This program brings together two composers that are rarely presented side by side. This is due to their very different specialties: Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) is mostly known thanks to his dramatic music, which is considered today as the birth of the opera, while Salomone Rossi (ca. 1570–ca. 1630) is known, if at all, as the Jewish musician who composed an intriguing collection of Hebrew liturgical music. 

In fact, strong connections and similarities lie between the two. They were almost the same age and both served for many years at the Gonzaga court in Mantua, one of the most important musical centers of Europe. Both composed a great number of madrigals using lyrics by the same poets, in which they explored the expression of poetry in music. Both progressed with time and musical taste, and pioneered the “new” musical style with basso continuo. Moreover, they must have known each other personally and made music together: Rossi played at court where Monteverdi was the maestro della musica, and the two collaborated in composing an intermedio for the Gonzagas. Rossi’s sister, known as “Madama Europa,” was a singer who performed in Monteverdi’s opera L’Arianna and probably in other works by him as well. 

You are invited to enter the diverse musical soundscape created by these two composers: passionate madrigals and playful duets alongside dignified Jewish prayers. Rossi, who contributed significantly to this diversity, knew Monteverdi’s music well. Yet, we are left wondering: Did Monteverdi ever pass by Rossi’s synagogue and hear his colleague’s unique Hebrew compositions?