laReverdie (ITALY)
in
STELLA NOVA (the New Star)
Saturday, December 19th 3:00 pm
All Saints by-the-Sea
Salt Spring Baroque is pleased to host laReverdie for this seasonal performance, Stella Nova. Stella Nova offers a view into the unusually rich repertoire for Advent and Christmas that developed in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Extending far beyond the strictly liturgical tradition, this music reflects festively embellished medieval Christmastime celebrations.
Tickets can be purchased online through Salt Spring Baroque's TIX site by clicking on the blue button below, or at the door before the performance.
Note: to purchase tickets on the Salt Spring Baroque's TIX site, click on the blue button above which will take you to the TIX website. Once on the TIX website, click the green button to select your tickets – prior to checking out you will need to set up a TIX account prior to checking out. This can be done by clicking on the person icon in the top right next to the shopping cart. If you have purchased tickets from TIX before you will already have an account.
If you don't wish to purchase tickets online, send us a note at info@saltspringbaroque.com and we will gladly reserve seats for you and you can pay by cash or card at the door.
Concert Information
The concert opens with an English devotional sequence and motet reflecting on the picturesque miracles of St. Nicholas, a holy bishop from 4th-century Asia Minor whose feast day surrounds the winter solstice. Worshipped throughout the Middle Ages from Iceland to Italy, St. Nick, not yet suspected of domestic trespassing by sliding down the chimney once a year, originally shared attributes with other Norse deities such as Wotan or For.
Then, in a panoply of French motets and English cantilenas, the program recounts the birth of Christ. Demonstrating the widespread Marian devotion in the 13th and 14th centuries, these works reflect a dual celebration of Christ's birth alongside the Mother of God as the medium of salvation. For instance, in polyphonic motets, various texts focusing on this duality are layered on top of each other to amplify the solemnity of the occasion.
The program concludes with a selection of French motets and Italian laude, which tell the story of the comet (Stella nova), venerated in the Jewish Book of Numbers, and whose bright light led the Three Wise Men to honour the holy child with precious gifts.
Over the past 40 years, in order to bring alive the rich and varied medieval repertory, the members of laReverdie considered it to be crucial to both sing and play several instruments. For this purpose, they have developed a common language and sound that rend them unmistakable both in the mixture of their voices as well as of their instruments.
Along the over 40 years of research, laReverdie has ranged from liturgical chant to the first examples of polyphony, from the Italian and French Ars nova to the complex Franco-Flemish polyphony of Quattrocento, utilizing also the practice of improvisation, and dialog with instruments of other cultures.
The group is regularly invited to perform in Festivals and Concert Seasons in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, England, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Hungary and Mexico.
Concerts of laReverdie has been recorded and broadcasted on Radio3 (Italy), Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Südwest Rundfunk e Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Germany), BRT3, Radio Klara (Belgium), France Musique (France), ORF 1 (Austria), Antenna 2 (Portugal), Rne e RTVE (Spain), Radio2 (Poland), Radio Televizija Slovenja (Slovenia), Espace2 (Switzerland), KRO Radio4 (Netherlands).
