The orchestra of the Cameristi della Scala at the Ristori Theater in Verona for the concert assignment on November 28, 2021 Events in Verona
Third appointment at Ristori Theater of the Concert review, Sunday 28 November at 8 pm with the orchestra of the Cameristi della Scala, founded in 1982, which boasts a comprehensive repertoire of the most important chamber orchestra masterpieces of the eighteenth century and a special attention to the less frequented music of the Italian nineteenth century. It is a concert with two souls: the first represented by melodies full of pathos written between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, united by spiritual adhesion to a civilization of the past where that poetic and musical form reigns supreme – the serenade – which is the privileged vehicle of a love relationship; the second, dedicated to the seven hundred years since the death of the Supreme Poet, from the first performance in Verona of the piece “Dante in front of the green Limbo meadow “ by the multifaceted contemporary composer Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of the great Sergey, who is part of that path of renewal of classical musical styles through contamination with moderns.
There Suite for strings op. 40 from Eduard Grieg was composed in 1884 and is intended as a tribute to the writer and man of the theater Ludvig Holberg, who lived between 1684 and 1754 and considered a central figure in Danish literature of his time, so much so that he is called the Molière of the North. Grieg had esteem for this author who was born in his own city and for his theater with ironic, satirical and popular veins and in the Suite he wanted to design, like a precious medallion, five musical moments in the eighteenth-century style, as if to summarize Soric climate of the Holberg era.
L’Adagio with variations for cello and orchestra is a youthful piece of Ottorino Respighi and originally it is the slow tempo of a cello Concerto in three movements written in 1902. The Adagio is dedicated to the cellist Antonio Certani, a friend of the composer and also from Bologna. The theme is inspired by a popular song from Romagna with a warm melodic line and according to a rhapsodic instrumental writing, far from the virtuosity of a certain nineteenth-century school. The musical phrase in B major is expressed in an affectionate cordial manner, with the woodwinds in counterpoint as a “continuo” in pizzicato. We then pass from a tempo “Poco Meno adagio” to a vigorous and fortissimo on chords and double notes. The orchestral discourse widens and the cello develops the theme on elegant arpeggiated triplets. In the “Quasi recitativo” the soloist talks together with the orchestra with the solos of the English horn up to re-proposing the main tonality in the “Lento a fantasia”. The theme of the opening Adagio returns and the piece ends happily, among the brilliant figures of the harp.
The musical nineteenth century was profoundly drawn from the development of instrumental virtuosity and from the birth of the first great “stars” capable of thrilling crowds from all over Europe and beyond with their performances. The most illustrious forerunner of this phenomenon was certainly Niccolò Paganini whose transcendental virtuosity was taken as a model in Romanticism not only by violinists. Camillo Sivori was his pupil and collaborator in many situations. In this program listen to a fantasy taken from the main themes from “Il Trovatore” by Giuseppe Verdi.
the “Intermezzi Goldoniani” from Marco Enrico Bossi, presented in Bologna in 1905 under the direction of Arturo Toscanini and dedicated to Wilhelm Weber, refer to the literary suggestions linked to the Venetian civilization of the 18th century. The work consists of a suite of dances in six movements that follow the revisited but very effective Baroque tradition of great and rare instrumental virtuosity. The link with the title is rather transitory, since the form of the interlude is probably only a residue of the eighteenth-century theatrical tradition, which saw the overwhelming emergence and affirmation of comic forms, not unlike what happened for the theater at the time of Carlo Goldoni.
The song”Dante in front of the green Limbo meadow “ written by the multifaceted composer Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of the famous Sergei, can be compared to Virgil’s guide during the surreal journey into Dante’s abyss. DJ and producer, Prokoviev was inspired by the power of classical music and more contemporary genres such as hip-hop, grime and electronic. The music, created in this multifaceted perspective, completes the alchemical relationship between Mercelli’s flute and the orchestra, for a reading that will surely fascinate and conquer the public.
Information and contacts
For more information on the 2021/2022 season of the Ristori Theater and for the ticket office hours: www.teatroristori.org
In compliance with the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic of 23 July 2021, from 6 August 2021 access to the Theater upon display of the Covid-19 Green Certification – Green Pass (except for children under 12 years of age).