Concerts

Lecture Concert

»JUBILATE DEO. Polychoral Church Music from Seventeenth-Century Florence«

The lecture concert is an integral part of the international and interdisciplinary conference »Aural Architectures of the Divine. Sacred Spaces, Sound and Rites in Transcultural Perspectives«, organized by the research project »CANTORIA – Music and Sacred Architecture« (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) in cooperation with the »Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo« (University of Florence) from 24 to 26 February 2022.

The lecture concert in the Basilica di San Lorenzo presents polychoral church music from 17th-century Florence composed for this Basilica and for Santa Maria del Fiore, the city’s cathedral: While Marco da Gagliano’s early compositions are pieces for five or six voices, which are combined into two groups, all the other works in the concert are for a double choir. Marco da Gagliano’s compositions and Ruggiero Giovannelli’s motet »Beatus Laurentius«, which are kept in the archives of San Lorenzo, are prominent examples of the multi-choir practice in the Basilica since the founding of the »Cappella Musicale« in 1678.The works by Filippo Vitali and Nicolò Sapiti are part of the 17th-century compositions for double choir in the Archive of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, where throughout the 17th century polychoral music was in constant use: a polychoral approach based on the use of contrasting choirs, but also on the play of solos and ripieni.
To approach the contemporary musical practice as its acoustic effects, the singers and instrumentalists are distributed in different locations of the church, in the two choir lofts, in the centre of the Basilica and behind the altar.
The lecture concert, which was opened with an introduction by Umberto Cerini, constituted an integral part of the international and interdisciplinary conference »Aural Architectures of the Divine. Sacred Spaces, Sound and Rites in Transcultural Perspectives«, organized by the research project »CANTORIA – Music and Sacred Architecture« (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) in cooperation with the »Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo« (University of Florence), which took place from 24 to 26 February 2022.

»Lilium Cantores« is a vocal ensemble of young singers dedicated to the rediscovery and performance of polychoral church music by Florentine composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. The »Cappella Musicale di San Lorenzo« was newly founded in 2015 thanks to an agreement between the Basilica and the »Cantori di San Giovanni«. It is dedicated to the historically informed performance of Florentine sacred music of the Baroque both in liturgical and concert contexts, with a focus on rediscovering the musical fund of the Basilica itself. Both ensembles are directed by Maestro Umberto Cerini, organist, harpsichordist and lecturer in music theory, analysis and composition at the Liceo Musicale »Dante« in Florence, who obtained a doctorate from the University of Florence with a thesis on music and liturgy at San Lorenzo and Santa Maria del Fiore during the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo III.

Generously supported by Fritz Thyssen Foundation

Concert as part of the 23. Wiesbadener Bachwochen:

Barock Vokal – Kolleg für Alte Musik der Hochschule für Musik Mainz:

College for Ancient Music, University of Music Mainz

“Klangpracht des römischen Barock. Virgilio Mazzocchi: Vesperpsalmen. Neue Entdeckungen mehrchöriger Musik“

8 December 2019, 4.00 pm

Marktkirche
Schlossplatz
D-65183 Wiesbaden

Lecture-concert as part of the 12. Festival Roma Barocca:

Florian Bassani (Bern) / Christian Rohrbach (Mainz):

La musica policorale a Roma nella prima età moderna

Concert by Barock Vokal – College for Ancient Music, University of Music Mainz:

Musica vespertina a doppio coro del primo Seicento romano: Francesco Severi, Domenico e Virgilio Mazzocchi

11 December 2019, 8.30 p.m.

S. Maria in Vallicella
Via della Chiesa Nuova 18
I-00186 Rome