Madrigals in Arcadia Collegium Vocale Gent

New heavenly story about two lovers

Collegium Vocale Gent and founder Philippe Herreweghe are a household name when it comes to the historical performance practice of Bach cantatas, but also of early Italian music by composers such as Monteverdi and Gesualdo.

With countless performances and recordings, the ensemble has proven itself as an authority in this repertoire and as a gifted mood creator. You can safely leave it to them to bring this 400-year-old madrigal music to the here and now.

Madrigals, madrigalists and madrigalisms

At 7 p.m. prior to the concert you can attend an early music lecture by Jan Van den Bossche. The concert starts at 8:15 p.m.

This lecture delves deeper into the history, rise and fall of the Italian madrigal. With its perfect marriage between polyphony and poetry, between balanced form and great expressiveness, the madrigal is the undisputed zenith of Renaissance music.

It was the most beloved secular genre in the 16th and early 17th centuries. It was not only practiced by Italians, composers from above the Alps such as Di Lasso and Willaert also wrote numerous madrigals that are now considered among the best in the genre.

And even the early Baroque German Heinrich Schütz completed his master's test in Venice with a collection of Italian madrigals. The madrigal reaches its final climax with Claudio Monteverdi. With his last, masterful madrigals he released a new sound and ushered in a new era.