Dear colleagues,
Apologies for cross-posting. With great pleasure we announce this upcoming public concert:
Maria Skiba (soprano) and David Allen (organ) present 'Music for Consorts':
Friday 17 April, 5.30pm, in the chapel of Exeter College, Oxford.
With best wishes,
Birgit
Public Concert
Music for Consorts
Francesca Caccini (1578-ca. 1640), Laudate Dominum
Maria, dolce Maria
(Il primo libro delle musiche, Florence 1618)
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677),
O Maria (Sacri musicali aspetti, Venice 1655)
Maria Skiba - soprano
David Allen - organ
Friday, 17 April 2015 at 17.30
Exeter College Chapel
Francesca Caccini was a musical servant of the court of Grand Duchess Christine of Lorraine in Florence where she was responsible for singing, teaching music to the ladies in waiting, composing music and directing music for the female court. She grew to be the best paid musician at the Medici court in Florence and wrote several operas (favolas) for the court festivities. Her only surviving opera La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina was performed in 1625 in honour of the Polish prince W³adys³aw's visit to Florence.
Barbara Strozzi was an ‘independent’ woman – quite remarkable for her time - and the piece in the programme comes from her only surviving collection of sacred motets that is dedicated to Anna de Medici (Duchess Anna Austriaca d’Inspruch), who in return rewarded her with great gifts. It is still not entirely clear whether Anna de Medici actually ordered this collection of music or whether she financed its publication.
This public concert is part of the research project ‘Marrying Cultures: Queens Consort and European Identities 1500-1800’.
‘Marrying Cultures’ is a collaborative international project funded by HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) with teams based at the University of Oxford, Lund University, the German Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel.
