“Codici per cantare: I Libroni del Duomo nella Milano sforzesca”
Milan, October 14, 2016
In cooperation with the Department of Cultural Heritage and Environment at the University of Milan, with the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano, and with Associazione NOEMA (Milan).
Organizing committee:
Agnese Pavanello (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis); Davide Daolmi (Università degli Studi di Milano); Daniele V. Filippi (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis); Marie Verstraete (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis).
Speakers:
Daniele V. Filippi (FHNW, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis)
Martina Pantarotto (Università e-Campus)
Klaus Pietschmann (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz)
Edoardo Rossetti (Università degli Studi di Padova)
Francesco Rocco Rossi (Milan)
Thomas Schmidt (The University of Manchester)
Daniele Torelli (Libera Università di Bolzano)
don Norberto Valli (Seminario Arcivescovile, Milan)
Marie Verstraete (FHNW, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis)
Massimo Zaggia (Università degli Studi di Bergamo)
Free admission.
Info: daniele.filippi@fhnw.ch
The central object of investigation of this study day is the set of manuscripts held at the Archive of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano and usually known as the “Libroni” (big books) or the “Gaffurio codices”.
These manuscripts, copied from c.1490 under the direction of Franchino Gaffurio, chapel master at the Duomo, contain a rich repertory of sacred polyphonic music (mainly masses and motets) by such composers as Josquin des Prez, Loyset Compère, Gaspar van Weerbeke and Gaffurio himself.
Thanks to the patronage of the Sforza dukes, notably Galeazzo Maria and Ludovico il Moro, from the 1470s Milan became one of Europe’s musical capitals. The four “Libroni” (the last of which was heavily damaged by a fire in 1906) are the only extant witnesses of the city’s contemporary musical repertory: they are, therefore, among the most important cultural artefacts of the Milanese Renaissance. Aim of the study day is to address the main open questions regarding the origin and use of the Libroni, to contextualize them both from the perspective of musicological studies and from that of other disciplines (liturgical studies, codicology, cultural history), and to further explore the repertory they contain.
The study day will include two special events:
– An exhibition of the Libroni at the Archive of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, during which singers from the ensemble Cantus Figuratus, led by Dominique Vellard, will perform motets from Gaffurio’s “Libroni” by reading directly from the manuscripts.
– An evening concert at the Basilica of San Calimero, entirely dedicated to musical repertoire of the “Libroni”, including pieces by Loyset Compère, Gaspar van Weerbeke and Franchino Gaffurio.
(See the programme below for the venues and details)