Oh, yes, I found it extremely helpful in all sorts of repertoire—obviously in English lute songs, but also in Monteverdi and the Italians. It was their backcloth of thought and they are constantly referring to classical scenes and events, to mythological characters. A lot of the time you can see what a poet’s getting at if you know the story and composers of that time grew up with this literature. My classical training is probably not as good as theirs was. The depth of learning achieved by some in those days was amazing. But it is a good area from which to come at these pieces, to approach them from behind, as it were, rather than more directly.

How much does this apply to languages other than English. Are you a linguist?

A bit. I learned French as a small child when my father was stationed in France for a couple of years. Although I’m not fluent that gave me the courage not to be frightened to try foreign languages. So I had French and I had Latin, which made Italian fairly easy. In fact, the classics side was very useful when it came to 17th century Italian texts, because sometimes the syntax is more classical than modern Italian. There have even been occasions when I’ve politely crossed swords with a modern Italian translator over the interpretation of a madrigal text because the syntax tells me it balances in a particular way and therefore the text is saying such and such. Because I’m not burdened with as big a knowledge of the modern language as they are, I can sometimes sense how a thought or sentence is developing because it is based on a Latin foundation.

That raises a very interesting point, because in recent years we’ve heard a great deal about Italian singers “reclaiming” their early music repertoire from northern Europeans. In a discussion I had with Rinaldo Alessandrini, who of course has been in the forefront of this movement, he made what is in effect the same point you’ve just made—that the Italian his singers are interpreting differs considerably from contemporary Italian. This seems to undermine the argument that only Italians can sing madrigals with real understanding.

I think that’s right. Everyone, even Italians, has to make a bit of an effort with the language. It’s a wonderful thing that the Italians are now taking an interest in their own heritage earlier than Verdi and company. It’s logical and good, but I don’t think it means that the rest of us are no longer allowed to perform this repertoire. Music was a fairly cosmopolitan business in those days. Milton brought back Italian madrigal texts with him from his tour of Italy, so such works had wide dissemination. Goodness knows what the accents were like, but it has always been highly authentic for other nations to have a go. And if you extend the proprietorial idea, think of the Dutch, a very musical nation today. What would they have to sing! Having said that, I must repeat that it is marvellous to hear Italian singers in this music, because I’ve always had a little bit of a grouse with the so-called canto lyrico style, which seems to be a contradiction in terms. Although you got splendid noises the one thing you didn’t get is the lyrics.