Singer Pur’s weekend festival in Adlersberg, near Regensberg, from August 5-7 featured the music of the 16th century Swiss composer Ludwig Senfl. In addition, as guest composer, for each of the three evenings I had written a new madrigal, each one providing a new perspective on a setting of a Petrarch sonnet that I had already set.

August 5

L’Oro e le perle e bei fioreti e ‘erba is one of the small group sonnets excluded from the Rime Sparse. A completely different setting for soprano, lute and gamba can be found in the Seventh Book of Madrigals.

August 6

Morte à spento, is one of the last sonnets in the Rime Sparse, no. 363. A different setting is no. 14 in the Second Book of Madrigals.

August 7

Voi ch’ ascoltate in rime sparse, is the first sonnet in the Rime Sparse. A different setting is found as the first madrigal in the Sixth Book of Madrigals.

In addition, Singer Pur included one of the first madrigals that I had written them at the start of our long association with Villa I Tatti. Cantai, or piango sets no. 229 of the Rime Sparse.

And to my great surprise they also performed the two settings of W B Yeats’ Words for Music that I had written 5 years earlier for their 25th anniversary concert that was held in Munich. For these two songs – Mad as the Mist and Snow and Those Dancing Days are Gone – I added a jazz bass part, which I played in Munich. Here, though, because of my arm injury from Tasmania a year ago, I was unable to play so bass violist Tabea Schwartz, who was there as a member of Ensemble Leones, took up the challenge of the jazz pizzicato (very successfully) for these pieces.