The Borghese and Music

Morts sur le Tibre – The Roman Musical Baroque

Let’s listen to the concert ” Morts sur le Tibre “, held onNovember 12 at Villa Medici, as part of the collaboration with Galleria Borghese and I Concerti nel Parco. As infamous as the Nile, the banks of the Tiber have never been safe. Since ancient Rome, they have witnessed many violent deaths: the assassination of emperors, the elimination of rivals, crimes of passion, ambushes and summary executions have always stirred up the underworld of the city-world. In the Baroque age, this remained unchanged: in the small world of aristocratic palaces, home to princes and cardinals, conspiracy and murder were the order of the day. Caravaggio himself had to flee the city after killing a man during a brawl. In these same palaces, the Greats listened to music and promoted the cantata genre, a kind of miniature opera. Among them, and perhaps to exorcise this fear of violent death, some echoed the bloody events that had shaken the banks of the Tiber: Handel set the scene of Agrippina murdered by her son Nero, and the Frenchman Montéclair, imitating the Italians, wrote a Morte di Lucrezia. Bononcini and others stage other disappearances, often those of shepherds whose impossible love leads them to take their own lives. As you can see, the Tiber jealously guards its dark secrets; Hemiolia invites you to unravel its mysteries.