Armonia celeste

Instrumentale Musik des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts
aus Italien, England und Deutschland

“Armonia celeste - Heavenly Balance” is the title of our concert program, the common thread of which is the stylistic change in art around 1600: In this period, on the threshold between the Renaissance and the Baroque, the emotionality of the individual becomes the focus of new literature, painting and music and confidently paves its way. The baroque style was born!

In our program, we give a hearing to both Renaissance and Baroque music in order to make the interweaving of the two eras tangible. On the one hand, there is the sound world of the Renaissance, represented in our program with traditional and lively dances by Ortiz or Schop, as well as with complex contrapuntal madrigals by Palestrina and de Rore. On the other hand, there are the compositions of the (early) Baroque period, represented by sonatas and suites from the 17th century, which embody the new. All music from this period is suddenly charged with emotion and reflects audible passions. Thus our program includes very expressive instrumental arrangements of vocal music as well as virtuoso solo sonatas that have clearly emancipated themselves from vocal music. A new self-confidence of the instruments and their players can be experienced through the addition of new instrumental possibilities, such as the rapid passagework over several octaves, carried by an expressive and harmonious basso continuo.

It is exciting for us to span these very different musical horizons and create a balance for you! In the program you can experience how audible connections arise between these poles. The stylistic change in music around 1600 is, depending on your point of view, not a radical revolution, but a turnaround that also preserves the essence of the old through references and connections in the new and lets the spark of the new glow in the old: Armonia celeste!

The program is available here as CD.

Website Duo Cielo barocco.