Baroque Music from Latin Europe

In this programme, the Lähelle (Close to you) project focuses on the music of France, Italy and Portugal.

The seventeenth-century composers Antonia Bembo and Jean-Baptiste Lully were born in Italy within a decade of each other, and both made their careers France, supported by Louis XIV. Their slightly older compatriot and contemporary Isabella Leonarda, on the other hand, remained in her birth town of Novara throughout her life, entering a convent at the age of 16. All three were highly regarded musicians in their own circles, but while Lully has remained widely known, Bembo’s and Leonarda’s skilful and expressive music has only been rediscovered in recent years. This programme provides a chance to hear some of their fascinating choral and orchestral works.

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Diogo Dias Melgás was active around the same time as Bembo, Leonarda and Lully, serving as director of music at the Evora cathedral  in southern Portugal for around 30 years. Much of his music has been lost, but his Salve Regina is a little-known masterpiece.

Francisco António de Almeida and Jean-Philippe Rameau represent a later generation: they were active in the eighteenth century in Portugal and France respectively. Almeida’s O quam suavis is an example of his expressive late Baroque style. The opera-ballet Les indes galantes is one of Rameau’s best-known works, performed multiple times in the composer’s lifetime.

Duration: 1 h 30 min (incl. intermission)