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performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

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West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

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the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

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Concerts are made possible in part through the generosity of donors

to the National Gallery ofArt through The Circle. Reserved seating is

available in recognition oftheir support. Please contact the development 

office at (202) 842-6450 or circle@nga.gov for more information.

The Seventy-Third Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

3,035th Concert

National Gallery ofArt Vocal Ensemble

Rosa Lamoreaux, artistic director, soprano

Matthew Loyal Smith, tenor

David Newman, baritone

with

National Gallery ofArt Chamber Players

and

Laura Benedetti and Peter M. Lukehart, lecturers

Cosponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute ofWashington,

January 25, 2015

Sunday, 6:00 pm

West Building, West Garden Court
Program

Lecture: “Worthy of a Full Theater: Reality and Illusion in Tasso’s

Jerusalem Delivered”

Laura Benedetti

Lecture: “Resisting Love and Embracing War in Representations

ofTorquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata”

Peter M. Lukehart

INTERMISSION

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

II Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (The Combat ofTancred

and Clorinda) (1624)

Cast, in order of appearance:

David Newman, baritone (Testo)

Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano (Clorinda)

Matthew Loyal Smith, tenor (Tancredi)

The Lecturers

LAURA BENEDETTI

Chair ofthe Italian Department at Georgetown University and a graduate

of Rome’s La Sapienza, Laura Benedetti holds a master’s degree from the

University ofAlberta and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University. Before 

joining the Georgetown faculty, Benedetti taught for eight years at Harvard.

The author ofmore than sixty articles, encyclopedia entries, and reviews, 

from 2000 to 2010 Benedetti wrote the annual entries on Italian literature

for the Encyclopedia Britannica Year in Review, highlighting Italy’s most

recent narrative and poetic production. In addition to a monograph on

Torquato Tasso, La sconjitta di Diana: Un percorso per la “Gerusalemme

Liberata,” she has also published an edition of Giambattista Giraldi Cinzio’s

Discorso dei romanzi (1554) and a translation of Lucrezia Marinella’s Exhortations to Women and to Others ifThey Please, published in 2012 as part ofthe

series The Other Voice in Early Modem Europe, making the Marinella work

available for the first time since its printing in 1645.

PETER M. LUKEHART

Peter M. Lukehart is associate dean at the National Gallery’s Center for 

Advanced Study in the Visual Arts and oversees its fellowship program.

Recipient of a master of arts degree in art history from Temple University

and a PhD in art history from Johns Hopkins University, he taught at 

George Mason University and Dickinson College and served as the Gallery’s

assistant curator ofsouthern baroque painting before assuming his current

post in 2001. His publications on the education and incorporation of artists

in the early modern period include contributions to the exhibition catalogue

Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro: Artist-Brothers in Renaissance Rome (Getty, 2007)

and The Artist’s Workshop (nga, 1993). He is project lead for the research

database The History ofthe Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590-1635: Documents

from the Archivio di Stato di Roma and editor for the complementary publication, The Accademia Seminars: The Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590-1635.

3
The Musicians

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART VOCAL ENSEMBLE

Now in its tenth season as a chamber choir, the National Gallery ofArt Vocal

Ensemble has presented special programs in connection with Gallery exhibitions, including seventeenth-century Dutch music in honor ofJan Lievens:

A Dutch Master Rediscovered (2008) and Pride ofPlace: Dutch Cityscapes ofthe

Golden Age (2009), as well as music by Vivaldi and other Italian composers 

to celebrate the opening of Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals (2011). In 2010

members ofthe Vocal Ensemble joined forces with the early music ensemble 

artek to perform Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers ofthe Blessed Virgin (1610) on

the occasion ofits 400th anniversary year, and in 2012 and 2013 the group 

sang the Gallery’s traditional Viennese New Year concert.

ROSA LAMOREAUX

Acclaimed by the Washington Post for her “scrupulous musicianship...

gorgeous sound, and stylistic acuity,” soprano Rosa Lamoreaux maintains an 

international career of broad scope, including opera, solo recitals, chamber

music, and orchestral performances at Carnegie Hall, the Dorothy Chandler

Pavilion, the Kennedy Center, Royal Albert Hall, Strathmore Hall, and the 

Washington National Cathedral, among other major concert venues. Her

concert tours abroad have included performances in Germany, Italy, and 

the United Kingdom, as well as Brazil, Japan, and Peru. Now in her tenth

season as artistic director ofthe National Gallery ofArt Vocal Ensemble, 

she also works with ArcoVoce, Chatham Baroque, the Folger Consort, Four

Nations Ensemble, Hesperus, Musica Aperta, and Opera Lafayette. Lamoreaux maintains a website at www.rosasings.com.

