The Discovery of Bomarzo ~ a musical sculpture garden
The Discovery of Bomarzo features a rich and bizarre collection of Italian madrigals from around 1600, a period which saw the creation of the first operas as well as the last flowering of the madrigal genre. These works for five unaccompanied voices by Monteverdi, d'India, Marenzio, Michelangelo Rossi, and Gesualdo, are psychologically complex renderings of highly charged emotional poetry and some of the most experimental works of the time: we hear vocal lines by turns sinuous and extravagantly acrobatic, harmonic progressions which seem to pre-empt the language of Wagner, the use of two simultaneous, different key signatures and a startlingly direct expression of the anger, pain, desire or wonderment in the texts.
These works could be seen as an analogy for Mannerist works of art of the 16th century: think of the tortured, twisted form, warped Classicism and heightened expressiveness in works by Michelangelo, El Greco or Giulio Romano. We decided to use as a metaphor the 16th-century sculpture garden of Bomarzo in Italy, whose extraordinary, Mannerist sculptures lay neglected and overgrown for centuries until they were rediscovered by Salvador Dalí in the 20th century. In this project, we collaborate with the award-winning artist and composer Mira Calix, who has created an electronic sonic ‘garden’ which surrounds the ‘sound sculpture’ madrigals, performed live and a capella by five singers of Solomon's Knot.
Project repertoire & personnel
Carlo Gesualdo (1566 - 1613) - O dolorosa gioia
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643) - Sí, ch’io vorrei morire
Gesualdo - Mercè, grido piangendo
Gesualdo - Asciugate i begli occhi
Scipione Lacorcia (?c.1585–95 - after 1620) - Io t’amo, anima mia
Giaches de Wert (1535 - 1596) - Forsennata gridava
Sigismondo d’India (c.1582 - before 19 April 1629) - Strana armonia d’amore
Michelangelo Rossi (1601/2 - 1656) - Amor, io parto
Pomponio Nenna (1556 - 1608) - Asciugate il begli occhi
Gesualdo - Moro, lasso, al mio duolo
Monteverdi - Cruda Amarilli
soprano ~ mezzo ~ 2 tenors ~ bass
composition & sound installation: Mira Calix
concept: James Halliday & Mira Calix
Performance
June 2016. Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk, UK (Aldeburgh Festival)
September 2017. Chiesa di Sant'Andrea, Castiglioncello del Trinoro (Monteverdi Tuscany) [madrigals only]
These works could be seen as an analogy for Mannerist works of art of the 16th century: think of the tortured, twisted form, warped Classicism and heightened expressiveness in works by Michelangelo, El Greco or Giulio Romano. We decided to use as a metaphor the 16th-century sculpture garden of Bomarzo in Italy, whose extraordinary, Mannerist sculptures lay neglected and overgrown for centuries until they were rediscovered by Salvador Dalí in the 20th century. In this project, we collaborate with the award-winning artist and composer Mira Calix, who has created an electronic sonic ‘garden’ which surrounds the ‘sound sculpture’ madrigals, performed live and a capella by five singers of Solomon's Knot.
Project repertoire & personnel
Carlo Gesualdo (1566 - 1613) - O dolorosa gioia
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643) - Sí, ch’io vorrei morire
Gesualdo - Mercè, grido piangendo
Gesualdo - Asciugate i begli occhi
Scipione Lacorcia (?c.1585–95 - after 1620) - Io t’amo, anima mia
Giaches de Wert (1535 - 1596) - Forsennata gridava
Sigismondo d’India (c.1582 - before 19 April 1629) - Strana armonia d’amore
Michelangelo Rossi (1601/2 - 1656) - Amor, io parto
Pomponio Nenna (1556 - 1608) - Asciugate il begli occhi
Gesualdo - Moro, lasso, al mio duolo
Monteverdi - Cruda Amarilli
soprano ~ mezzo ~ 2 tenors ~ bass
composition & sound installation: Mira Calix
concept: James Halliday & Mira Calix
Performance
June 2016. Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk, UK (Aldeburgh Festival)
September 2017. Chiesa di Sant'Andrea, Castiglioncello del Trinoro (Monteverdi Tuscany) [madrigals only]