The Tacit Knowledge of Claudio Monteverdi
(2024)
author(s): Johannes Boer
published in: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
Dissertation Leiden University 2024
Johannes Boer
Registration and the annotated libretto of the 2018 opera production
LA TRAGEDIA DI CLAUDIO M
Contextualisation of this opera in both historical as well as epistemological sense.
Laments for a Modern World: Exploring the pathetic capabilities of 17th-century Laments
(2023)
author(s): Ai Horton
published in: KC Research Portal
This thesis investigates the pathetic capabilities of the 17th-century vocal Lament. After first establishing an overview of the social and cultural conventions that influenced compositional choices, fourteen historic Laments from western Europe are analyzed to determine how they are able to evoke the feeling of grief. These pathetic elements are then applied to the composition of four new Laments for a Modern World, which couple 17th-century compositional techniques with newly commissioned texts that amplify stories including miscarriage, race-relations, displacement from one's homeland, and mental health.
Venice 1629: Exposition of Research
(2020)
author(s): Jamie Savan
published in: Research Catalogue, Birmingham City University
This exposition takes the form of a portfolio of materials documenting the research questions, methods and processes underpinning the CD production 'Venice 1629' (performers: The Gonzaga Band, dir. Jamie Savan, released on the Resonus Classics label in July 2018). It includes 10 new performing editions, discussion of performance practice issues including rhythmic proportions, ornamentation and instrumentation, alongside the full recording in streamable MP3 format and a fully referenced version of the booklet essay.
Monteverdi’s lamenti and lettere amorose and the pre-existing art of declamation
(2019)
author(s): Judith Sepulchre
published in: KC Research Portal
« Should the interpretation of Monteverdi’s lamenti and lettere amorose be closer to the pre-existing art of declamation? »
Nowadays, Monteverdi has become so sacred to the Early musician, that we are afraid of disturbing his art in our interpretation of his written down musical lines. So we stick to what is written, respecting every pitch, every note value, and God forbid we change the tactus! For a lot of Monteverdi’s music, this is a respectable approach. However, when it comes to the interpretation of his lamentations (lamenti) and love letters (lettere amorose), one asks themselves whether it should perhaps be done in a more declamative way. These two genres are composed in the stile recitativo and carry so much unrepeated text that it seems almost improbable that one should approach these compositions from the notes rather than from the poetry. If the seconda pratica is the beginning reign of the text over the harmony in the composition process, then why not adopt this same concept in the interpretation process?
Throughout this research, I will first observe the historical context of these two genres and their connections with the world of the Commedia dell’Arte. I will then discuss the very delicate question of the tactus. And finally, I will attempt to interpret a couple of Monteverdi’s compositions, basing myself on the declamation skills of a Commedia dell’Arte specialist with whom I worked closely.
Monteverdi and the architecture of emotions
(2018)
author(s): Anabela Marcos
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Anabela Marcos
Main Subject: Singing
Research supervisors: Johannes Boer and Erwin Roebroeks
Title of Research: Monteverdi and the architecture of emotions
Research Question: In what way could the formal and the expressive elements in Monteverdi's music be related to painting and architecture of his contemporaries?
Summary of results:
In the preface of his Eighth Book of Madrigals, Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi, Claudio Monteverdi announced one of the fundaments of his musical construction: the power of the contrasting passions. The humanist theme, that inspired not only musicians but also poets, painters and architects of the time, into a common goal; the expression of the human emotions.
The research “Architecture of emotions”, is centred in Monteverdi’s music in the period starting from his Lamento d’ Arianna (1608) to the Lamento della Ninfa included in the Eight Book of Madrigals (1638) - the same time, thirty years, that it takes Francesco Borromini to finish the small church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome, in what will be his first (the interior) and his last commission (the façade).
Inspired in this extraordinary building, which is both a guide and structure to the musical ideas presented, and supported by a selection of Caravaggio’s paintings to be the visual counterpart to Monteverdi’s music, this research aims to be a possible and personal interpretation to the vast question of the relation between music, painting and architecture in the context of the humanist environment in the transition from Renaissance to Baroque in Italy.
Biography:
After working as an architect for several years, the Portuguese Soprano Anabela Marcos, was granted a full scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon to study Singing and Opera at the Royal Conservatoire in the Hague, the Netherlands, with Rita Dams, Diane Forlano and Marius van Altena.
Her opera repertoire includes Pamina (Die Zauberflöte, Mozart), Suzanna (Le Nozze de Figaro, Mozart), Zerlina (Don Giovanni, Mozart), Titania (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten), Clori (L’Egisto, Cavalli), Venus and Cupid (King Arthur, Purcell), Daphne (Apollo and Daphne, Händel), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas, Purcell).
As a soloist, Anabela has worked with conductors such as Ton Koopman, Jos van Veldhoven, Sigiswald Kuyken, Michel Corboz and she is a member of the Baroque ensemble La Primavera. Among her future projects is the new program “Architecture of emotions”, included in the 25th jubilee of this ensemble and based on her two year research around Monteverdi’s music.
GLORIES TO NOTHINGNESS: A Music Research Seminar honouring Accademia degli Incogniti and Claudio Monteverdi
(last edited: 2020)
author(s): Elisabeth Laasonen Belgrano, Päivi Järviö, Johannes Boer, Dinko Fabris, Mauro Calcagno, Björn Ross, Charulatha Mani, Elisabeth Holmertz
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
A Music Research Seminar
honouring Accademia degli Incogniti
and Claudio Monteverdi
Palazzo Grimani, Venice
15 June 2017
Nordic Network for Early Opera and Nordic Network for Vocal Performance Research, in collaboration with Scuola di Music Antica Venezia, are delighted to invite you for a performance seminar in Venice 15 June around the theme of vocality, music drama and the vibrant intellectual / artistic scene in Venice around Monteverdi and Accademia degli Incogniti. The idea comes from a desire to offer a fringe-event / sub-encounter / prologue for (among others) participants of the two symposia co-happening in Venice 16-17 June: The Foundazione Cini conference on Monteverdi (16-17 June) and the symposia "Encounters, Discussions, Experimentations: Art, Research and Artistic Research in Music”, the Research Pavilion of the University of the Arts Helsinki, Venice Biennale 2017 (16-17 June)
We are also hoping to meet anyone interested to explore the fairly new academic field of Artistic Research.
Time:
15 June 2017
15:00-18:30
Venue:
Palazzo Grimani, Ruga Giuffa off Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Venezia,
Dissertation Leiden University 2024 Johannes Boer Registration and the annotated libretto of the 2018 opera production LA TRAGEDIA DI CLAUDIO M Contextualisation of this opera in both historical as well as epistemological sense.open exposition comments (0)
This thesis investigates the pathetic capabilities of the 17th-century vocal Lament. After first establishing an overview of the social and cultural conventions that influenced compositional choices, fourteen historic Laments from western Europe are analyzed to determine how they are able to evoke the feeling of grief. These pathetic elements are then applied to the composition of four new Laments for a Modern World, which couple 17th-century compositional techniques with newly commissioned texts that amplify stories including miscarriage, race-relations, displacement from one's homeland, and mental health.open exposition comments (1)
This exposition takes the form of a portfolio of materials documenting the research questions, methods and processes underpinning the CD production 'Venice 1629' (performers: The Gonzaga Band, dir. Jamie Savan, released on the Resonus Classics label in July 2018). It includes 10 new performing editions, discussion of performance practice issues including rhythmic proportions, ornamentation and instrumentation, alongside the full recording in streamable MP3 format and a fully referenced version of the booklet essay.open exposition comments (0)