Il bianco e dolce cigno

From "Il primo libro di madrigali" (1539). Jacques (Jacob) Arcadelt (ca. 1507–1568), though of Flemish heritage, worked in Venice, Rome and, later, in Paris. The song of the dying swan, a theme dating back to Ovid, opens his first, tremendously popular, collection of madrigals which was reprinted some fifty times over the course of a century. Michaeli Early Music Series is edited by Mikael Paulsson, luteplayer and choral conductor, specialized in early music.