# Britten: Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo



## ooopera (Jul 27, 2011)

*Benjamin Britten* composed *Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo* (op. 22) in 1940 during his sojourn in America. It's the first song cycle devoted to his partner Peter Pears. Britten had chosen Michelangelo sonnets number XVI, XXXI, ***, LV, XXXVIII, XXXII and XXIV. Perhaps it is no coincidence that six of the selected sonnets Michelangelo wrote expressly for Tommaso Cavalieri, and only one for an unknown woman. At the end of the second sonnet of the cycle, "A che più debb'io mai…", Michelangelo clearly expressed Cavalieri's name:

Se vint' e pres' i' debb' esser beato
Maraviglia non è se nud' e solo 
Resto prigion d'un *cavalier*' armato.

_If to be happy, I must be conquered and bound,
it is no marvel that I, nude and alone,
remain the prisoner of an armed cavalier._

I adore this cycle! Unfortunately I own only Pears and Britten version, available on this CD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=15K62BJG2FKW3GB261RB






I am also familiar with Jonas Kaufmann live performance (not available on CD).











I would be happy, if someone can suggest me another good performance of it.


----------



## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

On CD there are two I would suggest. First would be the Naxos with Philip Langridge and the one by Anthony Rolfe Johnson on Helios (Chandos' Budget label). Sadly, both of these great Britten interpreters left us in the last year or so. I very much like Kaufmanns as well.


----------

