Le cortesie, le audaci imprese io canto (of curtesies, of high attempts I speake)

Musicians involved: 5 (3 voices, 2 viols, lute, recorder, lira da braccio)

Born in Reggio Emilia in 1474 from a noble family, Ludovico Ariosto spent his entire career in the service of the Este family, in particular Ippolito and later Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara.

Despite his duties as a diplomat and official, he developed his talent for poetry and theater, becoming one of the most prominent authors of the Italian Renaissance and one of the first modern writers.

His masterpiece, Orlando furioso, achieved great success immediately after its first publication in 1516.

It is a work as innovative in its form as it is rich in the fantastic imagery it evokes. Characters from the Carolingian cycle are intertwined in a dizzying web of intrigues with the Breton cycle, Greek mythology and other magical elements: a hippogriff, an enchanted castle, fairies, giants, a sea monster and a ring that gives invisibility… But the greatest force imposing itself on the characters is love. A love which is often unjust and unrequited, yet sometimes happy. A love which touches all characters equally, women, men, Christians and Muslims; which leads some to triumph over the deceptions of magic, others to the most desperate madness.

Orlando Furioso quickly permeated popular culture to the point of inspiring the modern fantasy genre. Its stanzas in ottava rima, along with other poems by Ariosto, were set to music by numerous composers even before his death (in 1533).

His rhymes, from Orlando and other poems, have animated the entire history of the madrigal since the first printed collection of the genre (Libro primo de la Serena, Rome, 1530) after having inspired the older genre of the frottola and its most famous composer, Bartolomeo Tromboncino. Other frottole were inspired by the character of Ferrau, a ‘cavalier di Spagna’ (Spaniard knight).

Our program pays tribute to the poet through fragments of his work in the form of frottole and songs accompanied by the lira da braccio, a fascinating instrument whose performance practice, still alive in the early 16th century, has been almost forgotten by the contemporary early music revival.

We will then follow Ariosto’s verses through madrigals composed by pioneers of the genre such as Philippe Verdelot, Costanzo Festa, Francesco Corteccia, Jaques Arcadelt, Vincenzo Ruffo and the chief of music at the court of Ferrara, Alfonso della Viola.

And speaking of viola (gamba viol), this instrument was developed precisely during Ariosto’s lifetime and immediately became widely used to play polyphony together with voices, as is well attested at the court of Ferrara itself. Indeed, thanks to their range, viols easily complement vocal ranges and increase the ensemble possibilities, while maintaining a very ‘vocal’ sound. It is then with voices and viols, together with recorder and lute, that we will bring Ariosto’s madrigals to life.