TRA SAN MARCO E SAN CASSIANO: From church to opera in Monteverdi’s circle

The opening of the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice in 1637, can be considered as a true revolution in music history, as it is the first public “opera house” in the world. Cavalli, Mannelli, Ferrari created some of their major theatre compositions there. All of them have been in contact with Claudio Monteverdi as pupils or collaborators.

If Monteverdi was a prolific opera composer (unfortunately only three of his opera works survived), we cannot think of him without mentioning his function of Maestro di Cappella in the Basilica di San Marco. Many of his pupils and collaborators (either as singers or instrumentalists, or even as vice-maestro), among them Cavalli, Grandi, Obizzi, Marini, had successful careers, and their music is still being rediscovered nowadays.

The third main pole of Monteverdi’s production was, of course, madrigal. From his Cremonese and Mantuan periods (where he composed mainly five voices madrigal) his musical language in the Venetian period evolved in the direction of solo and concertant compositions (especially starting from the 7^th book of madrigals). The “Scherzi musicali” (1632), for example, offers an interesting variety of styles going from recitar-cantando to genuine arias, approaching what could be heard in theatres.

Conceived as a “passeggiata” between these two important musical locations, rather than a chronological or thematic succession, this program will show the influence the Divin Claudio had on his fellow artists and will alternate sacred works, solo madrigals and opera arias, alongside instrumental works by some of the most prominent Venetian-centered composers.

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)

Laudate Dominum

(from Selva morale et sprirituale, 1641)

Alessandro Grandi (1590–1630)

O quam tu pulchra es

(from Ghirlanda sacra, 1625)

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)

Ecco di dolci raggi

Eri già tutta mia

Maledetto sia l’aspetto

(from Scherzi musicali cioè arie musicali in stil recitativo, 1632)

Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580–1651)

Toccata arpeggiata

(from Primo libro d’intavolatura di chitarrone, 1604)

Biagio Marini (1594–1663)

Peccator Pentito

(from Arie musicali et corenti, op .3, 1620)

Giovanni Antonio Rigatti (1613–1648)

Surge columba mea

(from Mottetti a voce sola, 1643)

Domenico Obizzi (c. 1620-uosius)

E’ si grave il tormento

(from Madrigali et arie a voce sola, 1625)

Biagio Marini (1594–1663)

Mirate nel cielo notturno

(from Scherzi e canzonette, op.5, 1622)

Giovanni Stefani (c. 1620-uosius)

Eternità d’amore, Romanesca

(from Canzonette a voce sola, 1618)

Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde (c. 1595–1638)

Susanna Passeggiata

(from Canzonie, fantasie et correnti, Venezia, 1638)

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)

Dormo ancora

(from operaIl Ritorno di Ulisse In Patria, 1640)

Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676)

Non fu natural vento

(from operaLa Didone, 1641)

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)

Ed è pur dunque vero

Quel sguardo sdegnosetto

(from Scherzi musicali cioè arie musicali in stil recitativo, 1632)

Benedetto Ferrari (c. 1603–1681)

Già più volte tremante

(from Musiche varie a voce sola, libro I, 1633)

Dario Castello (1602–1631)

Sonata I a soprano solo

(from Sonate concertate in stil moderno, 1621)

Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676)

Lasso, io vivo e non ho vita

(from opera L’Egisto, 1643)

Francesco Sacrati (1605–1650)

Se ad un altro si sposa l’amata donna

(from opera La Finta Pazza (1641)

Born in Italy, Valerio Contaldo grew up in Switzerland. After training as a classical guitarist in Sion and Paris, he studied at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne where he obtained a Master degree in singing performance.

His repertoire includes the most important works of sacred music from Monteverdi to Frank Martin, including Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Rossini. He performs in major European Festivals and concert halls (Carnegie Hall in NY, Musikverein in Vienna, Beaune and Ambronay festivals, Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Bilbao, Warsaw and Tokyo, MA Festival in Bruges, Oude Muziek Festival in Utrecht), and at the opera (Opéra de Paris, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the Opéra de Nice, the Opéra de Bordeaux, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, as well as at the Festivals of Edinburgh, Aix-en-Provence and Graz).

He performed the title role in “L'Orfeo” by Monteverdi, with Concerto Italiano in Barcelona, Adelaide, Shanghai and Beijing, as well as with the Cappella Mediterranea in Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris, and on tour in South America. He works under the baton of conductors such as L. García Alarcón, R. Alessandrini, M. Minkowski, M. Corboz, W. Christie, A. Bernardini, J. Nelson, Ph. Herreweghe, S. MacLeod, S. Daucé, S. Fuget, J.-M. Aymes and others.

Among his recent highly acclaimed recordings: Monteverdi's “L’Orfeo” with Cappella Mediterranea, Monteverdi’s “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria”, Bach's “B minor Mass” with Gli Angeli Geneva and others.

in South-Eastern Italy, raised professionally in Switzerland and France, Jacopo Raffaele has also lived in the UK. Accompanying and coaching singers in the 17^th century Italian repertoire is the thing he enjoys the most. He joined Cappella Mediterranea in 2016 and has performed hundreds of concerts and operas with them ever since, eventually being appointed assistant conductor on several productions. Jacopo has also a parallel career as a singer-songwriter and composer under the stage name “il Baskerville”. Since 2023, he holds the position of accompanist harpsichordist at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland.

“One to watch” for the Gramophone magazine, Teodoro Baù is a winner of international competitions including MA Festival Bruges (2021) and Bach-Abel Wettbewerb Köthen (2015). His debut recording, published by Ricercar and containing sonatas by Arcangelo Corelli, won several prizes and awards including the Diapason d'Or.

Born in Italy, he began his study of viola da gamba with Claudia Pasetto and continued in Basel and Salzburg. He also studied Renaissance lute under Massimo Lonardi. Teodoro lives in Basel, and in recent years has alternated between solo and chamber activity; he is a member of the ensemble “La Fonte Musica”, in which he plays the ars subtilior repertoire with the medieval viella. He teaches viola da gamba at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and at the historic summer courses in Urbino.

Francesca Benetti is a guitarist, theorbist, player of early music plucked instruments (born in Trento). She graduated in classical guitar at theConservatorio Benedetto Marcelloof Veniceand in Bern at theUniversity of the Arts with a Master degree on contemporary music. Her interest in early music resulted in Master degree at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensisin Basel.

She has performed as a soloist and as a basso continuo-player throughout Europe in various festivals and venues, played under notable conductors such as R. Jacobs, R. Alessandrini, A. Marcon, collaborating with various ensembles as La Cetra Barockorchester, Capricornus Consort Basel, Cappella Mediterranea and others. She combines her varied instrumentalist’s music life with the singing practice – this is what she strives for while leading the ensemble Concerto di Margherita. The ensemble performs regularly in the most important early music festivals.