Virtuosic Venetian monody from 1625 - “O Maria” by Giovanni Rovetta 

Perrine Devillers' voice is startlingly pure, clear, and bright . . . and sublimely beautiful.

0:32 "We chose it just because we like it and think it's beautiful." Agreed!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

These are the best videos about early music on the internet

The tone of the vocals + organ with the reverb is insane.

Dude, it's supposed to be titled like "Scholar Breaks Down Most Iconic Motets in History" or something. Nevertheless - thanks to Elam and Perrine for the breathtakingly beautiful performance, it literally brought tears to my eyes

This is divine! Thank you for digging out, analysing, performing, and presenting such wonderful gems for us!!!

This was absolutely divine, and you should be allowed into heaven both of you just for having poured your hearts out to Our Blessed Mother in this video. Perrine, you have the voice of an angel, and you, Elam, have the touch of Midas! Godspeed! And the academic part was très cool as well, thanks for that! Just touched by the music!

7:10 I love the dialogue between Zarlino and Monteverdi. Beautiful performance and interesting analysis!

Loved it! Perrine Devillers crushed it! And that killer final cadence was gorgeous!

You guys deserve a Grammy for best virtuosic venetian monody from 1625. I'm in love with you guys!! ❤️❤️

I'm speechless and I can't thank you guys enough for what you did in this video. This is heaven on Earth.

Beautiful signing, playing, and breakdown. Also I love Elam's t-shirt :)

I'm convinced now that you can read minds: this is the second time I want to know more about a piece before learning it, and lo and behold, it happens again. Perrine Devillers is really amazing to listen to.

This explains so much about so many other pieces I've performed and loved but never understood. The trio section reminds of Beatus Vir by Monteverdi. The opening reminds me of Dowland songs. I just feel such a profound connection and understanding to music when I get the concepts and connections behind the theory and history. Also, I cannot read music in 3/1. What the fuck - my brain is broke

The soprano is stunning! She really gives life to the music! However, I would pose that the piece is not sad, melancholic, miserable etc., but rather of Mary, how she "considers" her own fate, her entire story. It would be a lot to think about when you suddenly become the Mother of God, and certainly a lot has happened in her lifetime. So maybe she sits in her chamber and tries to make sense of all her thoughts. She isn't happy or excited, but deeply moved, which may come off as "sad". Just like when someone is lost in their thoughts, it might seem they are sad, when in reality, they are just "in their head". This might also explain why the "considerare" is so ponounced. She is considering her life, and we are to consider it together with her. The "sadness" of "decoloravit me" might be explained similarly. It doesn't have to be sadness, but rather Mary pondering this major event when her entire life changed. She bore the Sun of Justice, so the Sun literally touched her and left her forever changed. Frodo comes to mind who, after his journey to Mordor, has become a different person. He is still Frodo, but something inside him has forever changed. It's not a sad or miserable thing, but merely a bittersweet realization that comes with every big change in a life.

We’re very firmly in the Baroque period now - this is already giving me serious Purcell/Händel vibes.

Coooooo ooooo ooooo nsiderareeeee🎼🎼🎼🎶🎼🎶🎶👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Beautiful singing! And such a wonderful explanation! Happy new year everyone!

Oh, it is an almost four hundred years old song! Time just flies when you are having fun...

Wow, fabulous music. What a voice she has. Exceptionally beautiful music. Bravo.

Beautiful voice, beautiful singing, beautiful playing, clear explanation. Loved it. Thank you!

I play and create music, and this is fantastic! Thanks, you've pushed to my perception of music a bit! Thanks!

Stunning! Both the Oregon invoice were so beautiful

I think you should have used the Black Madonna of Częstochowa to illustrate some of the points... Sassoferrato's Madonnas are lovely to look at, but definitely very very white. Thank you for another lovely video, Elam!

Lovely performance. And your explanations are really sharpening my understanding of the sublteties of this music.

this video made my Monday so much better !

Very interested. Perhaps the first diminution on “considerare” is a way of word painting wandering thoughts going back and forth, and round and round in the head. The first diminution on “coronavit” with groups of three sounds like a trumpet fanfare that I can easily depict on coronations at the time.

I love how some cadences omit the 5th. It's like cleansing the palate between meals.

Another impressive episode! This channel is a real treat! Thank you for all the invaluable work!

The "quam pulchra/quam dulcis" part reminds me a lot of "dum Infans jam dormit" by Francesco Nicola Fago, especially the "venite gaudete/gaudete venite/amici pastores" part.

Why do I feel that Italian monodic baroque is closer to Italian romanticism than German baroque? :Ρ Beautiful work as always, thanks!

Beautiful

Exquisite.

What a brilliant analysis of a rich text and what a stunning performance. Thank you so much for the video.

Thank you.

My most favorite period, the early Baroque. Thanks!!!

Bravi tutti

Bellissimo! Ma bellissimo anche il video!!!

Beautiful, as always,thanks

Thanks, your post are always a pleasure.

Great, great, great!!!!! Love it!

Grandi ! Grazie

Fantastic, both of you!!!!

