Ensemble “Canto Fiorito” Programme “Venetia Mundi Splendor”

Ensemble “Canto Fiorito”
Renata Dubinskaitė - mezzo-soprano
Rodrigo Calveyra - longitudinal flutes, cornet, artistic director
Rodolfo Richter - baroque violin
Chloe Lucas - violone
James Johstone - harpsichord, organ

 

The “Venetia Mundi Splendor” programme of the ensemble “Canto Fiorito” introduces the listeners to the most beautiful examples of 17th-century Venetian sacred, operatic and instrumental music, and conveys the splendour, elegance and sophistication of this city’s culture.

 

In the first half of the 17th century, Venice was undoubtedly the most influential city in the development of musical culture in Europe, since the newly emerging baroque music style occurred there. The opera genre, which emerged in aristocratic manors, became accessible to everyone. The first public opera houses were built in Venice. In the 17th century, this small city operated as many as seven theatres. Venetian opera, of which Claudio Monteverdi is considered the father, and the most important successor of this tradition is his student Francesco Cavalli, was exported to several European countries and influenced the entire continent.

 

The Venetian tradition of church music was no less important. Both C. Monteverdi and F. Cavalli worked as kapellmeisters at St. Mark’s Basilica and created magnificent works of sacred music. Later Giovanni Legrenzi also held this position. The phenomenon of composer Barbara Strozzi was also born in Venice. In the city where publishing was thriving, this talented woman, who significantly contributed to the emergence of the cantata genre, published more sheet music of her work than any other 17th-century composer.

 

Instrumental Venetian music of the same period is represented by such eminent names as Dario Castello, Biagio Marini and Giuseppe Scarani, who significantly contributed to the development of the new stile moderno - the evolution of instrumental concertato music.