MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS Il Pomo d’Oro La compagnia del madrigale Riccardo Minasi
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
A CONCERT ON THE OCCASION OF THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JEWISH GHETTO IN VENICE 2016 Jewish composers of classical music who live in the
antique Jewish chants he had heard in the
ghetto and work for the high nobility? Christian
synagogues of the Ghetto.
composers who write liturgical Jewish music,
It gives further examples of European Christian
inspired by the rich musical heritage they hear in
composers who, in close contact with Jewish
the synagogues? Everything is possible in Venice and other important cultural centers in16th and 17th century Italy. This concert brings back to life the fascinating musical transfer between the Ghetto and the city of Venice. It presents the first polyphonic music in the history of Jewish religious music, encouraged and legalized by a Venetian rabbi, written by a Jewish composer employed at the court of the Gonzagas in Mantova. It recalls the attempt of one of the most important Venetian composers of the 17th century, Benedetto Marcello, to achieve ‚noble simplicity’ in music, a simplicity which he adapted from the
communities, wrote music for Jewish feasts and ceremonies. Giving audible evidence of the mutual appreciation and prolific interaction between Jewish and non-Jewish communities in the field of arts, and here particularly in music, the concert is an important contribution to the show „Venezia, gli Ebrei e Europa“ in the Doges Palace in Venice, the central event commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Venetian Ghetto. It will be presented at its opening on June 19, 2016 in the ‚Sala del Gran Consiglio’ of the Doges Palace in Venice.
Il Pomo d’Oro · La compagnia del madrigale · Riccardo Minasi
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
SALOMONE ROSSI AND BENEDETTO MARCELLO A REVOLUTION IN JEWISH MUSIC OF 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY IN VENICE In the year 1623, a collection of 33 polyphonic
Little is known about the life of Salomone Rossi.
Psalms, hyms and other liturgical poems - Ha-
He lived in the Ghetto of Mantua (ca 1570 – ca
Shirim Asher li-Shelomo (Songs of Salomon) - was
1628) and worked as a composer and musician, at
published in Venice. The composer of this
the same time as Claudio Monteverdi did, for
revolutionary work in the history of Jewish music,
Duke Vincenzo I. Gonzaga and other members of
Salomone Rossi, had been encouraged and
the Gonzaga family. A rich oeuvre of madrigals
assisted in terms of publication by Venetian Rabbi
and instrumental pieces documents his high rank
Leon Modena, an intellectual, author, preacher,
in music history also in the field of entertaining
poet and teacher widely famous at the time and
vernacular music.
respected not only in the Jewish community but also among Christians. Modena wrote an introduction to Rossi’s Songs of Salomon, explaining its hallmark importance for the history of Jewish music, aspiring to nothing less than a reconstruction of the (imagined) music performed in the Temple of Jerualem at the times of King David. The art of polyphony, then the most modern and complex technique of composition, seemed the form most appropriate only appropiate to achieve the high purpose and to create a new and culturally more important written tradition of Jewish ritual music than the oral tradition of unisono singing of simple melodies then (and for centuries) practised in the synagogues.
Il Pomo d’Oro · La compagnia del madrigale · Riccardo Minasi
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
A REVOLUTION IN JEWISH MUSIC OF 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY IN VENICE: SALOMONE ROSSI AND BENEDETTO MARCELLO
A hundred years later, the Venetian composer
This attempt has to be seen in the context of a
Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) entered the hall
general esthetic debate in the contemporary
of fame of Jewish music history with an almost
Venetian Academies, particulary the Arcadia
contradictory approach. Between 1724 and 1727
movement.
Marcello published his monumental magnum
In the monodic simplicity of the Hebrew chants and
opus: the Estro poetico-armonico, a collection of
their authentic oral antiquity, the Christian
fifty Italian paraphrases of Psalms. Much to the
composer Marcello found a distant echo of the
surprise of the world of music of his time and
glorious musical past of ancient Israel – whereas
thereafter, Marcello adopted eleven melodies of
the Jewish composer Rossi, a hundred years before,
Jewish liturgical chants for ten of the Psalm
tried to revive the same glorious past through
settings, thus creating the first substantial
polyphony, an art so far exlusively connected to the
documentation of a so far exclusively oral Jewish
Christian world.
musical tradition and inspiring a vast number of Jewish scholars to explore the origins of these melodies from the Ashkenazi and Sephardi repertoires. Marcello’s choice is even more surprising as he himself was not Jewish. However, as was true of many other Catholic Venetians, he frequented the Venetian Ghetto, profiting from its vibrant intellectual and artisitic life - and listening to the traditional Hebrew chants in the synagogues. Reading Marcello’s preface of the Estro poeticoarmonico, it becomes clear that his interest in the Jewish musical tradition was motivated by the search for a classical style in music and the attempt to restore the classical virtue of ‚noble simplicity’ in music.
