Around 1600, Antwerp was a bustling commercial metropolis, but also a flourishing market for music. Italian madrigals were eagerly printed and reprinted, often ornamented with virtuoso diminutions. In Floridi virtuosi d’Italia, More Maiorum turns the spotlight on the Italian composers whose work featured most often in prints made in Antwerp at the time. Their work is alternated with brilliant instrumental madrigal adaptations by virtuosos including the English harpsichord specialist Peter Philips, who emigrated to the Low Countries, and the lute player Emanuel Adriaenssen – eloquent examples of how the Italian fashion was picked up by local artists. This programme is the soundtrack to a story of trendsetters and followers of fashion, inspiration versus creation, and art that zigzagged across Europe long before the Schengen Agreement unlocked the borders.
Program
Italian madrigals from Antwerp prints, circa 1600
Performers
Katerina Blížkovská, mezzo-soprano | Stephen Moran, viola da gamba | Asako Ueda, lute | Kris Verhelst, harpsichord & virginal | Peter Van Heyghen, recorders & artistic director