Mattutino de morti

Description

Davide Perez and Emanuele d'Astorga, two very famous Italian composers of the 18th century, left their Neapolitan regions to travel across Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. The two musicians were indeed very active in Spain and Portugal, musical centers where musical practices developed, far from Viennese and London innovations. In the purely baroque style of Astorga's "Stabat Mater," rich in contrasts and deeply rooted in the Neapolitan school, Perez's music reflects a natural and perceptible evolution towards classicism. Without breaking with baroque expression, Davide Perez indeed marks a period of stylistic transition in which the symmetry of forms coexists with baroque textual rhetoric to form a harmonious writing heavily influenced by the language of opera. In Portugal, where he lived until his death, Perez was indeed engaged by the Court of Lisbon in the context of large-scale lyrical productions that would influence all of his compositions. The revival of "Mattutino de' Morti" is the result of a collaboration between the Royaumont Foundation and the Ghislieri Choir & Consort. The score of this work was indeed found in the collection of the François Lang Library, located in the heart of the Cultural Center of Encounter. A study of the sources and the context of the creation of these matins will allow the public to discover, under the best conditions of restitution, one of the forgotten masterpieces that inspired the Portuguese and Spanish courts in the 18th century.