4

DAVID NEWMAN

Hailed as “electrifying” by the Washington Post and noted by the Philadelphia

Inquirer for his “eloquent, emotional singing,” baritone David Newman is in

particular demand as a baroque specialist. He has performed Messiah with

the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, and Tafelmusik, as

well as with Masterwork Chorus in Carnegie Hall; Bach’s Saint John Passion

with the American Bach Soloists, Carmel Bach Festival, Chorale Delaware,

and the Bach Chamber Orchestra of Honolulu; and the Saint Matthew Passion

with the Bach Society of Saint Louis, Baroque Choral Guild, San Francisco

Bach Choir, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and the Smithsonian Chamber Players.

Featured at Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall by the Four Nations Ensemble,

Newman has recorded Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with The Bach Sinfonia.

He teaches voice at James Madison University.

MATTHEW LOYAL SMITH

A recipient ofthe Carmel Bach Festival’s Adams Fellowship for performance

and study of Bach’s music, tenor Matthew Loyal Smith has performed with

ensembles in Canada and the United States, including artek, the Niagara

Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, as well as Washington, dc’s Cathedral

Choral Society, National Philharmonic, Washington Bach Consort, Washington Chorus, and Washington Concert Opera. His operetta and operatic roles

include Frederic in The Pirates ofPenzance, Baron Zsupan in Countess

Maritza, the Prologue in The Turn ofthe Screw, and Kaspar in Amahl and the

Night Visitors. A student of Beverley Rinaldi and Christine Anderson, Smith 

earned a bachelor ofmusic degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music

and a master ofmusic in opera from Temple University.

5
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART CHAMBER PLAYERS

A resident ensemble ofthe Gallery since 2004, the National Gallery ofArt

Chamber Players has provided chamber music in honor of a number of exhibitions, including Spanish Renaissance music for The Art ofPower: Royal Armor

and Portraitsfrom Imperial Spain (2009) and Renaissance Italian music for

Arcimboldo, 1526-ljgj: Nature and Fantasy (2010). Members ofthe National

Gallery ofArt Chamber Players participating in tonight’s concert are:

Leah Nelson, violin 1

Nina Falk, violin 11

Leslie Nero, viola

Lori Barnet, cello

Richard Stone, theorbo

Steven Silverman, harpsichord

6

Program Notes

The publication in 1581 ofTorquato Tasso’s canto Gerusalemme Liberata

(Jerusalem Delivered) elicited a host ofresponses from literati, musicians,

and artists that lasted well into the eighteenth century. Tasso described his

characters in nuanced detail that later became represented in art. The interaction between two ofthe characters in the canto, Tancred and Clorinda, forms

the basis ofClaudio Monteverdi’s libretto, II Combattimento di Tancredi e

Clorinda (1624). The work’s first public presentation was in 1638, along with

other pieces in Monteverdi’s Eighth Book ofMadrigals. It is usually described

as an operatic scena, intended for performance by three solo singers and a

small instrumental ensemble.

In this work, Monteverdi juxtaposes the orchestra and the voices as separate entities. His division ofthe strings into four independent parts instead

ofthe usual five was innovative for the times and not generally adopted by

European composers until the eighteenth century. The score contains one of

the earliest known uses of pizzicato in baroque music and one ofthe earliest

known uses ofthe string tremolo—reiterating a note rapidly as a means

of generating excitement. This device was so revolutionary that Monteverdi

had considerable difficulty getting his musicians to perform it correctly.

In a classic case ofmistaken identity, Tancred, a Norman nobleman in

the First Crusade, engages in hand-to-hand combat with Clorinda, deceived

by her heavy armor into thinking that she is one ofthe leaders ofthe Muslim

tribe that has attacked his stronghold outside Jerusalem. Not until the end of

the battle, described in fierce detail by Tasso’s libretto, does he realize that he

has fought and killed a woman—one with whom he had earlier fallen in love.

7
National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble and Chamber Players

January 25, 2015

II Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda

Translation by Grant Herreid

Tancredi che Clorinda un uomo stima

vuol ne Parmi provarla al paragone.

