Great Barrington — Crescendo chorus and ensemble will present “Revolutionary Renaissance,” a program of 16th-century motets, madrigals, and canzonas on Saturday, March 1, 4 p.m., at Trinity Church, Lakeville, Conn., and Sunday, March 2, 4 p.m., at Saint James Place, Great Barrington.
The chorus for March 1 and 2, directed by Crescendo Founding Artistic Director Christine Gevert, is the Crescendo Vocal Ensemble of 25 amateur and professional singers.
The soloists are:
- Sopranos Jennifer Tyo and Sarah Fay;
- Alto Laura Evans; and
- Tenor Igor Ferrerira.
Christa Patton will play harp and recorder, and Juan Mesa will play the organ.
Crescendo’s program features six female composers of vocal and instrumental works :
- Isabella de’ Medici — an Italian noblewoman of the powerful Medici family during the Renaissance known for her intelligence, strong personality, and patronage of the arts.
- Maddalen Casulana — the first published female composer in Western music history.
- Paola Massarenghi — credited as the second woman to have a madrigal published during her lifetime.
- Lucia Quinciani — the earliest known published female composer of monody.
- Rafaella Aleotti — a nun whose compositions constituted the first published book of sacred music by a woman to appear in print and who led an ensemble of 23 nuns.
- Claudia Francesca Rusca — wrote the first known preserved instrumental works by a woman.
Additionally, the program includes a piece by Portuguese composer, music theorist, and priest Vicente Lusitano, the only published composer of African descent in 16th-century Europe. Lusitano’s contributions to counterpoint and chromaticism made him an important figure in his day.
Maddalena Casulana’s “Il primo libro di madrigali” (“The First Book of Madrigals”) was published in 1568, making her the first known woman to have her music printed and distributed. She was a lutenist, singer, and a rare example of a woman achieving recognition in the male-dominated field of music composition during the Renaissance. Her madrigals were highly regarded during her lifetime.
In an hour-long Zoom session on Sunday, February 23, at 2 p.m., two female musicologists who specialize in Renaissance music explored the music on this program: Dr. Laurie Stras, professor emerita of music, University of Southampton, UK, director of the ensemble Musica Secreta, and author of the book “Women and Music in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara”; and Dr. Karen Cook, associate professor of music history and chair of Music History at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford. Drs. Stras and Cook talked about the lives and circumstances of the 16th-century Italian women who first published and performed their own compositions during the Renaissance. See a video of the talk here.
Crescendo Founding Artistic Director Christine Gevert, who is of German and Chilean nationalities, earned her master’s degree in organ and early music performance in Germany and a degree in music theory in Chile. She has taught in both Germany and Chile. She has performed solo recitals as organist and harpsichordist and has performed with and conducted such ensembles and orchestras as the Berliner Bachsolisten, the Berliner Bachorchester, Leipziger Bachchor, La Giola, L’Arpa Festante, Musica Poetica, Chursaechsische Capelle, Estudio MusicAntigua, and Ars Antiqua Lipsiensis. In Chile, she has performed with Collegium Josquin, Capella Antiqua, Pentagrama, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, and Orquesta de Cámara Universidad Católica.
Hear Crescendo chorus and ensemble perform “Revolutionary Renaissance,” a program of 16th-century motets, madrigals, and canzonas on Saturday, March 1, 4 p.m., at Trinity Church, 484 Lime Rock Rd., Lakeville, CT, or Sunday, March 2, 4 p.m., at Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA. Tickets are available here.
