Melancholia - Les Cris de Paris, Geoffroy Jourdain

Melancholic poetry provided endless nourishment for musical creativity in the late Renaissance. In his first recording for harmonia mundi, Geoffroy Jourdain leads Les Cris de Paris in music from the cusp of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From Bryd to Gesualdo, Italian and English madrigals rub shoulders with motets and Tenebrae responsories, finding pleasure even in meditating on what causes one's pain.


1 'Melancholia' Les Cris de Paris, Geoffroy Jourdain
2 John Wilbye (1574-1638) Draw on, Sweet Night
3 The Second Set of Madrigales, 1609
4 William Byrd (1543-1623) Tristitia Et Anxietas (Prima Pars)
5 Cantiones Sacrae, 1589
6 Cesare Tudino (C. 1530-After 1591) Altro Che Lagrimar [Instr.]
7 LI Madrigali a Note Bianche, Et Negre Cromaticho, Et Napolitane, 1554
8 Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613) O Vos Omnes
9 Responsoria Et Alia Ad Officium Hebdomadae
10 Sanctae Spectantia, 1611
11 Pomponio Nenna (1556-1608)La Mia Doglia S'avanza Il Primo Libro de Madrigali a Quatro Voci, 1613
12 John Wilbye O Wretched Man
13 The Second Set of Madrigales, 1609
14 William Byrd Come to Me Grief Forever (Marking the Death of Sir Philip Sidney) [Instr., Ext.]
15 Psalmes, Sonets, & Songs of Sadnes and Pietie, 1588
16 Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) What Is Our Life?
17 The First Set of Madrigals and Mottets, 1612
18 Luca Marenzio (1553/54-1599) Crudele Acerba Inesorabil' Morte
19 Il Nono Libro de Madrigali a Cinque Voci, 1599
20 William Byrd Lullaby, My Sweet Little Baby [Instr., Ext.]
21 Psalmes, Sonets, & Songs of Sadnes and Pietie, 1588
22 Luzzasco Luzzaschi (1545-1607) Quivi Sospiri
23 Secondo Libro Dei Madrigali a Cinque Voci, 1576
24 Carlo Gesualdo Mercè Grido Piangendo
25 Madrigali Del Principe Di Venosa, a Cinque Voci, Libro Quinto, 1611
26 William Byrd Lullaby, My Sweet Little Baby [Instr., Ext.]
27 Carlo Gesualdo O Vos Omnes Sacrarum Cantionum Quinque Vocibus Liber Primus, 1603
28 Luca Marenzio Solo E Pensoso
29 Il Nono Libro de Madrigali a Cinque Voci, 1599
30 Carlo Gesualdo Tristis Est Anima Mea
31 Responsoria Et Alia Ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae Spectantia, 1611
32 William Byrd Lullaby, My Sweet Little Baby [Instr., Ext.]
33 Thomas Weelkes (C. 1576-1623) O Care, Thou Wilt Despatch Me
34 Madrigals of 5. And 6. Parts, 1600
35 William Byrd Lullaby, My Sweet Little Baby [Instr., Ext.]
36 Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)
37 Too Much I Once Lamented
38 Songs of 3. 4. 5. & 6. Parts, 1622
39 William Byrd Come to Me Grief Forever