Il ballo di Mantova

The musical panorama presented by Liuwe Tamminga in this CD is devoted in part to some composers who had been active as organists or choirmasters in the Basilica of Santa Barbara, the church of the Gonzaga court in Mantua. Girolamo Cavazzoni, one of the great masters of Italian organ playing in the Renaissance, had promoted the construction of the organ completed in 1565 by the famous organ builder Graziadio Antegnati. Cavazzoni was the organist of the Basilica until 1577. At the same time Giaches de Wert, celebrated above all for his madrigals, was the choirmaster there, a responsibility he had assumed until about 1592. Several decades later, from 1612 to 1627 and from 1628 to 1630, this post had been conferred on Amante Franzoni, whilst Ottavio Bargnani was the organist from 1610 to 1628. In 1615 the great Girolamo Frescobaldi himself also resided for a short time at the Gonzaga court. This recording also includes some works written in homage to the Gonzagas, such as the Canzonas of Amante Franzoni and Ottavio Bargnani and the Toccata of Germano Pallavicino. One of the most famous popular melodies, widely known throughout Europe, and even today sung and played in Italy and the Netherlands, was born at the beginning of the seventeenth century in Mantua, probably in the Jewish community. It was the „Ballo di Mantova“ (known as the “Noël Suisse“ to the French, the “Chant de Cécile“ to the Netherlanders). It is played here in some anonymous Italian and German versions, in elaborations by Giovanni Battista Ferrini and Bernardino Roncaglio.

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Amtegnati-Organ of S. Barbara in Mantua