Villa I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies



			MUSIC AT VILLA I TATTI The concerts of early music organized by the Morrill Music Library are an integral part of the academic activities at Villa I Tatti. They range from intimate performances for the I Tatti community in the Big Library - often lecture-recitals on period instruments such as the fortepiano or cembalo cromatico - to those performed by early music groups in the Limonaia for a wider audience. The series Early Music at I Tatti, established by Prof. Joseph Connors in 2002, offers twice-yearly concerts performed by musicians of international renown. These aim to present to the Florentine community innovative programmes of early music centering around a particular theme or idea, such as an examination of the concept of humour in Renaissance music (Early Music at I Tatti, II), the role of music in medieval thought (Early Music at I Tatti, I) or the traditional repertoire deriving from the therapeutic effects of music on the bite of the tarantula spider in southern Italy (Early Music at I Tatti, XII). Many offer repertoires which are rarely heard in Italy today, ranging from works by one of the earliest known Florentine composers, Don Paolo da Firenze (fl. 1390-1425) (Early Music at I Tatti, VII), to music written for the Hapsburg court at Vienna in the mid seventeenth century by Italian composers favoured by the Austrian emperors (Early Music at I Tatti, IX). Contemporary music is sometimes an integral part of the programmes: Early Music at I Tatti, IV juxtaposed Petrarch settings by Renaissance composers with settings by the English composer Gavin Bryars, while Early Music at I Tatti, VIII focused on the fruitful relationship which has developed between contemporary composers and performers of early music. Both concerts featured world premieres of new works written for the occasion. Admission to I Tatti’s concert series is free, but by invitation only. Those wishing to be added to the invitation list are kindly requested to write to sbates@itatti.it Kathryn Bosi F. Gordon and Elizabeth Morrill Music Librarian Upcoming concerts 10 June 2010: to be announced Past concerts The following lists the concerts produced at Villa I Tatti during the last twenty years. 16 October 2009: *Early music at I Tatti, XV* "Musica nova" from Adriano Willaert to Gavin Bryars Singer Pur 11 September 2009: Christoph Hammer (fortepiano) Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655 – 1732) and the invention of the fortepiano in Florence (Performed on a copy of the fortepiano by Bartolomeo Cristofori in the Museum of the University of Leipzig, made by Kerstin Schwarz and currently held in the Museo degli strumenti musicali of the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence) 11 June 2009: *Early music at I Tatti, XIV* “Curiose et moderne inventioni” The birth of the trio sonata Baroque Fever 20 May 2009: *Lecture recital* La voce di Orfeo: gli amori di Francesco Rasi Philippe Canguilhem (speaker); Furio Zanasi (baritone) Ensemble La Chimera, directed by Eduardo Egüez 8 October 2008: *Early Music at I Tatti, XIII* Maria Cristina Kiehr (soprano) Stylus Phantasticus Dietrich Buxtehude: Ciaccona, il mondo che gira 7 September 2008 (Big Library, Biblioteca Berenson) Concert by pupils of the Department of Historical and Contemporary Performance of the P. I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory of Moscow. Daria Borkovskaya, Yulia Kuznetsova, Liza Miller, Aleksandra Nepomnyashchaya and Olga Pashchenko performed works by Johann Sebastian Bach, William Byrd, Johann C. F. Fischer, Gottlieb Muffat and Georg Muffat on I Tatti’s own harpsichord. Based on the Giovanni Battista Giusti of 1693 in the Smithsonian Institute, it was made by Ugo Casiglia and generously donated by former Fellow Frederick Hammond in April 2005 (see below). (Villa I Tatti has initiated a collaborative project with the State Conservatory of Moscow to enable Russian students to gain experience on historic keyboard instruments in Tuscany under the guidance of Prof. Ella Sevskaya. We are grateful to the following institutions which kindly make their instruments available for the project: the Museo degli strumenti musicali of the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence; the Laboratorio di Restauro of the Accademia Bartolomeo Cristofori, Florence; and the Museo degli Organi, Massa Marittima. We are also grateful to instrument makers Kerstin Schwarz and Tony Chinnery for their kind collaboration, and to Prof. Ella Sevskaya for her annual masterclasses). 5 June 2008 : *Early Music at I Tatti, XII* Pino de Vittorio (voice, Spanish guitar) Marco Beasley (voice) Guido Morini (musical direction) Accordone Via Toledo 9 October 2007: *Early Music at I Tatti, XI* I Fagiolini Claudio Monteverdi: Flaming heart 27 September 2007 program (pdf) Duo Moreno-Capelli Concerto per Stefano Corsi 7 September 2007 (Big Library, Biblioteca Berenson) Patrizia Bovi (voice, harp, percussion) Begona Olavide (voice, psaltery, percussion) Donne ispaniche: il regno, la memoria, l’esilio 4 September 2007 (at the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence) Concert by pupils from the Department of Historical and Contemporary Performance of the P. I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory of Moscow. Nadezhda Sosland, Olga Pashchenko, Daria Borkovskaya and Aleksandra Nepomnyaschchaya performed on the copy by Kerstin Schwarz of the fortepiano by Bartolomeo Cristofori in the Museum of the University of Leipzig, and on a harpsichord by Andrea Di Maio, copy of the ‘Barberini’ harpsichord on display in the Galleria’s exhibition Meraviglie Sonore: strumenti musicali del barocco italiano (June 12 - November 4, 2007). 