Va girando colei l’alpestre cima 

ver altra porta, ove d’entrar dispone.

Segue egli impetuoso, onde assai prima 

che giunga, in guisa awien che d’armi suone

ch’ella si volge e grida: O tu, che porte,

correndo si? Rispose: E guerra e morte.

Tancredi, who believed Clorinda to be a man,

desires to challenge her in arms in combat.

She runs, skirting the mountain peak,

toward the city gate which she hopes to enter.

He swiftly pursues, so that well before

she reaches it, he arrives in a clatter of armor;

and she turns and cries: “You, what do you bring,

hastening so?” He answers: “War and death.”

Guerra e morte avrai: - disse - io non rifiuto 

darlati, se la cerchi e fermo attende.

Ne vuol Tancredi, ch’ebbe a pie veduto

il suo nemico, usar cavallo, e scende.

E impugna Pun e Taltro il ferro acuto,

ed aguzza Torgoglio e l’ira accende; 

e vansi incontro a passi tardi e lenti 

quai due tori gelosi e d’ira ardenti.

“War and death you’ll have,” she said. “I’ll not refuse

to give you them, if you seek them and will stand firm.”

Tancredi does not wish, seeing his enemy on foot,

to remain on horseback, but dismounts.

One and the other grasp their sharp swords,

and pride pricks, and fury ignites,

and they advance upon each other with steps slow and deliberate, 

like two rival bulls inflamed with fury.

Notte, che nel profondo oscuro seno

chiudesti e nell’oblio fatto si grande, 

degne d’un chiaro sol, degne d’un pieno

teatro, opre sarian si memorande.

Piacciati ch’indi il tragga e’n bel sereno

a le future eta lo spieghi e mande.

Viva la fama lor, e tra lor gloria

splenda dal fosco tuo l’alta memoria.

Night, which in your deep dark breast

and in obscurity enclosed a deed so great:

worthy ofthe light of day and of a crowded

theater feats so memorable are.

Grant that I may thus cast it and in the clear light

to future ages bring it forth illuminate and it.

May their fame live on, and the noble memory 

oftheir glory shine out from your darkness.

Non schivar, non parar, non pur ritrarsi 

voglion costor, ne qui destrezza ha parte.

Non danno i colpi or finti, or pieni, or scarsi:

toglie l’ombra e’l furor l’uso de l’arte.

Odi le spade orribilmente urtarsi 

a mezzo il ferro; eT pie d’orma non parte:

sempre il pie fermo e la man sempre in moto,

ne scende taglio in van, ne punta a voto.

Not to dodge, to parry, nor indeed retreat 

do they desire, nor here does skill play a part.

They do not strike their blows with feints, now full, now sparse:

the darkness and their fury preclude all custom or art.

Hear the swords horribly clash 

steel on steel; their feet do not move from their tracks: 

their feet remain still, their hands constantly move, 

no cutting blow falls in vain, no thrust goes wide.

L’onta irrita lo sdegno a la vendetta, 

e la vendetta poi l’onta rinova:

onde sempre al ferir, sempre a la fretta

stimol novo s’aggiunge e piaga nova.

D’or in or piu si mesce e piu ristretta

si fa la pugna, e spada oprar non giova:

dansi con pomi, e infelloniti e crudi

cozzan con gli elmi insieme e con gli scudi.

Outrage spurs their anger to vengeance, 

vengeful fury then renews the outrage;

thus always to strike, always to haste 

each new impetus drives them, and new wound.

From time to time they close, and more restricted

becomes the fight, to use swords does no good;

they strike with pommels and, savagely and cruelly

they bash each other with their helms and with their shields.
Tre volte il cavalier la donna stringe 

con le robuste braccia, e altrettante

poi da quei nodi tenaci ella si scinge,

nodi di fier nemico e non d’amante.

Tomano al ferro, e fun e l’altro il tinge

di molto sangue: e stanco e anelante

e questi e quegli al fin pur si ritira,

e dopo lungo faticar respira.

L’un l’altro guarda, e del suo corpo essangue 

SuT pomo de la spada appoggia il peso.

Gia de l’ultima Stella il raggio langue 

sul primo albor ch’e in oriente acceso.

