A Garden of Earthly Delights at the Papal Court: Marco Marazzoli’s extravagant musical entertainments

Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors

Marco Marazzoli’s cantatas for six voices, two violins, and continuo are exquisite miniature dramas, with a kaleidoscopic variety of vocal arias, duets, and trios culminating in glorious choruses. Each cantata treats a different subject: one features Bacchus and his followers overindulging in the grape harvest, another recounts Radamisto’s daring escape from the clutches of vengeful King Tiridate. Il Riposo conjures the peace and tranquility of the papal retreat at Lake Gandolfo, while another, La Guerra e la Pace, is an allegory of the struggle between War and Peace, in celebration of the Peace of the Pyrenees between Spain and France, which was finally concluded after the intervention of Pope Alexander VII, Marazzoli’s patron. A thrilling cast of seven singers brings Marazzoli’s extraordinary harmonies to life accompanied by the incomparable BEMF Chamber Ensemble in a modern premiere of these magnificent works.