Il Pomo d’Oro · La compagnia del madrigale · Riccardo Minasi
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS A CONCERT ON THE OCCASION OF THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE JEWISH GHETTO IN VENICE 2016 Palazzo Ducale 19 june 2016 La Compagnia del Madrigale - Il pomo d’oro Riccardo Minasi Salomone Rossi (1565-1628) Psalms for five voices and Sonatas for strings (Venice 1622-1623) Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) Salmi di Davide, Salmo 21, for one voice and orchestra. from Estro poetico-armonico, tomo IV (Venice 1724-26) Salmi di Davide, Salmo 50, for three voices and orchestra, from Estro poetico-armonico, tomo VIII, (Venice 1724-26 ) Louis Saladin (17th cent.) extract from “Canticum Hebraicum” Divertissement pour une circoncision dans le Comtat Venaissin (ca. 1680-1700). For voices and orchestra. Anonymous composer (first half 18th cent.) extract from “Hoshaʿna Rabbah” – musical ceremony for voices and instruments (Casale Monferrato 1732) Abraham Casseres (1718-1740) “Hamesiach ilemin” ; “Hishki hizki” Volunio Gallichi and Francesco Drei (second half 18th cent.) extract from “Cérémonie musicale pour l’inauguration de la synagogue à Sienne” (1786) for voices and orchestra. Christian Joseph Lidarti (1730-1795) “Nora Elohim et Hamesiach ilemin” “Boí beshalom et Kol haneshamah”
Il Pomo d’Oro · La compagnia del madrigale · Riccardo Minasi
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
IL POMO D'ORO il pomo d'oro is an orchestra founded in the year 2012 with a
Further instrumental recordings include Haydn's
special focus on opera, but equally committed to
concerts for harpsichord and violin, co-directed by
instrumental performance in various formations. The
Maxim Emelanychev as harpsichord-soloist and Riccardo
musicians united in this group are among the best to be
Minasi as violin-soloist, and a violoncello recital with
found worldwide for authentic and vivid interpretation on
works by Haydn, Boccherini, Platti, Graziani, Vivaldi,
period instruments. They form an ensemble of outstanding
played by the outstanding young French violoncellist
quality, combining stylistic knowledge, the highest technical
Edgar Moreau (released in October 2015 (Erato).
skills, and artistic enthusiasm. The collaboration with violinist
Il pomo d’oro performs in all important European venues
and conductor Riccardo Minasi led to an award winning first
and festivals: Paris (Théâtre des Champs Elysées),
recording (Vivaldi, Per l'Imperatore). The second recording,
Versailles (Théâtre Royal), London (Wigmore Hall), Vienna
Vivaldi's violin concerts Per Pisendel with Dmitry Sinkovsky
(Theater an der Wien), Madrid, Barcelona, St. Petersburg,
as soloist and conductor, received a Diapason d'Or. In 2012,
Geneva, St. Moritz, Copenhagen, Potsdam, Schwetzingen,
il pomo d'oro also recorded 3 solo CDs with three
Beaune, Cologne, Hamburg, Göttingen, Halle, Gstaad,
countertenors - Max Emanuel Cencic (Venezia), Xavier Sabata
among others). In 2015, il pomo d’oro accompagnied
(Bad Guys) and Franco Fagioli (Arias for Caffarelli), under
American mezzosoprano Joyce DiDonato on her tour in
Riccardo Minasi's direction. The album Arias for Caffarelli
Asia and presents the new album Arie Napoletane with
was awarded the 'Choc de l'annee 2013' by the French
Max Emanuel Cencic on tour in the United States of
magazine 'Classica'. A further contribution to the Naive-
America and many European countries.
