La Flamboyance
From 02 February 2025 to 03 February 2025/ Belgium / Leuven
Like a monumental fresco come to life, our program "La Flamboyance" is performed by a large group of musicians who imagine the sounds that would have been heard on the most solemn occasions around the year 1425. Cultural life was flourishing and international exchanges were already frequent: links between France and Flanders were such that the musical repertoire of this period is known as Franco-Flemish; exchanges with Italy abounded, as most composers spent time there during their careers. This melting pot of ideas and influences led to the development of a particularly captivating chapter in musical history: the musical repertoire was refined, virtuosic, and brilliant, and it reflected the characteristics of the "flamboyant gothic" style that was in vogue at the time, characterized by exuberance and an aesthetic in which ornamentation took precedence over form.
Numerous musical works demonstrate a desire to impress the listener. These compositions had a profound impact on society and were an essential element of important official occasions. Contemporary accounts and detailed payment registers document the musical ensembles working at the courts at this time. We can thus observe on the one hand the birth of the concept of the solo instrumentalist, some of whom developed long careers and acquired international renown; on the other hand, we see traces of large ensembles on extraordinary occasions, for example, in 1454 in Lille when no less than twenty-four musicians played at a political meeting.
It is with a similar cast that Sollazzo explores these extravagant and brilliant repertoires, which combine magnificence and depth, which tend towards virtuosity, and yet in which no note is too many. These compositions come to us through exactly six centuries, and to hear it resonate today, as a 21st-century listener, seems miraculous.
