Venetian Vespers
A reconstruction of Vespers at St. Marks in Venice as celebrated in the 1640s
Saturday, May 3rd at 7:30pm
Grace Episcopal Church, 14 Boltwood Av. Amherst, MA
By the 1560s the music of Venice’s magnificent Basilica of St. Mark’s had profoundly influenced European sacred music, a dominance it maintained well into the 17th century. During this period, Vespers took on even more musical importance than the Mass, and music became the focal point of the entire service. Prayers and readings were whispered underneath the sound of the music, so that Vespers was really more like a concert than a church service.
This program features works written for Vespers by two of St. Mark’s most important composers of the time, Giovanni Rovetta and Giovanni Rigatti, and by their mentor Claudio Monteverdi, the most revered of all Venetian masters. Their music was meant to appeal to the heart much more than to the mind, and is astoundingly sensual and almost overwhelming in its beauty. The program also features instrumental music by Girolamo Frescobaldi and other prominent composers of the period.
Andrus Madsen directs the Arcadia Players ensemble and a group of singers who specialize in music of the Baroque, including soprano Agnes Coakley Cox, mezzo soprano Sophie Michaux, tenors Jason Connell, Corey Shotwell, and Adam Simon, and bass Jacob Cooper.
Information at arcadiaplayers.org
