new programs

Born from a collaboration with the Sicilian puppeteer and storyteller Mimmo Cuticchio and the well-known Italian ensemble La Reverdie, this unique program is presented in the form of a concert dedicated to the figure of Charlemagne and given with the presence of a reader.
The syncopated rhythm of the "Cunto" ("tale": recitation of traditional spoken Italian texts) sets the tone for the declamatory performance which Mimmo Cuticchio has brought to public squares and theaters throughout the world: with a stomp on the stage, an imperious gesture with a sword inherited from one-time master Pippo Celano, the commanding voice of Cuticchio declaims and recites the ancient tales of chivalry, of Orlando Furioso, the Crusades, which were told for centuries along the roads of Europe, weaving a colorful fabric of stories from the austere and ancient formulas of oral tradition.
In an intricate contrapuntal interplay, the musical performances of La Reverdie comment and mirror the dramatic narrative of the "cunto" and create a rich, subtle and fascinating construct of word and sound, thanks to the use of rare period instruments, refined vocal techniques and careful reconstruction of the original musical sources.
An elaborate and sumptuous "Theatre of Memory" in which the dialogue between the spoken word of ancient legends and the musical treasures of the Middle Ages are once again reunited, in the spirit of an epoch in which the verb "to remember" (in Latin: recordare) truly meant "to bring back to the heart".

In commemoration of the 600th anniversary of the death of Johannes Ciconia (ca. 1370-1412) La Reverdie dedicates this program to the master composer from Liege whose musical activities are closely linked to the north Italian cities of Padua and Venice, and to the Lombard-Veneto area in general. While intentionally excluding Ciconia's liturgical compositions, the program is intended to offer a new slant on the composer's oeuvre by following the successive stages in his musical career in the person of his own various patrons and protectors, and his musical colleagues and contemporaries as well. Ciconia's work testifies to an uncanny ability to absorb and incorporate widely divergent styles, genres and approaches with which the composer came into contact in an age which knew much experimentation. From the Italian motet to the Giustiniane, from the madrigal of the Ars Nova to works in the highly refined and experimental Ars Subtilior style, our program is intended to bring this particular aspect of Ciconia's genius to light, placing his compositions alongside those of his contemporaries, thus illustrating the composer's debt to the Italian style which he was to eventually make his own. The reconstruction of Ciconia's personal stylistic "itinerary" allows us to follow him step-by-step, from Liege to Rome, then to the Visconti court of Pavia, and finally, from 1401 to his death, to Padua, where he was employed at the Cathedral and maintained close ties with the city's nobility, notably the Carrara family.

"The Twelve Gardens" is the name of a devotional text, written sometime around the year 1435 by Caterina de Vigri, a Bolognese nun of the order of Saint Clare, now venerated as St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463). The author -- the first woman in European history of whom a substantial number of original documents in her own hand are conserved -- describes in the treatise the spiritual "journey" of a soul towards union with Christ, describing the various points along the way as "gardens" which are full of symbolic sensual images of light, color, heat, odor and taste, sound and rhythm, song and dance, much in the style of the Biblical Song of Solomon. In each garden we can hear the song of the Bride, in which the intimate resonance of the divine Word resounds within her soul, drawn more and more closely in attraction to her beloved. Through meticulous musicological research, laReverdie has reconstructed the performance of the twelve spiritual compositions in use at the Monastery of Corpus Domini, founded by St. Catherine in Bologna in 1456, the texts of which perfectly reflect the content and the atmosphere present in the Saint's work in the "Twelve Gardens".

The year 2010 is the 700 anniversary of the compilation of Le Roman de Fauvel’s first book. It was written in 1310 (1266 verses), then later completed in 1314 (2054 verses) by Gervais de Bus, an important French royal clerk, whose name is hidden as anagram at the end of the second book. The poem represents a bitter allegorical – and terribly actual – satire, which condemns abuses in contemporary political and religious life. Among the twelve surviving manuscripts, there is one that is particularly precious (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français 146). Attributed to Chaillou de Pesstain, compiled likely around 1316, its particular value resides in the additional 3000 verses and 169 musical pieces (56 in Latin and 113 in French) which constitute a veritable anthology of thirteenth and early fourteenth century music. The literary text is lavishly illuminated, so that the poem, the music, and the images all together contribute to a multimedia medieval work. LaReverdie, after intensively researching the manuscript, has decided to welcome the challenge to present this extraordinary unicum in a performance within the didactic context of the International Courses of Early Music Urbino 2010. In Urbino six high-qualified young musicians have been selected to work together with the members of laReverdie. The concert successfully concluded the International Festival of Early Music Urbino 2010. We are proud to present this performance as the result of the synthesis of laReverdie’s seasoned musical, musicological and didactical experience as well as the fresh energy that young musicians bring to such a stimulating project.