to share with you that I found a Carlo Gesualdo vinyl in a thrift shop this weekend, completely took me by surprise. Thanks for all you do! :)

I had the privilege to perform the Sestina a few times. It's heartbreakingly beautiful!

What outstanding historical research!

wonderful! 👌

Brilliant!

I really liked to also learn a bit about the political economy of music production at that time giving a glimpse of an understanding of how strongly embedded in societal structures it was. Really limited freedom on side of the individuals participating in this and at the same time probably a much deeper feeling of meaning and truth in art than ever imaginable today.

New sub Xcited to be here 🙏🏾

I even had to re-listen the trio part, I thought my ears betrayed me. Even for me (I'm even nearly no specialist in contrapuntal rules) those harmonies seemed impossible. Thank you Elam, as always super interesting lesson! Yes, "lesson" I say, because I'm constantly learning from your videos.

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Very interesting as usual - thanks Elam ! I wish I'd be 20 y. again and come with my lute attend a full 2 or 3 years classes at Schola Cantorum...

Maybe someday you will take us from this little masterpiece to the controversies and questions of L'incoronazione di Poppea....

Why are the comments turned off for you'd most recent video?

Fantastic video!! Say, do you think you could do a video on any early music outside of the western musical canon, like Eastern Europe or the Balkan-Turkic regions? Like Byzantine chant or something?

Wow

👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️

Hello, may I ask what software do you use for your videos? They look truly stunning!

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Wonderful! Could you suggest a recording of the piece?

Oof that dissonance at the end.. I felt that!

W O W The next time someone asks me what heartbreak sounds like, I have an excellent answer.

Brilliant video, and fascinating story! One point I was curious about: Roger Bowers suggests in “The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi” that the famous Lament was in fact written specially for Andreini, after Martinelli had died: “Certain oddities in the libretto of Arianna, including its non-adherence to the canonical five-part division (by acts or by choruses) required of a “tragedy”, suggest that the lament may have been a late insertion, perhaps specifically at the request of Virginia Andreini who, as a leading actress of her day, may well have wanted more than was typically provided for female operatic characters in this period. One assumes, too, that Andreini kept the lament in her suitcase as she toured northern Italy and abroad, pulling it out for special performances; presumably this was at least one source of the surviving manuscripts (or at least, of their sources).” A lot of assumptions and speculation in there, and we’ll probably never know for sure, but I wondered what your thoughts were on this.

I thought about why I did like this video so much. Now I think I can put it in words. You did not in any way interpret this story in an anachronistic way even though the gates are wide open in this regard cause it is so strange. You did resist the temptation of making comments about the "awkwardness" of the situation a modern recipient may feel, thus leaving it open for the listener to think about this himself.

A XV century father felt more responsible for his child than some parents today. "She shouldn't be alone, she should be tested by a doctor and a midwife".

An opera episode!

Dear Elam, it's a mysterious story, indeed. By the way, I guess that "Glauco" stays for "Claudio", not for "Vincenzo". Just my two cents about your fabulous research. Bows _/\_

the name of Martinelli is still held in high regard by historical-record-collectors...

Mi sento orgoglioso come italiano di avere una tradizione musicale così profonda, peccato che Sanremo rovina tutto

ausgezeichnet. du und monteverdi

And I feel bad and hate smallpox. Where can I buy a Durumator 1608?

Does anyone know what Fuji Fuji Fuji means? Sorry for any misspellings.

Depressed Monteverdi: use ALL the dissonances!

anybody knows the title, author or source of this piece (renaissance lute): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ulr4llR79bU.html

The Monteverdi family hahahah

for the last half an hour I was searching for a decent performance of the whole Sestina. By "decent" I mean one without that irritating vibrato that pi... well, puts me off whenever I hear it. Of course I'd love to hear it in a full version sung by Elam and his ensemble, but who am I to ask for that for free? Anyway, here is a good version, in my opinion. Enjoy and try not to cry, it's really hard to. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Bq2gC9-ILFA.html

I prefer the original harmony of "ridicono i lamenti".

Fuggi Fuggi Fuggi

2:00 - That's not how the hymen works!

Why no comments allowed on Castrati video? It immediately feels scummy now that we don’t get to see dislikes. I won’t watch

Perhaps she was poisoned. That's not unheard of.

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