Ouverture spirituelle • Eastern Christianity III: Venice and Byzantium 770–1797
Calling of the Bells – instrumental
Alleluia – Byzantine Chorale, John of Damascus (8th century)
Fanfare – instrumental
Erotókritos – Byzantine composition, instrumental
Marcabru (1100-1150) • Pax! In nomine Domini! – Crusader’s Song
Danse de l’âme – North African composition, Berber tradition, anonymous
Ton despóti – Planctus, Byzantine lament (13th century)
Song and Dance – Armenian composition, instrumental (13th century)
Billadi Askara Min adbi Llama – Mowacha, Arab-Andalusian song
Istampitta – Saltarello, anonymous (ca. 1300)
Efrixe i gi – Lamenting Prayer, John of Damascus (8th century)
Chiave, chiave – instrumental
Adoramus te – anonymous
Pásan tin elpída mu – Orthodox song
Nikriz Marsch – Ottoman composition, anonymous (15th century)
Guillaume Dufay • Lamentatio Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae
Clément Janequin • La Guerre (La Bataille de Marignan)
Salomone Rossi • Al naharot Bavel (By the Waters of Babylon), Psalm 137
Adrian Willaert • Vecchie letrose – Villanesca alla napolitana
Der makām-ı Uzzäl sakîl – Ottoman composition, anonymous, instrumental
Joan Brudieu • Oíd, oíd, los que en la Iglesia habéis nascido, Madrigal II
Géfsasthe ke ídete – Byzantine Hymn, Joannes Kladas
Claude Goudimel • Fight against my enemies, Psalm 35
Sousta – Cyprian dance, instrumental
Se imnúme – Russian-Orthodox Hymn, anonymous (16th century)
laïla Djân – Persian Dance, anonymous, instrumental
Claudio Monteverdi • Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda SV 153
Dimitri Cantemir • Ottoman March
Antonio Vivaldi • „Di queste selve venite, o Numi“ aus La Senna festeggiante RV 693, „in honour of Louis XV“
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • Alla Turca (Allegretto) from the Piano Sonata in A, K. 331
Anastaseos Imera – Russian-Orthodox Hymn, anonymous (16th century)
François Marchant • Nous sommes tous égaux, Chansons constitutionelle
Johann Adolf Hasse • Canzonette veneziane da battello
Per quel bel viso
Mia cara Anzoletta
Luigi Bordèse • La Sainte Ligue: La nuit est sombre based on Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven
End of concert approx. 11:20 pm.
Print programme (PDF)
1000 Years of Music – A Bridge between Orient and Europe
For roughly a millennium, from 770 to 1797, Venice played a dominant role in the Mediterranean and in world history. Venice was founded by the Byzantines, whose achievement it was to make the lagoon bordered by two rivers a mediator between Orient and Occident. This city of water with its intricate network of canals became a commercial hub for merchants from very different backgrounds, and thus, brisk trade developed between the Orient and Europe. By declaring itself a “republic” with a system of oligarchic government headed by the Doge elected for life, Venice managed to increase its independence from Constantinople, ultimately becoming a trading partner rather than a subaltern. After the city defied Charlemagne, it competed with Rome and rose to be the leading economic power in the Mediterranean region, blossoming in all areas of technology, science and culture. Thanks to trade and the resulting relations with the entire Mediterranean world, and due to the city’s willingness to welcome people of all backgrounds, it was influenced by the Christian Orient and the Orthodox world, but also by the Ottoman, Jewish, Armenian and Muslim cultures. Jordi Savall invokes all these influences through diverse Mediterranean sounds: sacred and secular music from the ancient Orthodox tradition of Byzantine Constantinople, the music of the Ottoman Empire, of Greece, Turkey and of course Italy stands alongside the great compositions which Constantinople and Venice gave to European music history. Willaert, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Cavalli, Vivaldi and many other names made – and continue to make – the greatness of an extraordinary city in Europe resound, a city whose pre-eminence endured for so long. After Bonaparte’s intervention in 1797, the Republic of Venice fell and was subsequently ruled by Austria for more than 60 years, before Venice was finally integrated into Italy, still counting as one of that country’s jewels.