Giovanni Coprario was actually an English composer named John Cooper who devised an Italian version of his name in an effort to garner some good PR. His rediscovery has been slow, perhaps because he is not much associated with the madrigal, the genre through which most listeners come to the music of the English Renaissance. This fine French release shows what many have been missing. At the center of the program are two sets of lute songs, the Songs of Mourning (1613) and the Funeral Teares (1606). Despite their similarity ...
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Giovanni Coprario was actually an English composer named John Cooper who devised an Italian version of his name in an effort to garner some good PR. His rediscovery has been slow, perhaps because he is not much associated with the madrigal, the genre through which most listeners come to the music of the English Renaissance. This fine French release shows what many have been missing. At the center of the program are two sets of lute songs, the Songs of Mourning (1613) and the Funeral Teares (1606). Despite their similarity of function, the two are different in flavor. The Songs of Mourning were written after the death at age 18 of Prince Henry of Wales. They are public in form, with the individual songs addressed to figures from King James on down; the last two are directed to "most disconsolate Great Britain" and "to the World," respectively, with the final "O poor distracted world" delivering the Christian message just as the King James Bible was being prepared. These are profound and moving...
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