Radio 3 in Concert

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Music: Classical

The best concerts from across the UK and Europe. Available to listen online for 30 days

Experience the best concerts from across the UK and Europe. Available to listen online for 30 days

Radio 3 in Concert: Casulana and Strozzi: The Excellence of Women

Casulana and Strozzi: The Excellence of Women

BBC Radio 3 - Radio 3 in Concert, Casulana and Strozzi: The Excellence of Women

Fieri Consort present newly rediscovered madrigals by Maddalena Casulana.

Celebrating two of Italy’s greatest women composers, Fieri Consort present newly rediscovered madrigals by Maddalena Casulana and works by Barbara Strozzi.

Fieri Consort and Professor Laurie Stras, in partnership with BBC Radio 3 and Kings Place, present newly rediscovered madrigals by Maddalena Casulana for International Women's Day 2022.

In one of the most important musicological discoveries of recent years, the lost Alto partbook of Maddalena Casulana’s 1583 First Book of five-voice madrigals has been found. Living at a time in which women’s creativity was often stifled, Casulana (1544-1590) and her compatriot Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) were only too aware their music would be judged inferior to men’s. This concert presents Casulana’s madrigals as a fresh perspective on Strozzi’s works, celebrating both composers’ skill with words and music.

Casulana (from the dedication in her first book of 1566):
“these first fruits of mine, flawed as they are…show the world the futile error of men who believe themselves patrons of the high gifts of intellect, which according to them cannot also be held in the same way by women…”

This concert is presented by Hannah French, live from Kings Place, London.

Maddalena Casulana, Il primo libro di madrigali a cinque voci (1583) 
Come fiammeggia e splende
Aura, che mormorando al bosco
  Così non senti mai novo furore (2a) 
  Io d’odorate frondi e di bei fiori (3a) 
  Se vedrem poi destarsi lieta e bella (4a)

Barbara Strozzi, Il primo libro di madrigali, Op. 1 (1644), 
Godere in gioventù

Casulana (1583) Caro dolce mio, Amore
Casulana (1583) Tu mi dicesti, Amore

Strozzi (1644), Il contrasto di cinque sensi

Casulana (1583) Datemi pace, o duri i miei pensieri! 

Casulana Il secondo libro di madrigali a quattro voci (1570) 
O notte, o cielo, o mare, o piaggie, o monti

Strozzi Cantate, ariete a una, due e tre voci, Op. 3 (1654) 
Moralità amorosa

Casulana (1583) Dolci e vaghi augelletti
Casulana (1583) O messaggier de miei pensieri

Strozzi (1644) Le tre Grazie a Venere

Casulana (1583) Bella d’Amor guerriera
Casulana (1583) Se da l’ardente humore

Casulana (1570) Morte! Che vuoi?
Casulana (1570) Ben venga il pastor mio! 
  A dio Lidia, mia bella (2a) 

Strozzi Cantate, ariette e duetti, Op. 2 (1651) 
Morso e bacio dati in un tempo

Strozzi (1654) Begli occhi 

Casulana (1583) Occhi vaghi e lucenti
Casulana (1583) Facciami quanto vuol, Fortuna ria (Instrumental)
Casulana (1583)‘Ovunque volgi il piede 
  E se ciò fia godrassi per noi (2a)


Fieri Consort
Harry Buckoke, viola da gamba
Toby Carr, lute & theorbo
Aileen Henry, baroque harp

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Radio 3 in Concert

Casulana and Strozzi: The Excellence of Women

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3