Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver
DanteNova: Music from Dante’s Commedia
GENERAL ADMISSION PEWS STILL AVAILABLE
Works by: Machaut, Landini, Ciconia, & more
Artists: La Fonte Musica directed by Michele Pasotti with Bill Richardson, narration
Pre-Concert Chat: 6:15 – 6:55pm with Michele Pasotti – “Music From Dante’s Divine Comedy” (in collaboration with the Dante Alighieri Society of BC).
Please note that admittance to the lecture will be closed once it begins, so please arrive by 6:15 if you wish to attend.
From the wailing cries and silences of Inferno to the angelic concerts of Paradiso, this programme revisits the pages of Dante’s Divine Comedy where music resounds throughout. Dante wrote his Comedy around the time when a new musical style, the Ars Nova (“New Art”) spread throughout France and Italy.
La Fonte Musica, an ensemble whose artistic journey is to unveil the roots of the music composed during the transition from the Middle Ages to Renaissance humanism, takes listeners on a musical journey through the Ars Nova and Dante’s timeless masterpiece, to Heaven from Hell.
Generously supported by Dorothy Jantzen.
Runtime: 75 minutes, no intermission
Doors Open for Pre-Concert Chat at 6pm | Doors Open for the Concert at 6:55pm.
Click here for the programme notes by Michele Pasotti.
PROGRAMME
INFERNO
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Divine Comedy VII, 1-15: Pluto, with a raucous voice
Antonio Zacara da Teramo
Deus Deorum Pluto
Divine Comedy XXVI, 1-12: Rejoice, Florence!
Paolo da Firenze
Godi Firençe
Divine Comedy XXXI, 71-72: The giant Nembrot
Divine Comedy XXXIV, 1: Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni
Gregorian Chant
Vexilla Regis Prodeunt
Divine Comedy XXXIV, 16-59: Lucifer
Guillaume de Machaut
Fons Totius Superbiae/O Livoris Feritas/Fera Pessima
PURGATORY
Divine Comedy: Purgatory: Penitence and Love
Divine Comedy II, 37-51: the souls sing ‘In exitu Isräel de Aegypto’
Gregorian Chant
In exitu Isräel de Aegypto
Divine Comedy II, 76-117: Casella sings ‘Amor che nella mente mi ragiona’
Francesco Landini
Che Cos’è quest’Amor?
Divine Comedy: Cycle of the Prayers
Divine Comedy VII, 65-84: Valley of the negligent princes
Anonymous/Zacara da Teramo
Nostra Avocata
Divine Comedy VIII, 1-18: The souls pray and sing
Anonymous (Codex Rossi)
Lucente Stella
Divine Comedy IX, 130-145: Purgatory’s threshold
Gregorian Chant
Te Deum laudamus
Divine Comedy XVI, 1-24: The angry ones sing Agnus Dei
Matteo da Perugia
Ave Sancta/Agnus Dei
Divine Comedy: Cycle of the Women
Divine Comedy XXVII, 91-108: Dante dreams Leah singing
Francesco Landini
Questa Fanciulla Amor
Divine Comedy XXVIII, 7-42; XXIX, 1-30: Matelda arrives “singing and picking flowers”
Landini/Anonymous
Agnus Dei ‘Questa Fanciulla’
Divine Comedy XXX, 1-39: Beatrice appears accompanied by chants
Anthonello da Caserta
Più chiar che’l sol
PARADISE
Divine Comedy III, 121-130: Piccarda fades away while singing Ave Maria
Anonymous
Ave Stella Matutina
Divine Comedy: Dante contemplates Mary
Divine Comedy XXIII, 79-84: The Sunbeam
Johannes Ciconia
Le Ray au Soleyl
Divine Comedy XXIII 127-129: The blessed souls sing Regina Coeli
Gregorian Chant/Anonymous (Codex Faenza 117)
Ave Maris Stella
Divine Comedy: The angels sing Gloria and Osanna
Divine Comedy XXVII, 1-15: Gloria
Matteo da Perugia
Gloria
Divine Comedy: Mary’s triumph
Divine Comedy XXXII, 88-99: The angel Gabriel sings
Anonymous (Llibre Vermell de Monteserrat)
Mariam matrem Virginem
Michele Pasotti, director
Since his beginnings with the electric guitar, Michele Pasotti plays and listens to very different musical genres.
He graduated in Lute with highest honours, studying with Massimo Lonardi, and specialized attending masterclasses by Hopkinson Smith and Paul O’Dette. At the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan he later specialized in Renaissance music Theory and Counterpoint and deepened the study of late medieval practice both in Milan and Barcelona (Esmuc). At Rome’s University “Tor Vergata” he attended the specialization course Ars Nova in Europa, getting a first class degree.
He also received a first class degree in Theoretical Philosophy with a dissertation on Martin Heidegger.
From 2013 to 2018 Michele Pasotti held an Ars Nova course at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano. He is professor of Lute at the Conservatorio di Musica “B.Maderna” in Cesena He also gives lectures, either on musicological subjects, or to introduce and spread the knowledge of lutes and early music, also with Radio Broadcasts (Rai Radio 3).
He is founder and director of la fonte musica, the center of his musical life.
Beyond the activity with la fonte musica, he is called to conduct other ensembles like Capella Cracoviensis e Harmonia Cordis.
He plays regularly with Il Giardino Armonico, I Barocchisti, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble, Collegium Vocale, Arcangelo, Les Musiciens du Prince, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Il Ricercar Continuo, Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri, Sheridan Ensemble, Cecilia Bartoli.
He loves playing chamber music with Alena Dantcheva, and his trio Il Ricercar Continuo with Giulia Genini e Alessandro Palmeri.
He was guested by the most eminent musical seasons and concert halls in Europe, United States and Asia and was directed by Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner, Giovanni Antonini, Philippe Herreweghe, Thomas Hengelbrock, Diego Fasolis, Christophe Rousset, Andrea Marcon, Monica Huggett, Nathalie Stutzmann, Barthold Kujiken.
As a soloist (lutes, theorbo, baroque guitar) he has a repertoire that spans from the Middle Ages to the late Eighteenth century. He recorded a cd devoted to the great 17th century guitarist Francesco Corbetta (Dynamic).
He played in more than 70 recordings (beyond those for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI/Virgin Classics, Naïve, Warner, Sony/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, SWR, Glossa, ORF, Ricercar, Avie, The Classic Voice, Amadeus) and took part in several live broadcasts (BBC, ORF, WDR, Radio Polskie, Rai Radio 3, Rete 2 of Rsi, France 2, France Musique, Mezzo).
La Fonte Musica
La fonte musica is an early music ensemble on period instruments, founded and led by Michele Pasotti.
La fonte musica was founded to interpret the astonishing musical season which goes from the end of the middle ages to the beginning of the humanism, with a particular focus on Italian Trecento. Our repertoire and research stretches until the end of Renaissance.
A constant and serious philological research is at the origin of every project together with a careful deciphering of rhetoric and grammar in order to understand and translate the creativity, refinement and beauty of ancient music with an experimental attitude for us today.
The ensemble has performed in the most prestigious early music festivals around Europe: Oude Muziek (Utrecht), Resonanzen (Konzerthaus, Vienna), MA Festival Bruges, Ravenna Festival, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Laus Polyphoniae Antwerpen, Regensburg Tage Alte Musik, Wratislavia Cantans (Wroclaw), Herne Tage Alter Musik, Concerts Medieval du Musée de Cluny (Paris), Urbino Musica Antica, Festival Voix et Route Romane, Festival de Lanvellec, Musica Sacra Maastricht, Konzertsaal der Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna), Festival Trigonale (Klagenfurt), Festival Povoa de Varzim, Festival Bachowski (Swidniça), Teatro la Fenice (Venise), Festival MiTo (Milan-Turin), Venetian Center for Baroque Music (Venise), Vespri in San Maurizio (Milan), Brighton Early Music Festival.
Enigma Fortuna, our 4 cds box containing the first recording of the complete work by Antonio Zacara da Teramo will be released at Alpha Classics in April 2021.
La fonte musica concerts and cd have been broadcasted by BBC (United Kingdom), Rai Radio Tre (Italy), ORF 1 (Austria), WDR (Germany), RBB kulturradio (Germany), Polskie Radio (Poland), NPO Radio 4 (Netherlands), Antena 2 (Portugal).
La fonte musica last cd “Metamorfosi Trecento”, released by the french label Alpha won the DIAPASON d’OR and Disco del Mese (Amadeus). DIAPASON elected “Metamorfosi Trecento” among The 100 records that all music lovers need to know.
“Metamorfosi Trecento” was also a finalist the best cd of the year (Early Music) at the International Classical Music Award (ICMA).
The first recording project “Le Ray au Soleyl. Musica alla corte pavese dei Visconti (1360-1410)” received the “Supersonic Award” by Pizzicato. DIAPASON rated the cd with 5 diapasons and reviewed it as an “impressive first disc”. It was also Disco del Mese and finalist for Disco dell’Anno on Amadeus.
Bill Richardson, narrator
Author, humorist, and former radio host Bill Richardson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After earning a Master of Library Sciences from the University of British Columbia in 1980, he worked as a children's librarian before becoming a researcher for The Vicki Gabereau Show on CBC Radio in 1988. By 1992, Richardson was a regular contributor and occasional guest host on the show and his name and voice had become familiar to listeners across Canada. In 1997, he became host of As You Like It — a CBC Radio request show for classical music listeners. He developed a loyal following as host of the CBC television show Booked on Saturday Night, a series featuring interviews with writers.
As an author, Richardson had his first mainstream success when Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast was published in 1993. The novel won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 1994 and led to two more books about the brothers and their establishment. His book After Hamelin, a novel for children, won the Silver Birch Award.Bill’s columns have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Western Living Magazine, The Vancouver Sun, Georgia Straight, and Xtra West Magazine. Most recently, he has collaborated with composer and singer Veda Hille in the creation of Do You Want What I Have Got? — A Craigslist Cantata, which was staged at the Factory Theatre in Toronto. His most recent books for children are Last Week, illustrated by Emilie Leduc, and Lola Flies Alone, illustrated by Bill Pechet.
Bill makes frequent public appearances reading poetry, narrating musical works and giving keynote speeches. He lives in Vancouver.
