Isola di Belta
Isola di Belta
Corsican feminine polyphonies and Italian baroque ornamentation
Bathed in the same waters of the Mare Nostrum, Italy and Corsica have always maintained special relations, sometimes conflicting, sometimes peaceful, as proven by the cultural and architectural remains of the Isola di beltà. Nicole Casalonga, co-founder of the Casa musicale de Pigna in Balagne gives food for thought about this: The influence of Italian art reflects on the frontages of the churches of our provinces, on the cornices and their volutes, in the ornaments of the altarpieces, the statuary and the pictorial art, but also in the way organs and their galleries are built. Let’s take a step forward and search in popular songs some potential traces of this buried memory.
Fascinated by baroque ornamental practice and eager to compare their sense of learned improvisation with a living oral tradition stemming from common roots, the musicians of
La Fenice Ensemble had to join their talented Corsican colleagues from the Madrigalesca Ensemble, for an eclectic program “at the crossroads of our memories”, unveiling a language that only an Isola di beltà could produce.
Works
Traditional Corsican polyphonies, Chjama & Rispondi, Lamentu, Villanelle, Madrigali & Motetti diminuiti (Bovicelli, Bassano, Borboni, Caccini…)
Musicians
Madrigalesca Ensemble (dir. Nicole Casalonga) 4 singers (cantu, siconda, terza, bassu) La Fenice Ensemble 4 instrumentalists (cornetti & flauti, viola da gamba, tiorba & chitarra, organo & cembalo)
