Why does is appear as though the voices are talking to each other? For one thing, there is a back-and-forth between them; the phrases are often short, indicating bursts of speech rather than longer lines of song. But even the very ways the voices sing, talk, or fill silence suggest speech rather than pure song. The rhythms are the rhythms of speech—free, speeding up and slowing down. They are not metrical, like dance or a chordal section in a madrigal. The instrumental accompaniment—which Baci soavi e cari did not even have—follows the voice.

We also have an entirely new texture: in contrast to Baci soavi e cari, which is a five-part polyphonic texture (sometimes moving chordally in homophony), Il Combattimento features solo voices with a strictly supportive accompaniment. This and the free speech-like rhythm allow each voice to assume its own character. Furthermore, the orchestra and voices form two separate entities. The strings are divided into four independent parts instead of the usual five—an innovation that was not generally adopted by European composers until the 18th century.

There are, in fact, three distinct characters in this minidrama: a narrator (who talks to us), a Christian Crusader knight named Tancredi, and a Saracen woman warrior named Clorinda. The scene is from a work by the great poet Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) called Gerusalemme liberate (Jerusalem delivered). Our characters, Tancredi and Clorinda, have fallen in love. Unfortunately, they encounter each other here under disguise, and Tancredi kills Clorinda without knowing who she is.

Follow along below as you listen again to the excerpt. The instruments are high and low strings, harpsichord, and a low plucked instrument called a theorbo. The poetic English translation of Tasso’s poem is by Edward Fairfax and was published in London in 1600.