USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia is an ensemble of period instruments and voices specializing in music from the 16th through the mid-18th centuries. Founded in 1986 by James Tyler, the ensemble is currently led by early music program director Adam Knight Gilbert and Rotem Gilbert. The Baroque Sinfonia consists of graduate students majoring in early music, graduate students of modern instruments and classical voice minoring in early music, and undergraduate students, all performing four different programs each year.

With the support of scholarships from the Colburn Foundation and funds from the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, the Thornton Baroque Sinfonia has won the Early Music America Collegium Grant in 2008 and every year from 2011 to 2022, travelling to the Berkeley, Boston, and Bloomington Early Music Festivals. The ensemble performs regularly at Mission San Gabriel and has collaborated with Sibelius Academy’s Early Music Program in Helsinki and Los Angeles. The ensemble’s recording of British broadside ballads D’ye Hear the News, supported by the USC-EMSI for the Yale University Press, can be heard online at iTunes U. Its performances have been heard on National Public Radio and can be enjoyed on YouTube. Current members and alumni perform, research, and teach around the world.

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Early music events are made possible with support from the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute.

O quam dulcis es tu (Tarquinio Merula)

Il primo libro de motetti, 1624

O quam dulcis es tu Maria nutrix Christi Jesu,

da mihi peccatori amoris tui sacro lacte frui,

suavissima Mater, favum mellis an apis?

Te mel et apem dicam quae dum

labia nutris corda feris.

How sweet you are, Mary, nurse of Jesus Christ;

Grant me, a sinner, to enjoy the sacred milk of your love;

sweetest mother, are you a comb of honey or a bee?

I will say that you are both honey and honeybee,

since while you nourish my lips you strike my heart.

Translation by Henry Howard

Jubilate Deo (Luca Marenzio)

Sacrarum symphoniarum, 1600

Psalm 97:4-9

Jubilate Deo, omnis terra; cantate, et exsultate, et psallite.

Psallite Domino in cithara; in cithara et voce psalmi;

in tubis ductilibus, et voce tubæ corneæ.

Jubilate in conspectu regis Domini:

moveatur mare, et plenitudo ejus; orbis terrarum, et qui habitant in eo.

Flumina plaudent manu; simul montes exsultabunt

a conspectu Domini: quoniam venit judicare terram.

Judicabit orbem terrarum in justitia, et populos in æquitate.

Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; make melody, rejoice and sing.

Sing praise to the Lord on the harp, on the harp, and with the voice of a psalm:

With long trumpets and sounds of cornets.

Make a joyful noise before the Lord our king:

Let the sea be moved and the fullness thereof: the world and they that dwell therein.

The rivers shall clap their hands, the mountains shall rejoice together

At the presence of the Lord: because he cometh to judge the earth.

He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with equity.

Translation from Douay-Rheims Bible (1609)

Ardo, avvampo, mi struggo, ardo (Claudio Monteverdi)

Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi, 1638

Ardo, ardo avvampo mi struggo; accorrete,

vicini, amici, all’infiammato loco

al ladro, al ladro, al tradimento, al foco;

scale, accette, martelli, acqua prendete;

e voi torri sacrate, anco tacete;

su, su, bronzi, ch’io dal gridar son roco;

dite il periglio altrui non lieve o poco,

e degl’incendi miei pietà chiedete.

Son due belli occhi il ladro, e seco amore

l’incendiario che l’inique faci

dentro la rocca m’avventò del core:

ecco, i rimedi omai vani e fallaci.

Mi dice ogn’un per si beato ardore:

lascia, che’l cor s’incenerisca, e taci.

I burn, I burn, in flames I melt; come here,

Neighbors, friends, to the flaming place

Theft, theft, betrayal, fire;

Bring ladders, axes, hammers, water;

And you sacred (bell) towers, you are still;

Come on, bronze (bells), that I am hoarse from crying;

Tell everybody about the danger, not small or little,

And ask for pity for my fires.

Two beautiful eyes are the thief; and with them Love

That the unrighteous sparkles

Threw into the fortress of my heart:

Alas, now remedies are vain and bound to fail.

Everyone tells me for such a happy burning:

Let your heart become ashes, and be silent!

Translation from cpdl.org

Or che’l ciel e la terra (Claudio Monteverdi)

Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi, 1638

Poetry by Francesco Petrarch

Or che’l ciel et la terra e’l vento tace

et le fere e gli augelli il sonno affrena,

Notte il carro stellato in giro mena

et nel suo letto il mar senz’onda giace,

veggio, penso, ardo, piango; et chi mi sface

sempre mè inanzi per mia dolce pena:

guerra èl mio stato, d’ira et di duol piena,

et sol di lei pensando ò qualche pace.

Now that the sky and the earth and the wind are silent

and the wild creatures and the birds are reined in sleep,

Night leads its starry chariot in its round,

and the sea without a wave lies in its bed,

I look, think, burn, weep: and she who destroys me

is always before my eyes to my sweet distress:

war is my state, filled with grief and anger,

and only in thinking of her do I find peace.

Translated by A. S. Kline

Fan battaglia i miei pensieri (Luigi Rossi)

Fan battaglia, i miei pensieri,

Et al cor dan fiero assalto.

Un mi dice

“in van tu speri.

Perchè Filli ha il sen di smalto.”

Un poi con baldanza il colpo ribatte,

E1 cor mi combatte,

Gridando

“Speranza!

Si vincerà, si perderà.”

Fuggi timor,

Fuggi, sù, sù,

Taci, Speranza, tu.

Fermate, tacete.

Pensieri, non più;

Così al core empi guerrieri

Dan battaglia, fan guerra, i miei pensieri!

My thoughts do battle,

And in my heart wage fierce war.

One says to me,

“You hope in vain,

Because Phyllis is hard-hearted.”

Another boldly strikes back,

And battles my heart,

Crying “Hope!

You may win, you may lose.”

Flee fear,

Flee, come now!

Be silent, Hope,

Stop, be silent.

My thoughts, no more;

Thus in my heart these merciless warriors

These thoughts of mine do battle, wage war.

Jubilate Musica (AK Gilbert)

Jubilate Musica, omnis terra.

Rejoice in Music, all the World.

Generous scholarship support for the members of the USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia is provided by the Colburn Foundation. We are also grateful for generous scholarship support from the Rutherford Fund, established by our dear late friend and donor Bill Rutherford. Special thanks to our generous friends and donors Tom Rosenthal, Bob Attiyeh and Mike Rosell. We offer very special thanks to the late Sharon Lilly for her years of generous support and friendship.

This concert is made possible with generous support for the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute.