Tickets and concert organised by the City of Geneva
Les concerts du dimanche
Gli Angeli & l'OSR
Sunday
17.03.2024
17:00 — Victoria Hall
Programme
Stephan Macleoddirection & basse
Aleksandra Lewandowskasoprano
William Sheltonviola
William KnightOlivier CoiffetAndrew Tortisetenor
Marc Mauillonbaritone
Gli Angeli Genèveensemble
Guillaume de Machaut
Mass of Our Lady (La Messe de Nostre Dame)
Igor Stravinsk
Mass, for mixed chorus and double wind quintet
Carlo Gesualdo
Tres sacrae cantiones (completed by Igor Stravinski), for mixed choir a cappella
Carlo Gesualdo
Madrigaux
Igor Stravinski
Monumentum pro Gesualdo di Venosa ad CD annum
The music
Although created in this temple of opera that is La Scala in Milan under the direction of Ernest Ansermet in 1948, the Mass belongs to the last period of Stravinsky. Designed to be part of the Roman Catholic liturgy, it is deliberately “cold, absolutely cold” with an extreme and austere starkness. At that time, Stravinsky became passionate about the Ars nova musicians of the 14th century, and in particular the Messe de Nostre-Dame by Guillaume de Machault. About ten years later, when he began to use the serial technique, he discovered the strange music of Carlo Gesualdo and completed Tres Sacrae cantiones left unfinished, then he arranged three madrigals for the 400th anniversary of the birth of the Neapolitan composer in the form of a Monumentum pro Gesualdo da Venosa created at the Doge's Palace in Venice in 1960, then choreographed by George Balanchine for his New York City Ballet. It is a great opportunity to hear during this concert the sources, then the realization that they inspired to one of the greatest composers of the 20th century in works that have remained very confidential.