Vede Tancredi in maggior copia il sangue 

del suo nemico e se non tanto offeso,

ne gode e in superbisce. O nostra folle

mente ch’ogn’aura di fortuna estolle!

Misero, di che godi? Oh quanto mesti 

siano i trionfi e infelice il vanto!

Gli occhi tuoi pagheran (s’in vita resti)

di quel sangue ogni stilla un mar di pianto.

Cosi tacendo e rimirando, questi

sanguinosi guerrier cessaro alquanto.

Ruppe il silenzio al fin Tancredi e disse,

perche il suo nome fun l’altro scoprisse:

Nostra sventura e ben che qui s’impieghi 

tanto valor, dove silenzio il copra.

Ma poi che sorte rea vien che ci nieghi 

e lode e testimon degni de l’opra,

pregoti (se fra farmi han loco i preghi) 

che’l tuo nome e’l tuo stato a me tu scopra,

accio ch’io sappia, o vinto o vincitore, 

chi la mia morte o vittoria onore.

Rispose la feroce: Indamo chiedi

quel c’ho per uso di non far palese

Ma chiunque io mi sia, tu innanzi vedi

un di quei due che la gran torre accese.

Arse di sdegno a quel parlar Tancredi:

In mal punto il dicesti; (indi riprese) 

e’l tuo dir e’l tacer di par m’alletta,

barbaro discortese, a la vendetta.

Toma l’ira ne’ cori e li trasporta,

benche deboli, in guerra a fiera pugna!

UT’arte in bando, u’gia la forza e morta,

ove, in vece, d’entrambi il furor pugna!

O che sanguigna e spaziosa porta

fa Tuna e Taltra spada, ovunque giugna 

ne Tarmi e ne le cami! e se la vita

non esce, sdegno tienla al petto unita.

Thrice does the knight the woman grip

in his strong arms, and just as often 

from those tenacious grasps she frees herself,

the clasp a of bitter enemy, not of a lover.

Now they return to steel, and each the other stains

in much blood; and weary and panting 

both he and she at last draw back,

and after long labor, they breathe.

Each the other eyes, and oftheir blood-let bodies 

upon the pommel oftheir swords each leans the weight.

Already ofthe last remaining star the rays languish 

in the early dawn that illuminates the east.

Tancredi sees the greater copious loss ofblood

of his enemy, and his own not as grave injuries;

he is pleased and he presents himself. O our foolish 

judgment, that fortune’s every breeze extolls!

Poor man, in what do you rejoice? Oh how tragic 

your victories, how unhappy your pride!

Your eyes will pay (if you remain alive)

for each drop ofthat blood a sea oftears.

Thus silent and regarding, these 

bloody warriors paused awhile.

Breaking the silence at last, Tancredi said,

so that each might disclose his name:

“Our true misfortune is it here to employ 

such valor, where silence must hide it.

But, since cruel fate ordains we be denied 

the praise and witness worthy ofthe feat,

I pray you (if among weapons prayers have place) 

that you your name and title to me reveal,

that I may know, conquered or conqueror,

to whom the honor my death or victory I owe.”

The fierce maid replies: “You ask in vain 

that which it is my custom to conceal.

But whoever I may be, you see before you

one ofthe two who set the great tower ablaze.”

Incensed at these words, Tancredi:

“Inopportunely you say that (he then replied) 

and your speech and silence alike spur me on,

uncouth barbarian, to retribution.”

Anger now returns in their hearts and propels them 

though weak, to the fierce blows of war,

where skill is banned, where strength is dead,

where, instead, in place ofboth fury battles!

Oh what bloody and gaping openings 

makes each sword wherever they strike,

in armor or in flesh; and iflife

does not issue forth, scorn holds it to the breast united.
Ma ecco omai 1’ora fatal e giunta 

che ‘1 viver di Clorinda al suo fin deve.

Spinge egli il ferro nel bel sen di punta 

che vi s’immerge e’l sangue avido beve;

e la veste che d’or vago trapunta

le mammelle stringea tenere e lieve,

l’empie d’un caldo fiume. Ella gia sente 

morirsi, e’l pie le manca egro e languente.

But lo, now the fatal hour has arrived 

that to Clorinda’s life must put an end.

He thrusts the blade straight into her fair breast

where, immersed, it thirstily drinks her blood.

and her tunic that, with gold finely embroidered,

clings to her breasts, tender and smooth,

fills with a warm stream. She at once knows

that she must die, and she loses her footing, weak and faint.

