The ensemble La Pifarescha recreates the style and sound of the 'alta cappella,' an instrumental group of wind and percussion instruments popular in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Composer Biography
Cavalli received music lessons from Claudio Monteverdi, then maestro di cappella at San Marco, after his patron Federigo Cavalli took him to Venice at age fourteen.
Composition History
Cavalli's Magnificat a sei voci was prepared to complete a posthumous edition of sacred music by his teacher, Claudio Monteverdi.
Composer Biography
Francesco Cavalli, born Pier Francesco Caletti Bruni, changed his name to Cavalli out of gratitude for his patron, Federigo Cavalli, a Venetian nobleman who supported his musical education.
Composer's Artistic Vision
According to Henry Prunières in a 1931 essay, Cavalli created 'grand instrumental and vocal frescos which are unequalled, in an easy, always expressive idiom,' possessing a unique 'decorative sense of music.'
Composition History
Cardinal Mazarin in Paris commissioned Cavalli to write a new opera, Ercole Amante, for the wedding celebrations of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Austria.
Composer Biography
After Monteverdi's death in 1643, Francesco Cavalli became the most important figure in Venetian musical life.
