Join me in February for a visit to Italy and one of its greatest composers. On February 22nd and 29th I am offering more Mornings with a Masterpiece – my online talks for MANCENT (the Manchester Continuing Education Network). The composer is best known now for performances of the ‘Monteverdi Vespers’ but there is considerable scholarly disagreement about the content of this work. The magnificent settings of Vesper psalms are central to that liturgy, but the 1610 volume in which they appear also includes non-liturgical solo items which would be more at home in the opera house or, as the composer says ‘in the chambers of princes’. How do they fit in?
Oddly, this controversy ignores the music which is the headline work on the title page – a Mass for Six Voices. In these sessions we shall explore the complete volume, as I believe that the much-ignored Mass is essential to understanding Monteverdi’s thought, and adds even more lustre to his achievement. We shall meet a unique mixture of devotion and experiment, intimacy and grandeur.
Full details for booking can be found here: https://mancent.org.uk/?page_id=5517
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