16 tracks - MP3 192 Kbps - RAR 100 Mb
For the first time in history, the 17th century opened up a vast area of musical activities for female artists as the Renaissance philosophy had established a new place for women in society. In his Il libro del Cortegiano (1528), Baldassare Castiglione presented them as gracious and beautiful, equally cultured in literature as men, as well as educated in dance and music, accomplished in conversational skills, intelligent and entertaining. Life at the courts provided for the donne di palazzo a veritable opportunity to liberate themselves. The new role that was bestowed on women might even have added to the growing sophistication of lifestyle in the 16th century, which was greatly articulated in the promotion of the arts and in the implicit prescriptions for social behaviour. Erasmus revered in his Encomium matrimonii (1518) the blissful union of husband and wife, and the general trend of Neo-Platonism led to a new interest in women, which greatly surpassed their thus far expected role as child bearers to continue the family name, and their rigid position in domestic life. However, only the higher classes in society enjoyed these privileges. Christian tradition was deeply anchored in the common perception of women as unfaithful seductresses, foolish and impetuous. Consequently, women remained the subject of much ridicule and scepticism. The imposing voice of Vespasiano da Bisticci is effortlessly recalled, instructing women to live by the two chief commandments of the apostle Paul: to raise their children as devoted Christians and to keep silent at church. The status from which certain women benefited at the end of the Renaissance was in many ways a compromise between the conservative Christian tradition, strengthened by the Council of Trento (1545-1563), and the humanist objective of equality between male and female.
Excellent performance, both vocal and instrumental. O dulcis amor is a well-balanced compilation of cloistered (Vittoria Aleotti, Caterina Assandra, Isabella Leonarda) and independent (Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi) composers from the 16th and early 17th century, of sacred and secular music, and of vocal and instrumental pieces. Highly recommended.
contents:
1. Caterina Assandra: Impleos nostrum
2. Caterina Assandra: Ave verum corpus
3. Caterina Assandra: Haec dies
4. Caterina Assandra: Ego flos campi
5. Caterina Assandra: O dulcis amor Iesu
6. Vittoria Aleotti: Hor che la vaga Aurora
7. Vittoria Aleotti: Cor mio perche pur piangi
8. Vittoria Aleotti: Mentre lardite labbia
9. Francesca Caccini: Per la piu vaga e bella
10. Francesca Caccini: Lasciatemi qui solo
11. Barbara Strozzi: Lamante bugiardo
12. Barbara Strozzi: Amor dormiglione
13. Barbara Strozzi: Sete pur fastidioso
14. Barbara Strozzi: Leraclito amoroso
15. Isabella Leonarda: Sonata duodecima
16. Isabella Leonarda: Iam diu dilecte mi Iesu
La Villanella Basel
Heike Pichler-Trosits, soprano
Claudia Nauheim, recorder
Irene Klein, viola da gamba
Mechthild Winter, virginal, organ
Petra Burmann, theorbo
