Marina Belova

The program "Between Renaissance and Baroque" is dedicated
to early 17th century lute music.

It combines compositions that illustrate the discoveries of 16th century lutenists and some pieces written for the instrument still of the Renaissance type but already full of innovative experiments for the musical language of the time. The main genres of lute music of the time are presented in the performance: preludes, toccatas, fantasies, various dance pieces and tablatures of vocal compositions.

The concert begins with the music of the most innovative Italian composers such as Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, Michelangelo Galilei, Pietro Paolo Melli and Alessandro Piccinini, in which the musical texture is particularly evident and modern in the toccatas.
The musical journey continues with the French Nicolas Vallet followed by a suite by Robert Ballard, where you can feel the diversity between court and country dances. The concert ends with some pieces by the most important English lutenist and composer of his time, John Dowland.

The program is dedicated to two outstanding late Renaissance lutenists: the English composer John Dowland (1563–1626) and the French Nicolas Vallet (c.1583–c.1642).

The main genres of lute music of the time are present in their compositions: preludes, fantasies, tablatures and various dance pieces. Few of Dowland's solo lute pieces were printed
in his lifetime. Vallet, on the other hand, published his own music in the two books "Secretum Musarum" after moving
to Amsterdam.
By him are three arrangements of pieces by Dowland, "Fortune, my foe", "Lord Willoughby's welcome home" and "Earl of Essex galliard". In the concert these pieces are performed in the versions of both composers.

The program illustrates a large part of the history of the lute
in Italy, from the first printed books published in Venice
at the beginning of the 16th century to the Baroque suites
of Giovanni Zamboni from the beginning of the 18th century. Between these two stages we find the ricercares and traditional dances of the Renaissance, the pieces by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger and Michelangelo Galilei full of new harmonies, the chromatic capriccio by Pietro Paolo Melli and the beautiful passacaglia by Alessandro Piccinini from the early seventeenth century.