LA GRAZIA DELLE DONNE
– Music of the Italian Baroque by women and the men who encouraged them
“Who does not know that without women we can feel no content or satisfaction throughout this life of ours, which but for them would be rude and devoid of all sweetness and more savage than that of wild beasts? Who does not know that women alone banish from our hearts all vile and base thoughts, vexations, miseries, and those turbid melancholies that so often are their fellows?”—Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (1528)
La Cigale proposes a celebration of femininity with a program of Italian music of the Baroque. The program features works by master women composers: Barbara Strozzi, Francesca and Settima Caccini, Vittoria Aleotti and Isabella Leonarda; as well as pieces by some of the men who encouraged feminine creativity: Giulio Caccini and Antonio Vivaldi.
Program:
The Caccini Family:
Ch’amor sia nudo – Francesca Caccini (1587-après 1641)
Se muove a giurar fede – Francesca Caccini
Si miei tormenti – Settimia Caccini (1591-1741)
Udite amanti – Giulio Caccini (vers 1550-1613)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Sonate en trio RV 63 en ré mineur “La Follia”
Vittoria Aleotti (ca 1575-1620)
Bacai per haver vita
Io v’amo vita mia
Hor che la vaga aurora
Isabella Leonarda
Purpurei Flores
Sonata Prima Opus 16
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)
Lagrime mie
Hor che Apollo
Musicians:
Stephanie Manias, soprano
Madeleine Owen, lute, theorbo, Baroque guitar and Artistic Director
Sara Lackie, Baroque triple harp and Assistant Director
Marie-Michel Beaupaiant, Baroque cello
Vincent Lauzer, recorders
Sari Tsuji, Baroque violin
(Photo credit: Nadia Zheng)
