Thursday 19 July 2012 8:00 pm
Die Medici
Isaac: Canti carnascialeschi after Lorenzo de’ Medici
Works by Agricola, Ghiselin and others
Isaac: Quis dabit capiti meo aquam (Dirge on Lorenzo il Magnifico)
Optime pastor (Motet for the election of Leo X.)
Motets and mass movements by Agricola, Weerbecke, Costanzo Festa and others
The Medici coat-of-arms, which is adorned with “palle” or balls, can be found on buildings all over Florence, Rome and other Italian cities. Just as ruthless as they were art-obsessed, this merchant family from Florence was a political dynasty. Three of them became Pope, one became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, and two became Queens of France. They let nothing get in their way, not even members of their own family. Lorenzo il Magnifico, however, reaped the greatest glory of them all as patron of the arts and discoverer of Michelangelo. Singers from Cinquecento crown their Medici chronology with a rendition of Heinrich Isaac’s mourning motets for Lorenzo.