Segue egli la vittoria, e la trafitta 

vergine minacciando incalza e preme.

Ella, mentre cadea, la voce afflitta

movendo, disse le parole estreme:

parole eh’a lei novo spirto addita, 

spirto di fe, di carita, di speme,

virtu che Dio le infonde, e se rubella

in vita fu, la vuole in morte ancella.

He pursues his victory, and upon the stricken 

maid he threateningly advances and presses.

She, while falling, her failing voice

putting forth, speaks her dying words;

words which to her a new spirit signify,

a spirit offaith, of charity, of hope;

virtues which God infuses in her, and though rebellious

in life she was, He wanted her in death His servant.

Amico, hai vinto: io ti perdon; perdona 

tu ancora, al corpo no, che nulla pave,

a l’alma si: deh! per lei prega, e dona 

battesmo a me ch’ogni mia colpa lave.

In queste voci languide risuona

un non so che di flebile e soave

ch’al cor gli scende ed ogni sdegno ammorza,

e gli occhi a lagrimar invoglia e sforza.

“Friend, you have won: I forgive you; pardon

you as well: my body no, which fears nothing;

my soul, yes; ah, pray for it, and give

baptism to me that all my sins be cleansed.”

In this languid utterance resonates 

a strange appeal, plaintive and gentle,

that upon his heart descends and melts all anger,

and his eyes to weeping impels and forces.

Poco quindi lontan nel sen d’un monte 

scaturia mormorando un picciol rio.

Egli v’accorse e l’elmo empie nel fonte,

e tomo mesto al grande ufficio e pio.

Tremar senti la man, mentre la fronte 

non conosciuta ancor sciolse e scoprio.

La vide e la conobbe: e resto senza 

e voce e moto. Ahi vista! ahi conoscenza!

Not far off, in the bosom of a mountain,

welled murmuring a little stream.

He hastened there, and filled his helm at the source, 

and returned sadly to the great and pious rite.

He felt his hand tremble, as her face,

as yet unknown, he uncovered and revealed.

He saw her, he knew her; and became bereft

ofspeech and action. Ah, such a sight, ah, such recognition!

Non mori gia, che sue virtuti accolse

tutte in quel punto e in guardia al cor le mise,

e premendo il suo affanno a dar si volse 

vita con l’acqua a chi col ferro uccise.

Mentre egli il suon de’ sacri detti sciolse,

colei di gioia trasmutossi, e rise:

e in atto di morir lieta e vivace 

dir parea: “S’apre il ciel: io vado in pace.”

He didn’t die yet, for all his strength he gathered

together in that moment, and placed them in the care of his heart,

and suppressing his sorrow he sought to give

life with the water to whom he with his sword had slain.

While he the sound ofthe holy words uttered, 

she was by joy transformed, and smiled;

and in the act of dying, happy and lively 

she seemed to say: “Heaven opens; I go in peace.”
"They will perform steps and gestures in the way expressed by the oration, and

nothing more or less, observing diligently those measures, blows, and steps, and the

instrumentalists [will perform] sounds excited and soft [suoni incitati, & molli], and

Testo delivering the words in measure, in such a way that the three actions come to 

unite in a unified imitation. Clorinda will speak when appropriate, Testo silent; and

similarly Tancredi. The instruments—that is the four viole da braccio, soprano, alto,

tenor, and bass, and a contrabasso da gamba which continues with the

harpsichord—should be played in imitation of passions of the oration. Testo's voice

should be clear, firm and with good delivery, somewhat distanced from the

instruments, so that the oration may be better understood. He must not make

gorghe or trilli anywhere other than in song ofthe stanza which begins 'Notte.' For 

the rest, he will deliver the words according to the passions of the oration.

In this manner (now twelve years ago) it was performed in the palace of the Most 

Illustrious and Most Excellent Signor Girolamo Mozzenigo [Mocenigo], my particular

lord, with all refinement, given that he is a knight of excellent and delicate taste, and

in carnival time, since it was an evening pastime, in the presence of all the nobility,

who remained moved by the emotion of compassion in such a way as almost to let

forth tears; and [the audience] applauded it for being a song of a kind no longer seen

nor heard."

Monteverdi's description of the Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda cited in Tim

Carter, Monteverdi's Musical Theatre (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press,

2002), p. 170.