FLORENCE 1600 - Giulio Caccini, Jacopo Peri: two virtuoso singers, two composers about to revolutionize the art of singing.

At the very end of the sixteenth century, the city of Florence organized magnificent celebrations for the wedding of Ferdinand de’ Medici and Christine de Lorraine. The best singers and instrumentalists were brought together for an occasion that would give birth to a completely new work, both from a theatrical and musical point of view La Pellegrina. Emilio de’ Cavalieri and his assistants Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini strongly believed in a new musical style that would do away with polyphony in favor of monody so as to give precedence to text and expressivity.

The music of Giulio Caccini and his Nuove Musiche and Peri’s songs are well known, but it is interesting to set in parallel the genius of these two great musicians and to explore two worlds in which, however similar their language and compositional principles, their means of expressing sensitivity and emotions differ enormously.

In reaction to Renaissance polyphony, their music was written to be sung to the accompaniment of a single plucked instrument. Singers would often accompany themselves, but would also perform among and accompanied by family members.

Thus the familial duo of Marc and Angelique resonates very naturally with the heritage of those great musicians.

G. Caccini (15521–1618): Dolcissimo sospiro

J. Peri (1561–1633): Tu dormi

T. Merula (1595–1665): Follè ben

G. Caccini:  A quei sospir ardenti

G. Caccini: Vedrò il mio sol

C. Monteverdi (1567-1643): Perche se m’odiavi

L. Luzzaschi (1545-1607): Toccata

G. Caccini: Movetevi a pieta

G. Caccini: Torna, deh torna

J. Peri: Tutto il dì piango

A. Piccinini(1566-1638) : Aria di Sarabanda

G. Caccini: Pien d’amoroso affetto

S. Le Camus (1610-1677): Je m’abandonne à vous

Anonyme: sans amour et sans tendresse

B. de Bacilly (1621-1690): J’ai voulu suivre une autre loy

S. Le Camus (1610-1677): Un berger plus beau que le jour

F. Dufaut (1604-1670): Suite en Ré mineur（Suite Harpe）

M. Lambert (1610-1696): J’ai juré mille fois

S. Le Camus: Il n’est rien dans la vie

M. Lambert: Laisse-moy soupirer

H. D’Ambruis (1660-1702) : Le doux silence de nos bois

Producer｜Formosa Baroque

Baritone｜Marc MAUILLON,

Baroque Harp｜Angélique MAUILLON