24 May 2007: *Early Music at I Tatti, X* laReverdie Guillaume Du Fay: ‘Viaggio in Italia’ 5 October 2006: *Early Music at I Tatti, IX* Ricercar Consort Antonio Bertali, ‘valoroso nel violino’ 8 September 2006 (in the Big Library, Biblioteca Berenson) Concert by pupils of the Department of Historical and Contemporary Performance of the P. I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory of Moscow. Nadezhda Sosland, Olga Pashchenko, Daria Borkovskaya and Aleksandra Nepomnyashchaya performed works by Domenico Scarlatti and Johann Sebastian Bach. 25 May 2006 (at the church of San Martino a Mensola): *Early Music at I Tatti, VIII* Singer Pur *Ave maris stella*: vocal music for the Virgin Mary by medieval, renaissance and contemporary composers (The programme included works by the contemporary American composer Joanne Metcalf and the world premiere of Frammento del Dante che tratta della Beata Vergine, Regina coelorum, written by English composer Christopher Lyndon-Gee for Singer Pur. Both composers were present for the occasion) 13 April 2006 (in the Studiolo, Villa I Tatti) Giulia Nuti Keyboard music by Carlos Seixas, Antonio Soler, Francesco Durante and Alessandro Scarlatti (performed on Villa I Tatti’s harpsichord by Ugo Casiglia, donated by Frederick Hammond) 13 October 2005: *Early Music at I Tatti, VII* Mala punica ‘Narcisso speculando’ 9 September 2005 (in the Big Library, Biblioteca Berenson) Ella Sevskaya A century of music on the fortepiano (Performed on a copy of the fortepiano by Bartolomeo Cristofori in the Museum of the University of Leipzig, made by Kerstin Schwarz and currently on loan to the Museo degli strumenti musicali of the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence) 9 June 2005: *Early Music at I Tatti, VI* L’Arpeggiata ‘Homo fugit velut umbra’ 5 April 2005 (in the Big Library, Biblioteca Berenson) Frederick Hammond ‘Per arrichir d’eterna gioia i cori’: Music to celebrate a harpsichord (Presentation of the harpsichord by Ugo Casiglia based on the G. B. Giusti of 1693 in the Smithsonian Institute, generously donated to Villa I Tatti by former Fellow Frederick Hammond. 7 October 2004: *Early Music at I Tatti, V* Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca ‘Follie all’italiana’, con alcuni Passacagli, Ciaccone & Capricci a Tre 10 September 2004 (in the Big Library, Biblioteca Berenson) Christopher Stembridge A century and a half of music on the lute-harpsichord (Performed on a copy of an 18^th century Saxon Lautenwerk made by Willard Martin) 27 May 2004: *Early Music at I Tatti, IV* Solisti Vox Àltera, with Antonio Fazzini (voce recitante) ‘Chiaro segno Amor pose alle mie rime’: Francesco Petrarca nella musica dal Rinascimento ad oggi (World premier of Gavin Bryars, A qualunque animale alberga in terra, commissioned by Villa I Tatti for Solisti Vox Àltera in memory of Elizabeth and F. Gordon Morrill, founders of the Morrill Music Library). 29 January 2004 (in the church of San Martino a Mensola) Monika Mauch (soprano) Nigel North (lute and theorbo) In memoriam Elizabeth and Gordon Morrill 2 October 2003: *Early Music at I Tatti, III* The Harp Consort Luz y Norte Musical: the dance book of Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz (Madrid 1677) 19 September 2003 (in the Big Library, Biblioteca Berenson) Ella Sevskaya A century of music on the oval spinet (Performed on the copy of Bartolomeo Cristofori’s oval spinet made by Kerstin Schwarz and Tony Chinnery, now in the Museo degli strumenti musicali at the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence) 29 May 2003: *Early Music at I Tatti, II* I Fagiolini (with Antonio Fazzini, voce recitante) Mascarate piacevoli et ridicolose 26 November 2002 (in the church of San Martino a Mensola) Orlando Consort Ruth and Nicolai Rubinstein: In memoriam 1 October 2002: *Early Music at I Tatti, I* La Reverdie O tu chiara sciença: musica nel pensiero medievale 14 June 2002 (at the church of San Martino a Mensola) Janet Youngdahl (soprano) Victor Coelho (lute) ‘Duty, faith, and love are Roots and Ever Green”: songs and dances in honor of Walter Kaiser’ 24 May 2001 (Big Library, Biblioteca Berenson) Christopher Stembridge Lecture-recital on the cembalo cromatico (Performed on a reconstruction by Denzil Wraight of an Italian chromatic harpsichord following contemporary documentation) 6 May 1999 Richard Wistreich (bass) Nigel North (lute) ‘Sopra la musica antica e ’l cantar bene’: omaggio a Giovanni de’ Bardi 1 October 1998 Orlando Consort Dulcedo e subtilitas: concerto in memoria di Nino Pirrotta 25 May 1995 The Newberry Consort Il Solazzo: Concerto in memoria di Howard Mayer Brown 23 April 1992 I Fagiolini Un concerto per Dubrovnik Concert to raise funds for the restoration of Dubrovnik after the bombing of 6 December 1991. 10 October 1991 Ensemble Sine Nomine La vida de Colin: ribaldi, vecchie, malmaritate e alter storie del ‘400 Concert accompanyinig the conference I miti della musica: ‘Tempo musicale e tempo drammatico nell’iconografia’ 31 May 1988 Gruppo Recitar Cantando Concert accompanyinig the conference Ceremoniale, festa, teatro: momenti europei dello spettacolo italiano (un saluto per Louise George Clubb)

Patrizia Bovi (voice, harp, percussion)