Stella Nova – The New Star
Stella Nova offers a view into the unusually rich repertoire for Advent and Christmas that developed in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Extending far beyond the strictly liturgical tradition, this music reflects festively embellished medieval Christmastime celebrations.
The concert opens with an English devotional sequence and motet reflecting on the picturesque miracles of St. Nicholas, a holy bishop from 4th-century Asia Minor whose feast day surrounds the winter solstice. Worshiped throughout the Middle Ages from Iceland to Italy, St. Nick, not yet suspected of domestic trespassing by sliding down the chimney once a year, originally shared attributes with other Norse deities such as Wotan or For.
Then, in a panoply of French motets and English cantilenas, the program recounts the birth of Christ. Demonstrating the widespread Marian devotion in the 13th and 14th centuries, these works reflect a dual celebration of Christ’s birth alongside the Mother of God as the medium of salvation. For instance, in polyphonic motets, various texts focusing on this duality are layered on top of each other to amplify the solemnity of the occasion.
The program concludes with a selection of French motets and Italian laude, which tell the story of the comet (Stella nova), venerated in the Jewish Book of Numbers, and whose bright light led the Three Wise Men to honor the holy child with precious gifts.
Over the past 40 years, in order to bring alive the rich and varied medieval repertory, the members of laReverdie considered it to be crucial to both sing and play several instruments. For this purpose, they have developed a common language and sound that rend them unmistakable both in the mixture of their voices as well as of their instruments.
Along the over 40 years of research, laReverdie has ranged from liturgical chant to the first examples of polyphony, from the Italian and French Ars nova to the complex Franco-Flemish polyphony of Quattrocento, utilizing also the practice of improvisation, and dialog with instruments of other cultures.
The group is regularly invited to perform in Festivals and Concert Seasons in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, England, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Hungary and Mexico.
Concerts of laReverdie has been recorded and broadcasted on Radio3 (Italy), Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Südwest Rundfunk e Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Germany), BRT3, Radio Klara (Belgium), France Musique (France), ORF 1 (Austria), Antenna 2 (Portugal), Rne e RTVE (Spain), Radio2 (Poland), Radio Televizija Slovenja (Slovenia), Espace2 (Switzerland), KRO Radio4 (Netherlands).
