Some perfomance proposals from «La Rossignol»
FOOD, WINE AND MUSIC
in Italian Renaissance courts
La Rossignol
ROBERTO QUINTARELLI, contralto, recorders; MATTEO PAGLIARI, recorders, transversal flute, rauschpfeifen, bagpipe;
FRANCESCO ZUVADELLI, positive organ, hurdy gurdy; DOMENICO BARONIO, lute, Renaissance guitar, drums
“Chi vuol esser lieto, sia, di doman non c’è certezza” (“Whoever wants to be happy, let him be so: about tomorrow there’s no knowing”) are words written by Lorenzo the Magnificent in his most famous carnival song. This “remedy for happiness”, encouraging people to enjoy life and the pleasures that come with it, was the heart of Renaissance banquets, great occasions for amusement, meetings and for sharing the pleasures of food and music. We have found a lot of descriptions of Renaissance feasts and banquets: at the same time meal and performances, where culinary delicacies, pieces of music, songs and dances alternated in a pinwheel of sounds, colours, phantasy and magnificence, with the only aim to astonish and amaze friends and enemies. The concert wants to recreate not only the truthfulness of that epoch, but also its fascinating emotions, with songs and pieces of music composed and performed in castles, palaces, taverns or popular feasts.
Proposal 2
ARMONIE SUAVI ET DOLCI CANTI
Music and songs in Dante's time, in the 750th anniversary of his birth
ROBERTO QUINTARELLI, contraltista, recorders; ERICA SCHERL, viella; MATTEO PAGLIARI, recorders, traversa, rauschpfeifen, bagpipe;
FRANCESCO ZUVADELLI, positive organ, hurdy gurdy; MASSIMO MAZZA, drums; DOMENICO BARONIO, medieval lute,drums
The work of the Sommo Poeta has had, without any doubt, an important influence in the aftermath and a lot of intellectuals all over the world have taken inspirations from it. It is certain that Dante perfectly knew how to write music, both because it was part of his quadrivium education and because in his work we often find specific musical words and instruments quoted with great precision (the lyre, the harp and the jig, the cittern, the cennamella, the horn, the organ, the bagpipe or the tuba...). He equalized music and poetry to express the ineffable: in fact, at the Paradise entrance, he is attracted by the harmony of celestial spheres, tuned and modulated by God. The program, performed by musicians with great experience, proposes, with the help of the enchanting sound of early instruments, some of the most beautiful and moving pages of the musical production of dolce stil novo.
Proposal 3
BALLI ET MERAVIGLIE NOVE
European music and dance in the books of the Italian Renaissance
LILIANA BARONIO, SIMONA PASQUALI, EMANUELE TIRA, dancers; ROBERTO QUINTARELLI, contraltista, dancer;
ERICA SCHERL, viella; MATTEO PAGLIARI, recorders, traversa, rauschpfeifen, bagpipe, pipe and tabor;FEDELE STUCCHI, trombone à coulisse;
FRANCESCO ZUVADELLI, positive organ, hurdy gurdy; DOMENICO BARONIO, lute, Renaissanice guitar
The Renaissance nobility paid great attention to the art of music. Pleasure of higher classes and ideal of social life, music lives in this period an age of incredible richness, where masterpieces follow one another in an amazing crescendo. Italy, even if it was divided into several States, was a land of high degree of experimentation, gave birth to a refined and elegant art, because it was the meeting place for all European musicians. The invention of printing facilitated the circulation of scores and ideas: in the books printed in the famous Italian printing houses, there are a lot of pieces of music with evident references to cultures beyond the Alps: music maybe only imagined, but in any case filtered and re-interpreted by Italian brilliance; for this reason we can therefore assume that the roots of “musical Europe” are here. The performance, proposed in costumes, with copies of early instruments, proposes a funny and moving travel in those pieces of music and dances.
