Madrigali et arie per sonare et cantare

Equally at home in the prima and seconda prattiche, Giovanni Ghizzolo (Brescia, ca. 1580–Novara, ca. 1625) wrote sacred music for the church, and five-part madrigals, monodies, dialogues, mascherate, arie, canzonette, and scherzi for the private chambers of his various northern Italian mecenati. In his two books of Madrigali et arie per sonare et cantare (1609 and 1610, respectively) he probed the new grounds of monody. A singer himself, he was certainly aware of both the potential of the human voice and the limitations of amateur singers. Ghizzolo is at his best when following the natural ebb and flow of the poetic text and reflecting its emotional content, and his use of passaggi and esclamazioni is restricted and calculated to highlight emotive words and situations. His most successful composition is certainly his setting of the Gioco della cieca in book 1. He sets this scene of 123 text-lines from Guarini's Il pastor fido (act 3, scene 2) in a fluent interchange of monologues, dialogues, and choral responses, creating a vivid dramatic scene.