Vivaldi-Edition was a recording of the Concerti per due violini, played and directed by the orchestra’s two outstanding violinists, Riccardo Minasi and Dmitry Sinkovsky,
The name of the orchestra refers to the title of an opera
released in October 2013. In conjunction with a book project
by Antonio Cesti, composed for the wedding of Emperor
about the Venetian Gondola by American writer Donna Leon,
Leopold I of Austria and Margarita Teresa of Spain in
il pomo d'oro recorded a collection of ancient Venetian
Vienna in 1666. The opera was the final part of an
Barcarole, sung by Vincenzo Capezzuto. A recital of various
imperial celebration of incredible multimedial splendour,
Agrippina Arias - most of them world premieres on CD - with
starting with fireworks of 73,000 rockets and a horse-
the Swedish mezzosoprano Ann Hallenberg, directed by
ballet of 300 horses. With its twenty-four different stage
Riccardo Minasi, was released in 2015 and presented in
sets and stunning special effects like collapsing towers,
various concerts in Germany, Italy and Spain. Also the new
flying gods and sinking ships, „Il Pomo d’Oro“ was
album with Max Emanuel Cencic, Arie Napoletane (Decca,
probably the most excessive and expensive operatic
2015) (directed by Maxim Emelyanychev) includes many
production in the then young history of the art. It
world premiere recordings.
provided roles for fifty singers, and it lasted ten hours –
il pomo d'oro has so far recorded three operas: Handel's
ten hours of magnificent spectacle and beautiful music.
Tamerlano (Naive, 2014), Catone in Utica by Leonardo Vinci (Decca, 2015), and Handel’s Partenope (Erato, 2015), all
www.il-pomodoro.ch
directed by Riccardo Minasi.
Il Pomo d’Oro · La compagnia del madrigale · Riccardo Minasi
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
LA COMPAGNIA DEL MADRIGALE La Compagnia del Madrigale, although recently founded, can
This was followed by a recording of the Secondo Libro dei
already be considered the preeminent madrigal ensemble of
madrigali a 4 voci of Palestrina, part of a larger recording
today's international early music scene.
project dedicated to the complete works of this composer,
The choice of the group's name, Compagnia del Madrigale,
with the musicological consultation of Francesco Luisi.
was inspired by the long-standing friendship and
The record production of La Compagnia del
shared experiences of the group's members in over 2
Madrigale started in 2011, when the label Arcana
decades of performing together throughout the world.
published a CD of madrigals based upon the text
The founding members of the group, Rossana Bertini,
of Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto, which was
Giuseppe Maletto, and Daniele Carnovich, while
enthusiastically acclaimed by both public and critics.
cultivating prestigious individual careers, have worked side
In January 2013 the label Glossa released the Sesto Libro
by side for over 20 years, and their collective experience
dei Madrigali a 5 voci by Gesualdo da Venosa, which will
as madrigalists has played a fundamental role in bringing an
be followed by the Responsoria of the same composer, on
undisputed high level of artistry to groups such
the occasion of 2013 and 2016 anniversaries.
as Concerto Italiano and La Venexiana.
Furthermore, Glossa will publish the Primo Libro dei
Their voices can be heard on dozens of award-winning
Madrigali a 5 voci and the Quinto Libro dei Madrigali a 6
recordings (Diapason d’or de l’année, Grammophone
voci by Luca Marenzio.
Award, Premio Cini,...) and have been critically and publicly
In August 2012, the members of La Compagnia del
acclaimed for innumerable performances in the most
Madrigale took part in the XVIII edition of Europa
prestigious international music festivals of Italy, Europe, the
Cantat in Turin, where they successfully ran a workshop
United States, Canada, Israel, Russia, Japan, and Latin
about Monteverdi’s madrigal interpretation, for a wide
America.
and heterogeneous group of singers coming from all over
In 2008, they decidedto regroup under a new name, without
the world.
the presence of a director, and with the addition of
In addition to the hundreds of madrigals which have
new members of indisputable artistic qualities: Francesca
always represented the heart of their artistic production,
Cassinari, Elena Carzaniga, Raffaele Giordani, and
the artists of the ensemble are today particularly involved
Marco Scavazza.
in programs devoted to
A few years ago, La Compagnia del Madrigale undertook an
Petrarca’s Canzoniere, Gerusalemme Liberata of Tasso,
important collaboration with the RSI Radio-TV of
Monteverdi’s Selva Morale and the Vespro della Beata
Italian Switzerland, under the direction of Diego Fasolis, and
Vergine, which they have recently performed.
with the prestigious instrumental group I Barocchisti. The first phase of this collaboration was a production of a video dedicated to the Amfiparnaso by Orazio Vecchi.
Il Pomo d’Oro · La compagnia del madrigale · Riccardo Minasi