Brilliant clearing up of the rubble to show the platonic texture of the Rovetta piece. A delight!

I love this channel! Thank you Elam...

Loved it

Such beautiful music!

Lovely episode. What a wonderfull piece!

Congratulations for the great video as usual with great features! And what great sound!

I didn't follow all the theory, but what a beautiful piece and performance by the soprano and organist 🙏🏻👏🏻

Thank you for a great performance and a great video!

Wonderfully done, as usual. Thank you very much guys, I love you.

Gorgeous.

Fascinating insight into the realisation of the piece. Amazing musicianship by both performers. Brava! Bravo!

Merci Elam pour ces super analyses, je m'en mettrais presque à aimer le solfège... et merci aussi à Perrine Devillers pour ce moment de grâce, quelle voix magnifique ! Tellement juste pour cette musique. Vive la Schola Cantorum de Bâle, toujours au top !!!

Lovely to see you playing ...

I love your videoooos!

A-ma-zing!! Thanks, super beautiful singing and playing 💖💖

this is insanely beautiful

An exceptional class for an exceptionally beautiful piece.

Wonderful music.

Beautiful performance and insightful commentary!

This is brilliant, and the singing is very beautiful!

Bravi!!!

Bravi Perrine and Elam!! So beautifully done and interestingly explained

This piece is simply beautiful. Even though it has been composed so many hundred years ago and much of the musical knowledge of that time is lost, we can still understand the music and the feelings it encompasses.

highlight of the day

Beautiful singing - great voice and wonderful piece.

Old churches have such awesome acoustics and reverb... Thanks so much for the beautiful performance and lucid explanations! :)

Again a Stellar performance of this twosome, Demi-God like musicians!

What a amazing work! You inspired a lot of people to learn and improve their musical knowledges! Bravo!

Elam! Bravo, bravo! Such a great and profound work. It's always a special pleasure to here you and your magnificient musicians, such as Perrine in this case. Bravissimo!

Great singer!

Beautifully sung, free from the defects of excessive vibrato - so pure and ethereal. It makes sense to me that "considerare" would have many notes and take some time, as that is what real consideration often requires. Thanks

A formosa piece indeed

this channel is my favorite on all RU-vid

What a gem of a piece! Also, unsurprisingly noble and breathtaking performance. Soulful singing and brilliant continuo realization--not too little, not too much. You guys should do a special video just about that new organ!

Perrine, I love your voice and acting. Bravi! Thank you, Elam Rotem for sharing your knowledge.

J'ai bien aimé cette vidéo. Merci, j'ai adoré le motete.

oh Perrine Vivaldi want you how Soprano!!

I cannot add to what the others have said: incredibly interesting analysis, amazing performance from both soprano and organist... Bravo!

Ok. I'm just in love.

How beautiful !!! Nice that you made sure there is an animal to be seen ! haha : ))

Naughty naughty diminished chord at the end!

BRAVI

the piece is exceptionally beautiful, Perrine Devillers gifted us with an exquisite performance. Elam are you from Schola Cantorum Basiliensis? it's a dream for me! I love your channel, thanks for the precious lessons :) p.s. Monteverdi with sunglasses is soo cool

Well sung. This might be the amount of vibrato which was in vogue at that time in Italy according to the sources.

That moment when the hard parts are over, and you can coast on the easy stuff until the end :D

I really LOVE this piece!!! However I wish you had included a printable version of the notation. Now I have spent 3 days going back and forth between my music notation software and the RU-vid video ! Oh well good exercise. This also gives me a chance to practice my figured bass! :) Thanks for bringing this out of the museum . I plan on doing this at my church in May splitting the parts between Tenor and Soprano. Much FUN awaits!!

"Considerare" - the accent actually IS on the syllable "-RA", despite the diminuiton.

Again with the word painting. The descending chromatic passage at 3:15 on "Quia decoloravit me ..." represents the descent of the sun's rays and the languishing in the heat of a day in the fields. One could also say that the long note values represent the disk of the sun itself.

You guys are persistent miners tunnelling into archives & prising out such gems! Any reference to the Black Madonna of Montserrat? Such a moving performance It seems to fill an emotional space within me for such pathos. Thank you for the music of this Age.

Beautyfull!!

11:15 funny to diminish a word which begins by "corona" 😜🙈

Sunshine in winter.

In veritas pulchra et formosa es. Coloravit spiritus meus

I think the diminution on _considerare_ makes sense as the piece is breaking to consider where it wants to go.

Don't forget to update the year in the description to 2021! ;p

Very good, but attention: in the "considerare" deminutio Rovetta has put the accent correctly. In fact, "con" starts on the weaker part of the tempo and ra[-re] is placed in the strong part. Second, in the Latin sentence "nolite me considerare [quod fusca sim]" the word that needs emphasis is "considerare", for it represents the verb specifying the imperative "nolite". Finally, of note, that the vocalisation in "o" is better than that one in "a", because the vocalisation in "a" would then end on the "tempo forte" and sound as consideraré. Other than this, the usual amazing stuff.

In Jazz, we'd call that C# business an A7 with the C# in the bass.