La Venexiana (founded 1995) is an Italian early music ensemble founded and led by Claudio Cavina, an Italian

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a ...

and conductor. Cavina studied in Bologna with the American singer and musicologist Candace Smith, and then with the Swiss baritone

Kurt Widmer Kurt Widmer (28 December 1940 – 31 May 2023) was a Swiss baritone and voice teacher, who appeared and recorded internationally. He focused on concert singing, especially of oratorios from the Romantic music, Romantic period. His recordings cov ...

and Belgian countertenor and conductor

René Jacobs René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his musi ...

at the

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, that focuses on early music and historically informed performance. Faculty at the school have organized performing ensembles that hav ...

, then appeared regularly as a countertenor soloist and in choral works. La Venexiana, taking its name from an anonymous comedy '' La Venexiana'' ("The Venetian Girl", c.1537), was created to focus on the core four- and five-voice

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...

repertory of

Sigismondo d'India Sigismondo d'India (c. 1582 – before 19 April 1629) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the most accomplished contemporaries of Monteverdi, and wrote music in many of the same forms as the more ...

Luzzasco Luzzaschi Luzzasco Luzzaschi (c. 1545 – 10 September 1607) was an Italian composer, organist, and teacher of the late Renaissance music, Renaissance. He was born and died in Ferrara, and despite evidence of travels to Rome it is assumed that Luzzaschi ...

Luca Marenzio Luca Marenzio (also Marentio; October 18, 1553 or 1554 – August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the f ...

Barbara Strozzi Barbara Strozzi (also called Barbara Valle; baptised 6 August 1619 – 11 November 1677) was an Italian composer and singer of the Baroque Period. During her lifetime, Strozzi published eight volumes of her own music, and had more secular ...

, Gesualdo da Venosa, and

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer ...

. The ensemble has later broadened to be the base of Cavina's productions and recordings of operas by Monteverdi and

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading op ...

. With Cavina's increasing focus on opera, members of the ensemble have concurrently formed La Compagnia del Madrigale which has continued the Gesualdo series on the Glossa label.

Discography

* 1992 – Luzzasco Luzzaschi: Concerto delle Dame * 1996 – Marcello: Arias and Duets * 1997 – Barbara Strozzi: Primo Libra de' Madrigali (1644) * 1998 – Amori e Ombre: Duets and Catatas * 1999 – Handel: The 10 Italian Duets * 1999 – Claudio Monteverdi, Luca Morenzio, Sigismondo D'India, Luzzasco Luzzaschi: Madrigali * 1999 – Monteverdi: Settimo Libro di Madrigali * 1999 – Luzzaschi: Quinto Libro de' Madrigali * 1999 – Marenzio: Ninth Book of Madrigals * 1999 – Sigismondo d'India: Terzo Libro de Madrigali * 2001 – Sigismondo d'India: Primo Libro de Madrigali * 2001 – Marenzio: Il Sesto Libro de Madrigali * 2002 – Monteverdi: Terzo Libro * 2003 – Giaches de Wert: La Gerusalemme Liberata * 2003 – La Venexiana Live! Madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi * 2004 – Monteverdi: Quarto Libro dei Madrigali * 2004 – Monteverdi: Secondo Libro dei Madrigali (1590) * 2005 – Gesualdo: Quinto Libro di Madrigali (1611) * 2005 – Monteverdi: Sesto Libro dei Madrigali (1614) * 2005 – Monteverdi: Ottavo Libra dei Madrigali: Madrigali Geurrieri et Amorosi * 2006 – Gesualdo: Quarto libro de Madrigali * 2007 – Monteverdi: L'Orfeo * 2007 – Monteverdi: Quinto Libro dei Madrigali * 2008 – Monteverdi: Libri dei Madrigali, Books 1 and 9 * 2008 – Monteverdi: Terzo Libro dei Madrigali * 2008 – Monteverdi: Selva morale e spirituale * 2009 – Monteverdi: Scherzi Musicali * 2010 – Monteverdi: Il Nerone, ossia

L'incoronazione di Poppea ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' (Stattkus-Verzeichnis, SV 308, ''The Coronation of Poppaea'') is an Italian List of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, opera by Claudio Monteverdi. It was Monteverdi's last opera, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Buse ...

* 2011 – 'Round M: Monteverdi Meets Jazz * 2011 – Cavalli: Artemisia * 2011 – Luzzaschi – Concerto della Dame * 2012 – Monteverdi:

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' ( SV 325, ''The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland'') is an opera consisting of a prologue and five acts (later revised to three), set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first p ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venexiana Early music groups