The Heart, Vapours and Fluids
Italian solo songs and instrumental music from the 17th century
| Bembo–Colista–Corbetta–Gesualdo–Kapsberger–Kircher–Meda–Leonarda–Sances–Strozzi | |
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In the 17th century, the understanding of psychophysiology was based on medical science descended from the Antiquity, with fundamental factors like elements, bodily fluids and life spirits. The musical affects had a concrete influence on the human body, especially by the expansion and shrinking of the heart. In our programme, the soprano Tuuli Lindeberg performs agitating solo songs, stirring the bodily fluids and causing the life spirits to erupt from the heart. The texts of the seldom performed songs in the programme refer to the physiology of music: to the different reactions of the heart, as in burning or swelling, to the healing power of song and lamentation and to movements of the bodily fluids. Carlo Gesualdo’s madrigal Poi che l’avida sete speaks about the fluid of sorrow swelling in the chest, Giovanni Felice Sancesi’s song Lagrime amare refers to life spirits moving with the blood. In Barbara Strozzi’s lyrics we can often hear the physiology on the level of text and music, as in the song Fin che tu spiri. The same powers impacted both the secular and the sacred music, which we can hear in Antonia Bembo’s and Bianca Maria Meda’s songs to sacred texts. Bembo’s great sacred cantata Lamento della Vergine tells about Virgin Mary and contains descriptions of physical events. Mary’s weeping brings even the elements to tears. An ensemble from the Finnish Baroque Orchestra performs among other works instrumental music by Isabella Leonarda and Lelio Colista. With its wordless power, it can bring the listener to inner turmoil. |
 Tuuli Lindeberg, Photo: Heikki Tuuli |
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Duration: 1 h 30 min (incl. intermission) Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano Marianna Henriksson, programme planning |
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