Il Gioco della cieca (Blind Man’s Bluff)
“Blind love I do not trust to thee, that makes desires full of obscurity”. Thus comments the chorus in Guarini’s play, “The Faithful Shepherd” (Il pastor fido) on two lovers’ passionate but beleaguered love tale. In the third act of the play, set in the idyllic pastoral world of Arcadia, two lovers play a game of “Blind Man’s Bluff” (or Gioco della Cieca, as it is known in Italian). One, Amaryllis, is blindfolded and accidentally ends up in the arms of the other, Mirtillo, who desires her, unbeknownst to her and the community. While the two characters wander sightless—Amaryllis because of the blindfold, Mirtillo because of his tormented love—Guarini’s chorus bemoans the treacherous and false nature of blind love.
Taking as an inspiration the vocal and instrumental works of late 16th and early 17th century Italian composers such as deWert, Caccini, Kapsberger and d’India, the ensemble Concerto di Margherita presents a fable of an archetypal Lover, caught, like Amaryllis in Guarini’s play, in a cruel game of Blind Man’s Bluff. Playing with sight and visibility throughout the concert, the musicians, who all sing and accompany themselves on their instrument, take the audience with them on the Lover’s path: born in Arcadian innocence, blinded and deluded by love, lost and disoriented in darkness and finding solace in obscurity.
Music by deWert, Caccini, Kapsberger, d’India, Andrea Gabrieli, Monteverdi and more.
PROGRAMME
Improvisation on “La Gazzella”
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580 – 1651)
Veri diletti, Libro secondo d’arie
Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1641)
Aure Volanti (Coro di Damigelle), La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina
Sigismondo d’India (1582 – 1692)
Occhi belli, occhi sereni, Primo libro di Villanelle a 3, 4 e 5 voci
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643)
Lumi miei, cari lumi, Il terzo libro dei madrigali,
Giaches de Wert (1535 – 1596)
O primavera gioventù dell’anno, O dolcezze amarissi-me, Ma se le mie speranze, L’undecimo libro di madrigali a cinque voci
Giulio Caccini
Amarilli, mia bella, Le nuove musiche
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger
Che fai tu, Villanelle, Libro secondo
Sigismondo d’India
Occhi de’ miei desiri, Secondo libro di villanelle a 3, 4 e 5 voci
Su, su prendi la cetra o pastore, Le musiche per due voci
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 – 1643)
Donna siam’ rei di morte, Primo libro d’arie musicali
Sigismondo d’India
Amorosi miei sol, Primo libro di Villanelle a 3, 4 e 5 voci
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger
Sinfonia à 4, Libro Primo di Sinfonie a 4 voci
Sigismondo d’India
Cara mia cetra, Le Musiche da cantar
Giaches de Wert
E s’altri non m’inganna, O lungamente sospirato, L’undecimo libro di madrigali a cinque voci
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger
Passacaglia, Libro quarto d’intavolatura di chitarrone
Giulio Caccini
Queste lagrime amare, Le nuove musiche
Giaches de Wert
Chi mi fura il ben mio, Primo libro di madrigali a quattro voci
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi (1554 – 1609)
Cieco Amor Quarto libro de’ Madrigali
Here is a preview video for the concert:
