Finnish lutenist Tuomas Kourula along with sopranos Anneliina Rif and Maikki Säikkä performs Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben? (SV 140) by Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) via the Turku Early Music Society and their YouTube channel. Beautiful performance by Kourula and love vocal duet with theorbo, both visually and musically here. “Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben” (SV 140) is a famous vocal duet composed by Claudio Monteverdi and published in his Seventh Book of Madrigals (Il settimo libro de madrigali) in Venice in 1619.
Here’s the YouTube description:
When Monteverdi writes a duet, you know it’s going to be something extraordinary. This one has for long been one of our favourites, and we have performed it in many concerts over the years. It’s difficult to say exactly why we like it so much – it probably has to do with the beauty of the dissonances and their resolutions, and the way tension keeps mounting until the end, and the great release in the concluding bars.
“Ohimè” is based on the ancient Romanesca ground or chord progression, but it is here so stretched out and modified that it may be difficult to notice this just by listening. Still, the connection to this well-known ground lends a strong foundation to the duet, giving it structure. We thank the Maaria parish in Turku for the opportunity to film in their church!
