Virtue & the Viper
Italian Music from the Court of the Visconti

Ruling Milan under the standard of a viper devouring a child, the powerful and brutal Visconti family dominated northern Italian politics from the 13th-15th centuries. The Visconti strove to make their courts centers of learning and culture attracting such artists as Giotto, writers such as Petrarch, and some of the most accomplished composers of the Italian trecento, including Francesco Landini, Jacopo da Bologna, and Johannes Ciconia. In this concert, Liber unUsualis paints a picture of life under Visconti rule, with songs celebrating historical events, marriages, heraldry, courtly love, and world dominion. 

REVIEW OF OUR PERFORMANCE OF THIS PROGRAM:
“'Treasure-hoard' might do to describe Saturday night’s program. It is difficult to imagine much better guides to this daunting yet uncannily captivating music than these musicians. . . . Everything was brilliantly and sensitively sung, and was fashioned into a program that was a rare combination of ingenious design and seeming naturalness of progression from one piece to the next.” San Francisco Classical Voice

PROGRAM (subject to change):

Sotto l'imperio (Jacopo da Bologna)
O in Italia (Jacopo da Bologna)
Lux purpurata – Diligite iustitiam (Jacopo da Bologna)
Sy dolce non sono (Francesco Landini)

Sofrir m'estuet (Paolo da Firenze)
Fenice fu (Jacopo da Bologna)
La fiera testa (Bartolino da Padova)
La fiera testa (Niccolò da Perugia)

Lo lume vostro (Jacopo da Bologna)
Guard' una volta (Francesco Landini)
Le aurate chiome nodose (Bartolino da Padova)
Gran' piant (Francesco Landini)

Del glorioso (Antonello da Caserta)
Le ray au soleyl (Johannes Ciconia)
Musica son (Francesco Landini)
Aquila Altera (Jacopo da Bologna)

PROGRAM NOTES:

For approximately one hundred and fifty years, the Visconti family ruled Lombardy with an iron fist.  Bloodthirsty and brutal, the Visconti maintained their power through both might and subterfuge, destroying enemies with little compunction, and making or breaking treaties as suited their desires.  The Visconti emblem of a serpent devouring a child was more than merely symbolic; the Visconti attempted to devour all of northern Italy, bringing it under one powerful ruler on par with popes and emperors.  Yet this brutal family did not lack grace or culture.  The Visconti surrounded themselves with the trappings of princes and built homes on the grandest scale.  In these magnificent palaces, the Visconti enjoyed the finest images, poetry, and music created by the most important artists of the time including Giotto di Bondone, Francesco Petrarca, and Jacopo da Bologna.
 
The musical culture of the Visconti flourished during the reign of Luchino Visconti (1339-1349).  Luchino employed the composer Jacopo da Bologna (fl.1340-?1386) and his court was frequented by many of the other notable composers of  the time.  In 1354, a generation later, Luchino's three nephews, Galeazzo II, Bernabò, and Matteo II created a triple rule that lasted only a year until the death of Matteo.  Galeazzo controlled the Visconti's western territory while Bernabò gained the east.   Upon the death of Galeazzo in 1378, Bernabò inherited a large territory encompassing much of northern Italy.  His ambition kept him almost at continual war with Rome and led to his excommunication by Pope Urban V.  Bernabò's nephew, Gian Galeazzo, was also full of ambition and intrigue.  A notoriously ruthless and brutal man, he deposed and imprisoned Bernabò in 1385 and may have tortured him in prison until he died.  Gian Galeazzo himself succumbed to the plague in 1402 and with him the family interest in promoting music waned.
 
The music on this program was composed in honor of members of the Visconti family. Evidence of this tribute is found not only in direct references to specific events or people, but also through heraldic emblems, mottoes, and hidden names in the texts.
 
The first set is music dedicated to the rule of Luchino and his nephews Matteo and Galeazzo.  The poems contain many of the primary emblems of the Visconti: the serpent, the sun, and the eagle.  Jacopo's madrigal O in Italia directly references the birth of twin sons to Luchino in 1346.  The motet Lux purpurata – Diligite iustitiam acrostically spells out the words "lvchinvs vvcecomes"—Luchino vicecount (or Visconti) in the text of the highest voice.
 
Luchino's third nephew, Bernabò used the motto "sofrir m'estuet" or "I must suffer."  This motto is the title of the ballata Sofrir m'estuet and is used at the end of the text of the poem La fiera testa set by both Bartolino da Padova (c.1365-1405) and Niccolo da Perugia (fl. second half of 14th c.).  Bernabò's wife, Beatrice della Scala also known as Regina, was herself from a noble family in Verona.   While a young woman at her father's court her emblem was the phoenix, but upon her marriage to Bernabò she adopted the Visconti turtledove as described in the madrigal Fenice fu'.
 
The music on this program demonstrates that in the Visconti family, the women were no less notable than the men.  The madrigal Lo lume vostro, like Lux purpurata – Diligite iustitiam, hides the name "luchinus" in an acrostic and also contains a senhal or a disguised dedication to his wife, Isabella of Savoy.  In the words "ch'è si bella" one can easily hear her name and simultaneously acknowledge her beauty.  A similar senhal is found in Francesco Landini's (c.1325-1397) ballata Guard' una volta, although the Isabella referenced here is Gian Galeazzo's first wife, Isabelle de Valois.  The madrigal Le aurate chiome contains a reference to the golden hair of Gian Galeazzo's second wife and cousin, Caterina Visconti.  Last of this set is Landini's ballata Gram piant' agli ochi, a lament thought to be written at the death of Gian Galeazzo's beloved mother, Blanche of Savoy.
 
The most impressive music is reserved for the last set of songs in honor of Gian Galeazzo.  The madrigal Del glorioso titolo with its dramatic text and wild rhythms is most appropriate as a song in honor of his coronation as Duke of Milan in 1395.  In the text of the canon Le ray au soleyl the emblems of the turtledove, the ray of the sun, and the motto "a bon droyt" meaning "rightly" or "justifiably," all are specific references to Gian Galeazzo and his French princess bride, Isabelle.  The triple texted madrigal Musica son – Già furon – Ciascun vuoli makes numerous references to knights, great lords, and the attribute of virtue.  These are all allusions to Gian Galeazzo as a warrior, a ruler, and the self-proclaimed "Prince of Virtue."  Lastly, Jacopo's Aquila altera – Creatura gentile – Uccel di dio, written for the marriage of Gian Galeazzo to Isabelle in 1360, brings the program full circle back to the ancient Visconti emblems of the eagle and the sun. 
 
© 2007 Carolann Buff