secrets of a Fool
a Musical portrait of a jester
When we think about the Middle Ages, the image of a jester springs to mind: this emblematic character is one of the clichés associated with the medieval world. In this program, we reflect on the public and private voices of these artists: how does it feel to be on such thin ice, navigating between the role of entertainer and the risks one takes when criticizing others? How does the jester know when to push boundaries or with whom he can take off his mask? What happens when a jester is alone?
With origins in the sacred world, the jester became a political and social figure in the fourteenth century. In opposition to royal wisdom, his word is ironic, critical and, despite this, accepted. We can find similar characteristics in musical works, and the repertoire selected presents pieces that stand out through moralistic and critical texts paired with humorous rhetoric.
In this program, we aim to trace a portrait of an imaginary jester through a selection of deep and refined madrigals filled with metaphors, but also with simpler songs in which quick wittiness overpowers any other aspect.
We’re not living in the middle ages !
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” adults ask the protagonist of this show over and over again. “I'll be a knight and a dad,” replies the child whom the world sees as a little girl. Their determination is such that a miracle occurs, and suddenly eras blend together, unusual instruments appear, and our protagonist and the audience are transported to another era.
The musical theater duo ual.la, emerging as a notable presence in the musical theater world and known for its inventive use of everyday props, joins forces with the musicians of Sollazzo to lead children and parents through this story with empathy, humor, and playfulness.
Staged show, 55 minutes. For children ages 6 to 12 and their families.
Firenze 1350
A Medieval Florentine Garden
It is said that on a warm morning of the year 1389, in a Florentine garden known as “Il Paradiso,” the famous organ virtuoso Franceso degli Organi accepted the challenge of silencing the birds, by no other means than the beauty of his playing. This blind composer and multi- instrumentalist was known in the city not only for his musical prowess, but also for his rhetorical abilities and philosophical views. A perfect example of an early humanist, Francesco, together with fellow composers such as Lorenzo da Firenze, Andrea Stefani, and Giovanni da Firenze, was to bring the music of their time to its apogee.
CANTANO GLI ANGELI
Caritas et Amor in Medieval Sacred Music
Around 1320, two French treatises revolutionized the music world: Ars Novae Musicae by Jean de Muris, and the collection Ars Nova, attributed to Philippe de Vitry. From these writings sprung a new chapter of Western music: rich and ornate melodies, dense polyphony, and novel rhythmic patterns are woven together to form a new expressive tapestry, particularly in the field of sacred music. A program that brings us to the fringes of an old mystical world - in which the lines between the divine and the human become blurry - challenging what we might think about religious medieval music.
anonyma ?
When a medieval or Renaissance music program places women at the center of its theme, they are often honored as muses, rarely as potential original performers, and only exceptionally as composers. But what if the vast body of Renaissance anonymous works had been written by women ? This dizzying prospect leads us to present this program of songs from the 15th century, anonymous pieces setting texts with a feminine or neutral poetical « I ».
The figure of Margaret of Austria, a prolific collector of works of art, occupies a central place in this program, since she owned most of the musical sources used here. With this program, rather than stating that specific pieces are written by women, we observe — and invite the audience to observe with us — how quickly our imagination associates an anonymous composer with the idea of a male composer. Beyond this mental exercise, we also offer a selection of beautiful, masterful polyphonic pieces that carry emotions across the centuries.
LE CORPS S’EN VA, LE COEUR DEMEURE…
Songs from the Leuven Chansonnier
In 2015, at an auction, a collector was in an adventurous mood and decided to take a risk: he bought a lot, including a little statue, a box, and a small old book. Curious about the old scores written in the latter, he contacted the Alamire Foundation in Leuven. The researchers there could not believe their eyes: he had fortuitously found a fifteenth-century songbook, an object the likes of which, until then, could quite literally be counted on the fingers of one hand. Sollazzo collaborates with the Alamire Foundation to perform and record the complete manuscript, in co-production with the recording labels Passacaille and Ambronay. This concert presents their favorite pieces among the 50 works collected in this mysterious chansonnier.
LA FLAMBOYANCE
Ceremonial Music around 1425
Like a monumental fresco brought to life, our program "La Flamboyance" is performed by a large group of musicians who imagine the sounds that would have been heard on the most solemn occasions around the year 1425. Cultural life was flourishing and international exchanges were already frequent: links between France and Flanders were such that the musical repertoire of this period is known as Franco-Flemish; exchanges with Italy abounded, as most composers spent time there during their careers. This melting pot of ideas and influences led to the development of a particularly captivating chapter in musical history: the musical repertoire was refined, virtuosic, and brilliant, and it reflected the characteristics of the "flamboyant gothic" style that was in vogue at the time, characterized by exuberance and an aesthetic in which ornamentation took precedence over form.
Numerous musical works demonstrate a desire to impress the listener. These compositions had a profound impact on society and were an essential element of important official occasions. Contemporary accounts and detailed payment registers document the musical ensembles working at the courts at this time. We can thus observe on the one hand the birth of the concept of the solo instrumentalist, some of whom developed long careers and acquired international renown; on the other hand, we see traces of large ensembles on extraordinary occasions, for example, in 1454 in Lille when no less than twenty-four musicians played at a political meeting.
It is with a similar cast that Sollazzo explores these extravagant and brilliant repertoires, which combine magnificence and depth, which tend towards virtuosity, and yet in which no note is too many. These compositions come to us through exactly six centuries, and to hear it resonate today, as a 21st-century listener, seems miraculous.