Secular music at the court of Ferrara from 1393 until 1534

This programme reflects the secular music performed at the court of Ferrara during the regimes of five dukes: Niccolò III, Leonello, Borso, Ercole, and Alfonso I. The musical genres represented include pieces from the Ars Nova (Italian istampitte and ballate) and Ars Subtilior periods, English, French, and Flemish chansons, instrumental repertoires based on pre-existing tenors, reworkings of famous songs, repertoire for solo lute and Italian frottole. The instruments chosen to perform this repertoire are those known as “soft” or bassa capella and are mentioned in the Ferrarese sources: lute, gittern (chitarino), vielle, and harp, but for this programme leaving aside keyboard instruments such as the organ and harpsichord. A group of piffari (made up of shawms and trombone) announces each of the five segments of the programme, which are sorted chronologically to reflect the musical world of each duke’s court; the trombone in turn sings famous tenor lines.

Although focussing on instrumental music, female voice runs through the entire programme, carrying the texts with dramatic expression, though – as Castiglione expects of a donna di palazzo – in a manner that obscures neither the sweetness of the melody nor the text. Female musical performance was part of courtly life, and this is represented by a strong female presence on stage this evening.

The first part of the concert is dedicated to the late Italian Trecento, to the figure of Pietrobono del Chitarino, and to the passage of the German organist Conrad Paumann at this court in 1470, represented here by the famous 15th-century duo of gothic harp with bray pins and plectrum lute. The second part contains canonical works from the 15th century up to the first decade of the 16th century, including ricercari for 6-course lute and Italian frottole.