Carlotta Colombo and the Women of the Seicento

With Arianna in Rome, soprano Carlotta Colombo pays tribute to the exceptional women singers of the seventeenth century, trained within Rome’s aristocratic circles — brilliant artists who history has largely overlooked. Far from being a purely scholarly exercise, this recording brings to life a vibrant and emotionally charged repertoire, conceived for these forgotten virtuose. Blending feeling, philological rigour, and the art of musical rhetoric, Colombo draws us into the refined and intimate sound world of Baroque Rome. 

This programme sheds light on exceptional female singers who remained in the shadows for too long, through works from Baroque Rome. How did the idea of bringing together these laments and cantatas in tribute to these forgotten virtuose come about? 

Carlotta Colombo: The idea of bringing together these laments and cantatas as a tribute to forgotten virtuose stems from the need to restore visibility to highly talented women who, despite playing a central role in the development of recitative style and vocal music in the seventeenth century, remained in the shadows of music history for far too long. This project was born within the framework of the research initiative “Virtuose di musica nell’Italia del Seicento”, which made it possible to reconstruct the biographies of these singers—often hidden within noble courts in the roles of ladies-in-waiting or companions. Through manuscripts, poems, letters, and financial documents detailing lessons or instruments, we were able to trace the repertoire they performed and the social and artistic contexts in which they trained and appeared. Rome, in particular, emerges as a key center for the education of these artists, thanks to the work of composers such as Landi, Rossi, and Carissimi, who also acted as their teachers. The choice of repertoire — including the laments of Arianna, Erminia, and Armida — is not only due to the musical beauty of these works, but also to their likely original destination: they were composed to be performed by gifted women, often in service to aristocratic families or under the patronage of cardinals and noblemen. This repertoire, therefore, represents not only a precious chapter in the Baroque musical heritage, but also a heartfelt tribute to those singers who, even without stepping onto grand stages, were fundamental protagonists in the evolution of Italian vocal music.

Among the selected pieces, the famous Lamento d’Arianna holds a special place, particularly in the Roman version you chose to perform. What guided your interpretation of this iconic work, and what role does it play in the overall shape of the programme? 

C. C.: In our interpretation of the famous Lamento d’Arianna, we chose to place the text and its affetti at the very center, following an approach deeply rooted in historically informed performance practice. Rather than treating the piece merely as a monument of Monteverdi’s music, we approached it as a living testament to the expressive power of the emerging recitative style, capable of translating the full complexity of human passions into sound. The Roman version of the Lamento, preserved in a sumptuous manuscript compiled within the circle of Cardinal Montalto, offered the perfect opportunity to restore the piece to the intimate and cultivated dimension typical of the chamber performances by Roman virtuose. In this context, the Lamento becomes not only a work of great emotional intensity, but also a document of the actual repertoire performed by these extraordinary singers, often in service to aristocratic families. My interpretation was guided by close attention to the rhetorical power of the text and by a careful shaping of musical inflection, in line with the principles of the seconda prattica. Our aim was to recreate the emotional impact such performances could have had in a refined, private setting like that of the Roman courts. Within the programme, Lamento d’Arianna plays a central role — not only as the archetype of the Baroque female lament, but also as a point of convergence between cultivated repertoire and the lived experience of the virtuose. It serves as a kind of emotional and aesthetic manifesto, around which the rest of the programme is constructed, with all the selected pieces chosen to give voice to those performers who, despite having decisively shaped the emergence of the new music, have long remained forgotten.

The album reveals a strong sense of dialogue between voice and instruments — theorbo, violin, continuo… How did your collaboration with Anima & Corpo and Gabriele Pro develop to create such expressive balance?

C. C.: The collaboration with the ensemble Anima & Corpo and with Gabriele Pro is the result of a long and shared journey, developed over time through in-depth study and performance of seventeenth-century music. We have been working together for years with a common goal: to bring this repertoire back to life by rediscovering its affective and rhetorical language through an authentic dialogue between voice and instruments. A particularly strong musical affinity has developed with Gabriele Pro, fed by a shared passion for philological research and the exploration of historical sources. This has allowed us to refine an interpretative language together — one that, while grounded in historically informed performance practice, never abandons expressive freedom, theatrical breath, and the spontaneity of improvisation, all essential elements in seventeenth-century music. The interaction between voice and instruments was therefore conceived as a kind of extended recitar cantando: a multi-voiced construction in which each performer has a narrative and emotional role, contributing to the emotional richness and variety of color that bring the entire programme to life.