Dapoi nocte vien la luce

After the overwhelming success of his Odhecaton, Ottaviano Petrucci did not rest on his laurels; what followed over the next few decades was a flood of printed music aimed at all of society. His collections of sacred and secular, vocal and instrumental, simple and complex music were purchased by scores of music lovers 500 years ago and continue to delight us today.

Ten "libri di frottole," printed between 1504 and 1514, reflect the variety of themes in secular music that were popular at the Italian courts, especially at the ducal courts of Isabella D'Este, Lucrezia Borgia and Beatrice D'Este. To celebrate the beginning of 2024, we immerse ourselves in an imaginary winter evening at court as it could have taken place in Isabella's rooms in Mantua, and we let the fresh and natural immediacy of the frottole bring us into the courtiers' humanist discourse on contrasts, language games, high poetry and serious and humorous thoughts about the highs and lows of life.

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María Cristina Kiehr and Josep Cabré, voice | Mirko Arnone – Renaissance lute | Leonardo Bortolotto – bass gamba | Silvia Tecardi – diskant gamba, viola d'arco; concept and artisitic direction