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Music for Mazarin

Monteverdi: Zefiro torna, e di soave accenti (Scherzi musicali). Claire Debono (s) & Ciara Hendrick (m-s)
Marais: Suite for Viol and continuo. Liam Byrne (viol), Linda Sayce (theorbo)

Recorded live at the Temple Church, London, December 2010
Project overview

Jules Mazarin, a.k.a. Giulio Mazarino, was an Italian-born cardinal, diplomat and politician who rose to become de facto prime minister of France in the middle of the seventeenth century. His influence proved decisive not only in the political, but also in the cultural realm. Passionately interested in the arts, and strongly marked by early exposure to the nascent Italian opera, Mazarin invited a succession of Italian composers, singers, instrumentalists and designers (and a fair few spies and agents!) to the French court during the 1640s and '50s. The French musical scene was galvanised, and by the time of Mazarin's death in 1661 had embarked on its own period of greatness.

Our "Mazarin fantasy" (some of the pieces included were composed after his death) tells the story of Italian music's migration to France and its acceptance and development in the hands of French musicians.

Project repertoire & personnel

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)                     Zefiro torna
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)                  Se l'aura spira
Monteverdi                                                   Lamento d'Arianna
                                                                    Ohimè ch'io cado
                                                                    Pur ti miro (L'incoronazione di Poppea)

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)           Celle qui fait mon tourment
Michel Lambert (1610-1696)                          Ombre de mon amant
Marin Marais (1656-1728)                               Suite for viol and continuo
Luigi Rossi (1597-1653)                                  Mio ben (Orfeo)
Lambert                                                       Vos mépris chaque jour
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)                    Chaconne and Bel tempo che vola (Le bourgeois gentilhomme)


soprano ~ mezzo soprano
viola da gamba ~ theorbo ~ chitarrone/baroque guitar ~ harpsichord


Performances
December 2010: Private performance, Hampshire
December 2010: Temple Church, London
Solomon's Knot Productions Ltd. Registered in England & Wales as a company (no.6755687) and a charity (no.1129898).