BEE BUZZ Rome 1600

Chromatic music from Francesco Barberini's Academy of Music

 Michelangelo Rossi  & Scipione Lacorcia 

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Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679), a nephew of Pope Urban VIII, played a prominent role in Rome's cultural life in the mid-17th century. The Barberini came from Barberino Val d'Elsa, a small village near Florence. Originally they were called Tafani da Barberino, in English "horse flies from Barberino", or a little more benevolently "flies from Barberino", and a trio of flies originally adorned the family crest.

As the family rose socially, moving first to Florence and later to Rome, they left the first part of their name behind and grafted the flies on their coat of arms into bees.

 

When walking through the magnificent Palazzo Barberini in Rome, which Francesco had built together with his brother Taddeo, the family coat of arms with the three bees immediately catches the eye. This palace was the scene of important cultural events, a meeting place, and a place of work for the most famous painters, poets, and musicians of their time.

Cardinal Barberini maintained the "Accademia delle Viole" in his palace, a music academy that consisted of a Viol consort under the direction of the composer Virgilio Mazzocchi. According to eyewitness accounts, this academy was very experimental, especially in the field of chromatic and enharmonic music. They experimented with breaking down semitones into smaller intervals. Such attempts at further subdividing tones had been discussed in the most intellectual music circles in Rome almost a hundred years previously and have been highly appreciated ever since. They were applied and flourished in Barberini's academy.

This program will offer bold, even breathtaking chromatic harmonies: Accompany us on this adventurous journey into the world of sounds, dissonances, and other extravagances.

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TENOR

5 Renaissancegambe