Cambridge Early Music Concerts 2012 –Italy was the source of many of the musical innovations of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From the plainchant of church worship arose the laude – popular devotional songs – in the fourteenth century, and from these developed frottole, both sacred and secular; in turn these became madrigals and led to the madrigalian style of vocal music.
Meanwhile innovators such as Monteverdi and Caccini were developing their theories of the prima and seconda prattica, ostensibly harking back to the rhetorical style used in the ancient world. Side by side with the progress of vocal music came the transformation of the viola d’arco to the much more versatile violin, and the development of the alta loud wind band into a more refined incarnation; a whole new style of music infiltrated not only the secular world but also the church. The instrumental sonata was adopted as part of the liturgy, giving it a legitimacy it might not otherwise have attained. Suddenly instrumental music broke out of its religious and vocal bonds and stood in its own right.
Our Festival of Italian Music explores this fertile period, which influenced the music of the world. From the frottola to the virtuoso sonata, from the glorious brass of Gabrieli to the fully-fledged baroque orchestra of Vivaldi, we are invited to taste the delights of the land of sunshine and music.
We welcome some of Europe’s foremost performers of these genres: La Serenissima – the Vivaldi orchestra par excellence;Pavlo Beznosiuk and Paula Chateauneuf, known to many from their work with the Academy of Ancient Music; VivaBiancaLuna Biffi, unique in the world of medieval music; Julian Perkins, one of the leaders of the new generation of virtuoso keyboard players in the UK; and, opening our Festival, we’re delighted to welcomeQuintEssential Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble and tenor Nicholas Mulroy.
Our Festival weekend also includes a guided tour of the early Italian art in the Fitzwilliam Museum, led by a distinguished expert; and VivaBiancaLuna Biffi will share some of the secrets of the world of the frottola in a family-friendly workshop.
Cambridge Early Music is delighted to present this Festival in partnership with La Dante in Cambridge, which promotes Italian language and culture and is part of the Società Dante Alighieri in Rome; and gratefully acknowledges the support of the Benedetto family at Don Pasquale,